We can now close the book on the Nolan Arenado Chronicles in St. Louis.
Chapter One: High hopes! Great expectations! Let’s plan the parade! The Cardinals acquired the All-Star draped, gold-plated third baseman from Colorado to join Paul Goldschmidt and give the team a set of acclaimed infield cornerstones. The Cardinals had their foundation in place.
Chapter Two: The peak. The wonder of it all. The glory year. In 2022, Goldschmidt won the NL MVP award. Arenado led all NL players in Wins Above Replacement and finished third in the MVP tabulations. The Cardinals also brought back Albert Pujols for a sensational, sentimental farewell season. The three esteemed players combined for 89 home runs, 286 runs batted in, and collectively generated a level of offense (wRC+) that was 57 percent above the league average.
Chapter Three: Flameout. Despite winning 93 games and the NL Central title, the Cardinals scored five runs in two games and got swept by the Phillies in the 2022 NL wild-card series. Goldy, Arenado and Pujols combined for three hits in 24 at-bats (.175) and struck out seven times.
Chapter Four: The big crash of 2023. Pujols retired. Yadier Molina retired. Adam Wainwright collapsed to a 7.40 ERA in his final season. The numbers for Goldy and Arenado were way down. The team roster was a vacant lot, with baseball vagrants hanging out for a while as they passed through town. This terrible team lost 91 games and had the worst full season by the franchise since 1990. Hey, where did the fun go?
Chapter Five: Clear and present mediocrity. The Cardinals perked up for an 83-79 record in 2024 but missed the playoffs for the second straight year. Two years after their epic 2022 season, Goldschmidt and Arenado sank to a league-average offensive performance and their decline was irreversible. The Cardinals moved on from Goldy, who latched on with the Yankees in 2025. The Cards had a deal in place to move Arenado before the ‘25 season but he vetoed a trade to Houston. Whatever happened to those World Series parade plans?
Chapter Six: Bring on the rebuild. The year 2025, brought in all sorts of sad-sack developments, a losing record, another year of no playoffs, plummeting home attendance, fan anger and unrest, a TV deal gone bad, the loss of starpower, and the grim conclusion of a three-year descent that left the Cardinals at tumbling to the No. 22 winning percentage among the 30 teams over that time. For his part, Arenado’s offensive showing came in at 65 percent less than his 2022 standard. He had single-season career lows in batting average, onbase percentage, slugging, isolated power, OPS, adjusted OPS, and extra-base hits. He played too many games with an injured body.
Chapter Seven: The End. The Long Goodbye. A respectful thank you for your time in St. Louis. This wasn’t really a baseball trade; this was a cold and empty and inevitable business transaction. On Tuesday, 58 and ½ months after the trade that landed Arenado in St. Louis in happier times, the Cardinals made a deal with Arizona, and sweetened this interstate commerce by wiring $31 million into the Dbacks bank account to defray the cost of Nado’s remaining salary obligations through 2027.
Arenado arrived in St. Louis with the fantasy of pennants and a World Series championship. At the end of his stay with the Cardinals, none of that had occurred. The reward? Not a parade … but the payoff was the arrival of an anonymous rookie pitching prospect who may or may not make the big leagues. Hello, Jack Martinez. Welcome to St. Louis, maybe? Goodbye, Arenado. So long. Sorry about everything. This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go for you, for the Cardinals, or for the dwindling fan base.
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
1. Wide open road. Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has a free and clear field in front of him now. By trading Arenado – after dealing pitcher Sonny Gray and first baseman Willson Contreras to Boston – the Cardinals at this moment do not have a player under a guaranteed contract beyond the end of the 2026 season. Younger players who are not yet eligible for free agency aren’t necessarily under contract for the following season; the choice to keep them in place (or not) is made by the Cardinals.
2. Bloom has virtually a blank canvas to work with. Or maybe I should say this: he has all of the payroll space he needs to fill in as he wishes going forward. The Cardinals’ highest-salaried player – the recently signed starting pitcher Dustin May – is their big-money man at $12 million for 2026. There are no long-term obligations for Bloom to untangle. And I suppose that is exactly what he wants to begin a comprehensive rebuild.
3. What’s next for the Cardinals infield? Per source, this is what the Cards are thinking, at least for now:
– If Brendan Donovan stays, he plays second base and top prospect JJ Wetherholt sets up at third.
