There is no doubt that when the St. Louis Cardinals traded for third baseman Nolan Arenado back in 2021, it was considered one of the biggest steals in the history of major league baseball. 

On Feb. 2, 2021, the Cardinals struck a deal with the Colorado Rockies to acquire Arenado, but the details of this trade baffled me. The Cardinals gave up 6 players in this trade. 

It may seem like St. Louis lost a lot, but Arenado was the best third baseman in the league at the time, and 4 of the 6 players the Cardinals gave up have not made the majors yet. The part of the trade that seriously made me wonder what in the world the Rockies were doing is when they also gave the Cardinals 50 million dollars in the trade.

 Because of this steal, everybody thought the Cardinals were the smartest team in baseball after completing a similar trade just three years prior with the Arizona Diamondbacks to acquire first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, but unfortunately, that was not the case.

 St. Louis went on to make the playoffs in 2021 after making a historic comeback in the National League Central Division by winning 17 games in a row in September. They didn’t win their division, but they made it to the postseason as a wild-card team. Unfortunately, they lost to the Dodgers in the Wild Card after a walk-off homerun by Chris Taylor. Although St. Louis lost the game, fans were still hopeful for the future of the team. Arenado had a great first season with St. Louis, slashing 34 home runs and winning his ninth gold glove in a row. 

Fans were ecstatic in 2022 after the Cardinals brought back Albert Pujols so he could play his last season wearing the birds on the bat. I knew the Cardinals were going to be a playoff team, but I didn’t expect them to have 93 wins and win their division. After the best season of Goldschmidt’s career, he received his first MVP award at age 34. Arenado also had an even better season than he did in ‘21, placing third in NL MVP voting. Unfortunately for St. Louis, they lost the Wild Card again, but this time to the Philadelphia Phillies. The two games played were extremely tough losses and the outcome put Cardinals fans in tears. 

Where it all started to go wrong for the Cardinals and Arenado was in 2023. St. Louis had their worst season since 1990, finishing 71-91 and last place in their division. Arenado also had the worst season of his career. It was at this point that I began to think the reign over the league was over before it even began. Although the magic was fading, I still had high hopes for 2024. 

The Cardinals had a better season than 2023 finishing the season 83-79, missing the playoffs. 

I actually had a lot of fun watching the team this past season. The Cardinals have a good amount of young players to look forward to such as Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson, but for Arenado and Goldschmidt it was not good. Both the players had the worst seasons of their career and at this point, they are holding the team back. 

Goldschmidt’s contract ended after this past season and he signed a one year contract with the New York Yankees. Arenado on the other hand, is 34 years old now and has three years left on his contract. 

Also, Arenado has a full no-trade clause, meaning that if there is a trade in place that he is involved in, he gets the final say. This offseason, he has already turned down multiple trades that could have easily been completed. 

We are now in spring training, and at this point, Arenado is just taking up a spot on the roster, and it is selfish.