MLB analyst claims Nolan Arenado’s Dodgers move depends on $24,000,000 star’s fate

After a subpar year by his standards in 2024, the St. Louis Cardinals were openly seeking to move third baseman Nolan Arenado last offseason.

Despite multiple clubs reportedly courting the Cardinals for a possible Arenado trade — including the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox — Arenado’s insistence on retaining the no-trade clause in his original contract was a major deterrent. Negotiations with both organizations ultimately broke down.

According to insider Bob Nightengale, Arenado has dreamed of a move to the LA Dodgers for some time. Whether or not that move happens largely depends on the availability of the 2024 World Series champions’ current third baseman, Max Muncy.

“I do think that Nolan Arenado will get moved at some point,” Nightengale said, speaking to Doug McKain of Dodgers Nation. “If something ever happened to (Max) Muncy or something like that, Arenado would do cartwheels to get to L.A., his hometown.

“He could have gone to Houston, turned that down. Could have gone to the Angels, turned that down, too. But he would jump up and down to have a chance to go to the Dodgers. But the Dodgers don’t need him with Muncy, and he still has some good money left (on his contract).”

Muncy is in the second year of his two-year, $24 million contract with the Dodgers, signed shortly after the 2023 season. The contract includes a club option for an additional year, worth $10 million.

Nolan Arenado talks about major adjustments that he made to prepare for the 2025 season

After a tough 2024, Nolan Arenado talked about the subtle but important changes he’s made to his game heading into the upcoming season, speaking to MLB Network Radio.

“I think, as I’ve gotten a little older, there’s certain balls that… I have to field a little differently, and I’ve noticed that,” Arenado said. “It’s nice to have Masyn [Wynn] there, who moves really well. But, I got an ego, so I still think I can get to any ball that I got to when I was 22.

“So, I’m still going for everything, and I’m not going to stop going for the ball until Masyn calls me off. But, he calls me off a lot because he can get to it too, so we have a good dynamic, but, like I said, I just want to be ready to go, I feel good, and I’m ready for everything.”

As the Cardinals look to return to the playoffs after missing the past two seasons, fans will hope Arenado’s offseason work translates into results on the field.

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Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor’s in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav’s favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball’s best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by John Ezekiel Hirro