– If Donovan is traded: Wetherholt at 2B, with a possible platoon at third base with Nolan Gorman vs right-handed starters and Thomas Saggese vs. left starters.
– Another scenario: Left fielder Lars Nootbaar is traded. If Donovan is still here, he’d get a lot of time in left field until the team’s top outfield prospect, Joshua Baez, is ready for the bigs later in 2026. Donovan would move around in a utility role … but there wouldn’t be a problem getting plenty of playing time for the other dudes (Wetherholt, Gorman, Saggese.
4. With Arenado, Gray and Contreras removed, the Spotrac salary-tracking site lists the Cardinals’ current active roster with a cash-salary outlay of $67.3 million worth of active salaries in place -- third-lowest lowest among the 30 MLB teams. But that will change as the front office sets 2026 salaries for their pre-arbitration young players such as Masyn Winn, Michael McGreevy, Thomas Saggese, Jordan Walker, Ivan Herrera, Victor Scott, Kyle Leahy, Riley O'Brien, Matt Svanson, Pedro Pages, Nathan Church, Jimmy Crooks, Ryan Fernandez and several others. In all likelihood the Cardinals will have a 2026 payroll of about $100 million by the time the season opens. And that could be higher if they bring in additional players through free-agent signings or trades. But a $100 million payroll would be among the very lowest in the majors.
5. Fun with dollars and numbers. As of now the Cardinals who are in line for the five-highest salaries in 2026 – May, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, JoJo Romero and Andre Pallante – will receive a combined $31.3 million this season.
Now let’s compare that to recent years, checking to see the aggregate total of the team’s top-five salary earners for that season.
2021: the top 5 were paid $108.5 mill.
2022: the top 5 got $105.5 mill.
2023: the top 5 got $109.5 mill.
2024: the top 5 collected $109.6 mill.
2025: the top 5 – total $95.5 mill.
2026: the current top 5 – $64.15 mill.
Damn. What a difference.
6. Another way to look at this? Cardinals ownership spent a total $54 million – dispatched to the trade partner – to close the deals involving Arenado, Gray and Contreras. In a way, that could be considered part of STL’s 2026 payroll. Kind of abstract, yes. But that $54 million was an investment that (a) enabled Bloom to add six pitchers, including prospects, while locking in the three trades; and (b) alleviated any roster blockages that could have interfered with the freedom to rebuild. Bloom has complete freedom to rebuild the way he wants to do it. It was a different type of investment by the DeWitts – but still an investment.
7. What I just tried to say was summed up perfectly by our friend R.J. Anderson, the excellent baseball analyst at CBS Sports:
“The most impressive part of Chaim Bloom's first winter in charge of the Cardinals has been his ability to engender buy-in from ownership,” Anderson wrote. “This represents the third time he's traded away a veteran player while including enough money to ensure a better return than he would've received otherwise … the Cardinals are within (range) of paying other teams' players as much as the Marlins ($73 million) will pay their entire 26-player roster in 2026.”
8. Anderson continued: “History suggests that a lot of owners would rather either keep the players if they have to pay them anyway, or trade those players away for minimal returns in what amounts to a salary dump,” he wrote. “The Cardinals have been able to net interesting pitchers in return, several of whom could pay immediate or near-immediate dividends as they continue their retooling process. That's some nifty operating by Bloom and company to make it happen.”
9. Highlight of Arenado being a Cardinal: his berserk, all-phases optimal performance in 2022. Here’s what Arenado accomplished in ‘22:
* 1st in the NL with 7.2 WAR.
* 3rd in the NL MVP vote.
* All-Star.
* Gold glove winner at 3B.
* Platinum glove winner at 3B.
* 3rd best overall performance by a right-handed hitter in the NL at 49 percent above league average (per wRC+).
* 3rd among NL right-handed hitters in RBIs, slugging and OPS.
* 4th among NL right-handed hitters in onbase percentage and Win Probability Added.
Mercy! Arenado’s 2022 rates among the best individual performances by a Cardinal in a season since Bill DeWitt Jr. purchased the team before the 1996 season.
10. Low point of Arenado’s time as a Cardinal: I have a tie. First, Arenado was part of the STL team that went 0-3 in the postseason in 2021 and 2022. In the three games he went 1 for 12 – including one hit in five at-bats with runners in scoring position. Second: the 2025 season was depressing. I felt bad for this proud man.
