I've come to believe that, if Arenado is traded, it will be to St. Louis.

I've also come to believe that if Arenado costs them any of their top 3 prospects without the Rox absorbing BOTH Carpenter and Fowler's deals, than the Cardinals are fools who should've just signed Rendon.

I'd probably go 2-1 that nothing gets done at this point, but even a mere 2-1 is fairly bullish. There's just a lot of moving parts on this deal and when the Cards showed no interest at all in pursuing Rendon, it showed that they're simply not interested in absorbing a contract like Arenado's in a vacuum.

Saw a tweet that Chicago MLB reporter Bruce Levine reported "the Cardinals trade offer he heard for Nolan Arenado would be newly acquired Matthew Liberatore, Dakota Hudson, Carlos Martinez, an Tyler O'Neill. Good luck topping that offer, anyone."

As much as I want Arenado, that deal is just crazy.

Hudson and Lib is too much.

**** that offer. For 2 years? No way.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/m...h-alex-gordon/

Cardinals emerging as Arenado suitor

The Cardinals are beginning to emerge as a viable suitor for Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, reports MLB.com's Jon Morosi. Morosi says the two teams have engaged in "preliminary" trade talks and St. Louis intends to add a star player prior to Spring Training.
Matt Holliday and Larry Walker both left the Rockies and went on to have success with the Cardinals (Holliday made a quick pit stop with the A's), and Arenado is said to be close to St. Louis first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, which could help entice him to waive his no-trade clause. Morosi notes Matt Carpenter and Dakota Hudson could factor into an Arenado trade.

Carpenter and Hudson fine, I wonder who else they are including. As maddening as CMart is...that is not something we should consider IMO.

Who’s this guy and why is it news?

the Cardinals on Tuesday obtained righthanded-hitting outfielder Austin Dean, 26, from the Miami Marlins in exchange for 18-year-old outfielder Diowill Burgos.

no way it’s just an old overpaid veteran and a #3 at best probably ceiling as a #4 starter. If so, that’s worth 2 years of Arenado. :thumb:

Updates are that they exchanged names and the discussion was 'not productive'.

Rox are wanting the Cardinals to pay like Arenado doesn't have an opt out. Cardinals are unwilling to take on the entire contract and Rox are unwilling to take on contracts to make the deal work.

In other words, the Rockies appear to be living in an alternate reality where players nearing their age 30 seasons and lugging around $35 million/season contracts (who will leave if they overperform and stay if they underperform) have massive trade value.

Good on the Cardinals for not being stupid here. Perhaps they learned their lesson from the Goldschmidt deal.

Still chaps my ass that Harper was a FA in an offseason where teams were historically tight-fisted (Donaldson just got the same AAV as Harper for his age 34-37 seasons) and the Cardinals felt the need to give up assets to get an aging player instead of just signing a young probable HoFer off the market.

But, we have a log jam in the outfield. Can’t make it worse.:rolleyes:

Ozuna signs with Braves on a one year deal worth $200k more than the QO he rejected from the Cardinals. The market just wasn't there for him.

If I'm reading the below link correctly, looks like the Cardinals will receive a comp pick after Competitive Balance Round B (which follows the second round).

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/qualifying-offer

Buh bye!!

Weirdest random sports fact that is kind of hard to believe - the Missouri professional sports team with the longest current championship drought - St. Louis Cardinals.

Crazy that Spring Training is almost here.