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Report: Nolan Arenado blocked a trade to the Astros
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Photo credit: © D. Ross Cameron - USA Today
Ryley Delaney
Dec 18, 2024, 19:00 EST
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Who doesn’t love a bit of controversy in the off-season?
According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado blocked a trade to the Houston Astros.
For the first time since 2016, the Houston Astros didn’t participate in the American League Championship Series in October, as they fell in two games to the Detroit Tigers. What’s more is that their long-time third baseman, Alex Bregman, remains a free agent.
The Astros have also made a big trade recently, trading their star outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs for Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski, and prospect Cam Smith. Ironically, Paredes is a third baseman who pulls the ball a ton from the right side of the batter’s box, perfect for the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park.
Even though they just traded for Paredes who has mainly played the hot corner throughout his career, it seems as if the Astros wish to add Arenado. Earlier this off-season, Katie Woo of The Atheltic reported that Arenado was open to moving to first base if it meant helping his new team.
Last season, the 33-year slashed .272/.325/.394 with 16 home runs in 635 plate appearances for a 102 wRC+. The year before, he had a 106 wRC+, with the best season of his career coming back in 2022 when he had 30 home runs and 149 wRC+.
Moving Arenado off third base is a bit foolish, as he’s arguably the best defender at the position, not just right now, but of all time. Since entering the league in 2013 with the Colorado Rockies, he has 162 Defensive Runs Saved in 14019.2 innings at the hot corner. Moreover, since Outs Above Average started being tracked in 2016, he has 106 OAA. He’s never played first base in his big league career.
Arenado has three years left on his eight-year, $260 million deal, about $52 million with a luxury tax hit of about $25.6 million. He has a full No-Trade Clause, meaning he can veto any trade, including one to the Houston Astros.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens over the coming days.
As always, you can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.

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