11. Don’t ask me to say whether I believe Arenado is the best defensive third baseman in big-league history. One of the great privileges of my life as a sports fan and a sportswriter was sitting in ballparks to watch Brooks Robinson, Scott Rolen and Arenado play third base. I can’t choose one. I was awed by all three.
12. I’ll leave that answer to my late friend, Brooks Robinson. He’s more qualified than I am. That’s for sure.
Actual conversation:
Bernie: Brooksie, who’s the best third basemen in major-league history? Brooks:“Nolan Arenado. He was better than me. And the best I’ve seen. His arm is incredible. The way he ranges across the line and into foul ground behind third base to get to a ball that was seemingly well out of reach – and then make a perfect off-balance throw from a bad angle? That’s an extremely difficult play, and no one has done it better than Nolan Arenado.”
13. The Diamondbacks will play a four-game series at Busch Stadium beginning on June 22. He will feel the love from Cardinals fans. The relationship with Arenado and Cards supporters was (and is) wonderful. Can’t wait.
14. Chase Field in Phoenix should be a good home for Arenado. Maybe the yard will help him boost his offense. Here is why I say this – and I go to Statcast. The best parks for right-handed hitters over the past two seasons?
Busch Stadium 20th overall, 26th for hitting home runs.
Chase Field: 2nd overall, 9th for hitting home runs.
15. Jack Martinez, the young righty acquired in the Arenado deal? He has a chance. Don’t take it from me. This is from an expert.
More from R.J. Anderson:
“Martinez, 22, was picked in the eighth round last summer after splitting his collegiate days between Trinity, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Arizona State. In 15 starts, he compiled a 5.47 ERA and a 3.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He's a well-built right-hander with good arm strength and some feel for secondary pitches. His delivery is messy, however, as he combines a long arm stroke with a tendency to land wide open, sometimes with his lead foot pointing toward first base. Predictably, that delivery has hampered his strikethrowing ability, resulting in him walking five batters per nine as an amateur.
“Martinez spent most of his collegiate career in the bullpen and it's probable that he returns there as a professional. The Cardinals can afford to give their player development staff some time and space to see what magic they can or cannot work with him. Truthfully, St. Louis did well to walk away with a player who has a non-zero chance at achieving a big-league future down the road.”
16. Martinez, who has been clocked at 97.5 mph, throws an effective change-up that’s been praised by Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs and other scouts.
“Martinez’s fastball has some natural cut action and tends to finish on the glove side of the plate. This pairs nicely with his tailing changeup, which often freezes left-handed hitters as it runs back over the inside corner,” Longenhagen wrote. “Martinez opens his hips up really big on his stride home, and his plant foot lands way toward the first base side of the mound. It’s jarring for the hitter at first, and also helps create effective angles with his heater and cambio.” (Change-up).
“The tweaks ASU made to his delivery (Martinez was getting deeper into his legs last year and his arm slot came down) accentuated this even further, and his changeup played like a plus-plus pitch in 2025 … he’s a fine sleeper pro prospect who has a non-zero chance of being a big league starter. He has a real weapon in that changeup, and has some markers that one might associate with late-bloomers.”
17. Katie Woo (The Athletic) kicked butt in breaking the Arenado-trade story Tuesday … just as she’s been kicking butt and breaking most of the stories on this beat for a long time. Katie is transferring beats at The Athletic – moving to LA to cover the Dodgers – and truly will be missed. Her presence on the Cardinals beat was great for the team’s fans.
18. This post-trade perspective on Arenado from our friend Will Leitch of MLB.com:
“He was, in many ways, the last of those Cardinals stars, someone who, when he likely makes the Hall of Fame (and presuming Yadier Molina does as well), will have continued the streak of St. Louis having a Hall of Famer on its roster every year since 2000. (If Mark McGwire ever makes it, that streak would go all the way back to 1914.)
“But it also should be said that if Arenado goes into Cooperstown, he looks likely to go in as a Rockie, at least based on his career numbers. Arenado racked up 39.7 bWAR, 1,206 hits, 235 homers and eight Gold Glove Awards with Colorado, compared with 18.1 bWAR, 715 hits, 118 homers and two Gold Gloves in St. Louis. He had most of the best seasons of his career with Colorado and even slightly more postseason success there.
“The Cardinals have been known for having stars. But with Arenado leaving … now their eyes turn to minting their next ones.”
Thanks for reading …
Please pardon my typos …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015.
Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach.
Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil.
Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues and Mizzou football and basketball.
Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows.
And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.