Astros are now “serious suitors” for Nolan Arenado

While the Astros were eager to re-sign Alex Bregman This offseason, the club received a potential backup option at third base Isaac Paredesand is now exploring an even bigger option in the hot corner. The Athletic’s Chandler Rome reports that Houston has “emerged as a serious contender.” Nolan Arenado‘s services, although a deal is not believed to be imminent.

As the Cardinals look to create more playing time for younger players and reduce payroll, the club has been open about its attempts to trade Arenado this offseason. The third baseman has a full no-trade clause but is willing to waive it in the right situation, as agent Joel Wolfe stressed that Arenado is only willing to leave St. Louis to “a team he believes will win consistently now and for the rest of his career. He wants a team that’s going all out… and that he believes he can come in right away and win right away.”

The Astros would seemingly fit that description as longtime playoff regulars trying to maintain their competitive window, but it’s unclear if Arenado would be interested in going to Houston. The Dodgers, Padres, Angels, Phillies, Mets and Red Sox are the six teams Arenado would reportedly be willing to play for, but it is unknown whether any clubs outside that group have also agreed to waive his number would find -trading privileges.

Beyond the no-trade clause, the Astros and Cardinals also need to work out the terms of the actual deal, and finances could be an obstacle. Rome writes that “the Astros will ask the Cardinals to help repay the $74 million” owed to Arenado in the final three years of his contract. (Only $64 million is technically the Cards’ responsibility, as the Rockies are covering $10 million of that total, according to the term of the 2021 trade that brought Arenado from Colorado to St. Louis.) Whether the Cardinals Will or Not Willing to Cover Arenado’s salary size is an open question, and if so, it will be a question of whether they can match the numbers of the Astros or another suitor or whether St. Louis is ready is to accept an unwanted contract as salary.

In particular, some additional baggage could get in the way of an Astros/Cardinals trade. Former Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa was convicted in federal court of illegally accessing the Astros’ proprietary baseball operations database in 2013 and 2014, and MLB punished the Cardinals by forcing them to do so , $2 million and their top picks in the 2017 draft to be paid to the Astros as a penalty. Although Houston’s front office has since been revamped and Chaim Bloom will replace John Mozeliak as the Cards’ next president of baseball next year, the two teams have not completed a trade since 2012, indicating continued bad blood.

Astros GM Dana Brown said yesterday that the team’s decision to trade has been made Kyle Tucker (and the return of Paredes in the Cubs’ trade package) did not indicate that anything had changed in Houston’s pursuit of a Bregman reunion. KPRC’s Ari Alexander also learns from a source that the Astros continue to be among the “the strong four“Along with the Red Sox, Mets and Yankees are the top contenders for Bregman, with the Tigers and Blue Jays also tied to Bregman’s market.”

Technically, there is a scenario where Houston could re-sign Bregman, install Arenado at first base, and then have Paredes on the DH at any time Jordan Alvarez is in left field. But more realistically, a trade for Arenado would kill the chance of a reunion between Bregman and the Astros. Houston has reportedly offered Bregman a six-year, $156 million contract, but if he and his team have hinted that a bigger outlay is necessary, that could explain why the Astros have been paying more attention to Arenado since the late winter meeting. Since at least the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox both have third basemen, it makes sense that the Astros would also explore both options as a matter of due diligence.