\n<\/p>\n
Months of Nolan Arenado<\/strong> trade rumors came to an end Tuesday when the Cardinals discussed the 10-time Gold Glove winner with the Diamondbacks. St. Louis paid his contract two years and $11MM, and Arizona parted with last year’s eighth-round draft pick (Jack Martinez<\/strong>). The Cardinals have made no secret of their desire to spend half of Arenado’s salary and open space at third base for young players, Nolan Gorman<\/strong> you might get the first run.<\/p>\n Arenado’s no-trade clause gave him a say in his destination. He had a limited number of teams to accept a deal with last season. He expanded that list this winter and discussed the decision on a Zoom launch call with reporters. “Seeing where (the Cardinals) have been going for the last few years, it’s very clear that there is a step they need to take,” Arenado said (via Sam Blum of The Athletic). “To let these little guys go and find who they are, and who they are. I think I’m just like that, in a sense. I always felt that way last year.”<\/p>\n Asked about the Diamondbacks’ particular appeal, Arenado pointed to their all-around player core Corbin Carroll<\/strong>, Geraldo Perdomo<\/strong> again Ketel Marte<\/strong> (video provided by Steve Gilbert of MLB.com). He noted the proximity of his hometown to Southern California and expressed his happiness with the way the team is playing. He will take over as the everyday third baseman and should at least provide a solid glove, though it remains to be seen if he has left in the tank offensively. He will enter his age-35 season on the heels of a .237\/.289\/.377 showing over 107 games.<\/p>\n Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom told Derrick Goold of St. Louis Post-Dispatch that talks with the Diamondbacks quickly escalated. Arizona was involved in the third free agent market Alex Bregman<\/strong>who agreed to a five-year contract with the Cubs on Saturday. It wasn’t until last Friday that reports surfaced that they had firmly taken Marte off the trade market. Although the Cardinals and D-Backs have discussed Arenado throughout the winter, it appears that the talks accelerated after the Bregman\/Marte development.<\/p>\n Goold writes that snakes were also among the groups that would reach the Cards Brendan Donovan<\/strong>. Their interest in the left-handed batsman had not been previously reported. That probably won’t mean much at this point. St. Louis is expected to trade for Donovan, but teams like the Mariners and Giants appear to be very busy. Arizona has Marte, Perdomo and Arenado in the three infield spots to the left of first base. Donovan would be an upgrade in left field, but a team with a need at second base would likely be more motivated to part with top talent.<\/p>\n Arizona’s focus now seems to be first baseman and bullpen. Franchise icon Paul Goldschmidt<\/strong> he’s made sense as a target in the frontcourt role all offseason, and the acquisition of his longtime teammate in St. Louis only strengthens that compatibility. They may need to take a patchwork approach to the bullpen. This week a one-year, $1.55MM return deal Taylor Clarke<\/strong> their only major league bullpen pickup to date.<\/p>\n Clarke projects as a mid-range or long-arm prospect. That’s true for everyone in the Arizona pen until AJ Puk<\/strong> again Justin Martinez<\/strong> coming back from elbow surgery last year. General manager Mike Hazen acknowledged that while the front office would like to add a more established arm for the late game, that will be a challenge at this stage.<\/p>\n “Would I like to have someone with a clear pedigree to pitch eighth and ninth innings? That’s an easy answer. I’m not sure what we’re going to be able to accomplish that way,” Hazen told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. He acknowledged that they need to continue adding to the bullpen this offseason but suggested that the biggest impact will come from internal development and the hope that Martinez and Puk stay healthy. Arizona prioritized high-profile kids at last summer’s trade deadline. Brandyn Garcia<\/strong>, Juan Burgos<\/strong> again Andrew Hoffmann<\/strong> they all came as inexperienced but MLB-ready bullpen pieces.<\/p>\n Of the injured returning, it looks like Puk is still leading the way. Piecoro writes that the D-Backs are hoping to get the southpaw back for the first few months of the season, while Martinez is eyeing a second-half return. Puk underwent surgery for internal metal braces in late June. Martinez needed a complete Tommy John rebuild, which comes with a long recovery timeline. It was the second elbow ligament procedure of each pitcher’s career, as both had Tommy John surgery during their draft days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Months of Nolan Arenado trade rumors came to an end Tuesday when the Cardinals discussed the 10-time Gold Glove winner with the Diamondbacks. St. Louis paid his contract two years and $11MM, and Arizona parted with last year’s eighth-round draft pick (Jack Martinez). The Cardinals have made no secret of their desire to spend half …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2887,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions\/2887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}