{"id":410779,"date":"2026-01-13T20:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/410779\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T20:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:49:10","slug":"diamondbacks-land-nolan-arenado-from-cardinals-as-free-agency-options-dwindle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/410779\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamondbacks land Nolan Arenado from Cardinals as free agency options dwindle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Diamondbacks <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/10\/sports\/alex-bregman-signs-175-million-deal-with-cubs-to-end-free-agency-frenzy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">missed out on Alex Bregman<\/a> and pivoted to another accomplished veteran.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona acquired eight-time All-Star and Nolan Arenado for pitching prospect Jack Martinez, the Cardinals announced Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Arenado, 34, has two years left on his contract and the Cardinals will pay $31 million of the remaining $42 million on the deal, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Ken_Rosenthal\/status\/2011131819899695560\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">per The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38171609\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/28-st-louis-cardinals-reacts-13770673.jpg\" alt=\"Nolan Arenado of the St. Louis Cardinals in a red helmet and blue jersey reacts on first base.\" class=\"wp-image-38171609\"  \/>Nolan Arenado is leaving St. Louis. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The 10-time Gold Glover reportedly waived his no-trade clause to return to the NL West after spending the first eight years of his career with the Rockies.<\/p>\n<p>The Cardinals had been open to moving Arenado for quite some time, with plenty of rumors circulating last offseason, and they finally found a trade partner in what can be viewed as a salary dump.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona had been linked to Bregman earlier this offseason in an attempt to upgrade its offense, but he agreed to a five-year deal with the Cubs over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Arenado now heads to the desert to man the hot corner at a much cheaper price, but with much more concern about his level of play.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran posted career-worst marks in batting average (.237), on-base percentage (.289), slugging percentage (.377) and OPS (.666), while hitting just 12 homers and 52 RBIs in 102 games.<\/p>\n<p>He finished with an 87 OPS-plus, indicating he was a below-average player.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38171641\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2237037229.jpg\" alt=\"Arizona Diamondbacks players celebrate a win against the Los Angeles Dodgers.\" class=\"wp-image-38171641\"  \/>Nolan Arenado is joining the Diamondbacks. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Arizona is a hitter friendly park and can perhaps galvanize his bat and even if he doesn\u2019t rebound, there isn\u2019t much downside to what is a two-year, $11 million pact.<\/p>\n<p>Arenado offsets that offensive decline by still being a strong defender, posting a plus-three outs above average last year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/players\/nolan-arenado\/9777\/stats\/batting#fielding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to Fangraphs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He spent five years with the Cardinals after being acquired in a trade, hitting .266 with a. 778 OPS while earning three-All-Star bids, two Gold Gloves and a third-place finish in the 2022 NL MVP voting.<\/p>\n<p>While Arizona is hoping he can help guide a return to the playoffs after two straight misses following the unexpected 2023 World Series run, the Cardinals are continuing to build to the future.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>St. Louis previously traded away veterans Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras \u2014 both to Boston \u2014 and now have cleared another position for a youthful player.<\/p>\n<p>Brendan Donovan could be an intriguing trade option for whichever teams miss out on both Cody Bellinger and Kyle Tucker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Diamondbacks missed out on Alex Bregman and pivoted to another accomplished veteran. Arizona acquired eight-time All-Star and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[592,64,63,591,48937,161518,6591,85,2366],"class_list":["post-410779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-free-agency","tag-mlb-hot-stove","tag-nolan-arenado","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-cardinals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}