The St. Louis Cardinals have are set to acquire All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado in a huge trade from the Colorado Rockies, per Ken Rosenthal.
BREAKING: Cardinals have agreed to acquire Nolan Arenado from Rockies, sources tell @TheAthletic. Deal pending approval from both MLB and players’ union; Rockies sending Cardinals significant cash, believed to be in $50M range, and Arenado will be deferring money.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 30, 2021
The Rockies will be receiving multiple players and are sending a bunch of cash to the Cardinals, as Arenado prepares to leave Colorado after trade rumors swirled over the past few seasons. The deal will be finalized pending a physical and once Arenado officially waives his no-trade clause. the MLB and the Player's Union must approve as well.
Deal unlikely to be official tonight and maybe even not this weekend. Arenado will need to formally waive his no-trade clause and his opt-out after 2021 also must be addressed. Approvals from MLB and union necessary as well, as reported in initial tweet. https://t.co/xuCNkaD5kq
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 30, 2021
Colorado finished in fourth in the NL West in the past two seasons, and with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series and the San Diego Padres playing on MLB The Show mode, the Rockies hopes to win a division title began to shrink even further.
The Nolan Arenado trade to the St. Louis Cardinals is done, sources tell ESPN. Rockies getting multiple players and sending upward of $50 million to St. Louis. @Ken_Rosenthal on the news.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 30, 2021
If the deal does indeed go through, Arenado will join a Cardinals team that finished towards the bottom in the majors in runs scored, and in turn, the Rockies freed themselves of a good chunk of the remaining 8-year, $260-million contract he signed a few years back.
Multiple teams have checked in on Arenado over the past couple of years, and MLB.com's Jon Morosi reported yesterday that talks between the two teams started to pick up, so it's no surprise a deal was done.
Arenado posted five seasons with 100 or more RBI and five seasons with 35 or more home runs, and people have always questioned whether or not Coors Field played a factor in his offensive numbers. With the Cardinals, we can finally find out.
Arenado will head to St. Louis with the Cardinals gunning for the NL Central crown, and the Rockies appear headed for rebuild mode as they look to shed salary and hit the reset button in the National League West.