Cardinals haven’t asked Arenado to waive no-trade clause, but would he reject a move to LA?

After two days of rampant speculation kicked off by a report in the Los Angeles Times regarding a potential trade to the Dodgers, Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado declined Friday to categorically reject the possibility of being moved to Southern California , while confirming he has not been asked to waive his no-trade clause.

Arenado, who joined the Cardinals before the 2021 season after a blockbuster trade that he largely engineered, was born and raised in Orange County, and has long been sought by the Dodgers as a potential cornerstone player, just as he is in St. Louis.

His acquisition from the Colorado Rockies was hailed as a significant coup for John Mozeliak and his baseball operations group. After arriving in St. Louis, Arenado described a behind-the-scenes process stretching over years in order to engineer that trade. Now, with MLB’s trade deadline set to arrive at 5 PM central time on Tuesday, he finds himself in familiar, uncomfortable territory.

“I’m just here to try to help the team win, and I’m here to help the Cardinals win while I’m here,” Arenado said after Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs. “Whatever happens happens. It’s hard for me to sit here and speak on some of these things.

“I think the Cardinals, those guys are smart up there. I think they’re looking at every way to make this team better, and that’s just kind of how I see it.”

Members of the Cardinals front office have not made themselves available to answer questions about the situation, and as a matter of policy, do not comment on trade negotiations.

Included in the Times story was a report that Arenado would only waive his no trade clause for the Dodgers. Asked about that claim directly, he said, “I haven’t talked to anybody, really. So I don’t know where those reports came from. But, like I said, when [Mozeliak] comes up to me and wants to have those conversations, we’ll have them.”

“I think [the Cardinals] are just doing their due diligence, as they should,” he added.

Reports in the Times, as well as The Athletic, confirmed that the teams have engaged in trade talks to some extent. The Times listed a number of prospects who the Dodgers might offer in such a negotiation, several of whom would fit the description of players the Cardinals covet.

What they do not covet – what they could not possibly have expected – is a season that has unfolded so disastrously as to put them in a position where surrendering the best third baseman of his generation and an almost certain future Hall of Famer is necessary to fill a pitching gap.

Asked if he would prefer for the organization to foreclose on the possibility of a trade by publicly stating a refusal to move him, Arenado quipped, “it’s gonna be closed off on Tuesday, so I’m just trying to get through the weekend, play these next two games as hard as I can to try to help us win.”

Several times in his meeting with St. Louis media, Arenado referred to a desire to win above all else. That sentiment is one he’s shared throughout his two and a half seasons with the Cardinals, which have seen him named to the All-Star team three times, finish third in Most Valuable Player voting, and twice win the Platinum Glove as the best overall defender at any position in the NL.

The Dodgers, who hold a solid lead in the NL West and who have been to the World Series three times since 2017, are a team with which Arenado would be assured of a chance to win. He still makes his offseason home in the area and operates a training facility in a warehouse district where several teammates have spent winters honing their crafts by studying him as much as themselves.

His departure from Colorado was seen as an unequivocal embarrassment for that organization and led to the departure of the Rockies’ top baseball executive within a month of the start of the 2021 season.

That trade was the result of a crumbling, deteriorated relationship between team and player, and it arguably set the team back years in a hunt for respectability. The Cardinals do not have the time and should not have the inclination to endure a similar fate.

“I mean, yeah, it’s different [from Colorado],” he said. “Sometimes this is what happens when you’re not playing well. These discussions are going to come up.”

However poorly the Cardinals may be playing – however far afield this season may have strayed from expectations – Arenado is the lodestar. After twice declining an opportunity to opt out from his contract and test the free agent market, his commitment to the Cardinals cannot be fairly questioned.

He smirked when asked if the best version of the Cardinals is the version that has him on the roster.

“I mean, I don’t know. Right now, we’re not playing very well. So I don’t know. I would assume – I think I make this team better. Today, I didn’t do a very good job.”

Arenado was 0-for-4 Friday with two strikeouts. There could be no bigger whiff than allowing him to walk out the door.