Quick thoughts on the Nolan Arenado trade

The Cardinals on Tuesday sent Arenado and *lots* of Cash to the Diamondbacks in exchange for a pitching prospect

Chaim Bloom on Tuesday achieved what John Mozeliak last winter could not – trading away veteran third baseman and potential future Hall of Famer Nolan Arenado.

The Cardinals sent Arenado, who’s going into his age-35 season in 2026 and is well into his decline phase as a hitter – and cash (more on that in a moment) to the Diamondbacks in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Jack Martinez, an eighth-rounder in 2025 out of Arizona State who has yet to pitch professionally. Martinez signed a below-slot deal as the No. 243 pick, but he did so as a senior, which gave him negligible leverage. The Cardinals after the deal became official assigned him to the Florida Complex League. Hard-throwing reliever Ryne Stanek, recently signed to a $3.5 million pact for 2026 with a $6 million club option for 2027, will take Arenado’s vacated spot on the 40-player roster.

Martinez is 22 and will turn 23 in March. Here’s what my CBS Sports colleague RJ Anderson wrote about him not long after the trade went down:

“In 15 starts [for Arizona State last season], he compiled a 5.47 ERA and a 3.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s a well-built right-hander with good arm strength and some feel for secondary pitches. His delivery is messy, however, as he combines a long arm stroke with a tendency to land wide open, sometimes with his lead foot pointing toward first base. Predictably, that delivery has hampered his strikethrowing ability, resulting in him walking five batters per nine as an amateur.”

In terms of fastball velocity, Martinez sits in the mid-90s and maxes out at 97. He developed an effective changeup after transferring from Louisiana-Lafayette to ASU, but his breaking stuff remains a work in progress. Those mechanical issues noted above will be a good test for the Cardinals’ rebuilt pitching-development program, and the hope is that his command improves as a result of whatever steps they take with him. As well, they’ll have to help him cultivate a better breaking ball if he’s going to have a shot at rotation detail at the highest level. That we’re even discussing the possibility that the Cardinals received a pitcher who may turn into a back-end rotation piece one day in exchange for the husk of Arenado is impressive and, frankly, unexpected.

As noted above, the Cardinals kicked in cash to make this deal happen, first and foremost, and then to fetch a reasonably interesting prospect like Martinez in return. Specifically, the Cardinals are sending $26 million Arizona’s way. Yes, the trade still clears salary, as Arenado was owed $42 million over the next two seasons (with $5 million coming from the Rockies), but this still amounts to a high “effort level” on the part of theWitts. Pair it with the cash contributions from the Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras trades to Boston earlier in the offseason, and ownership has forked over $54 million to improve trade returns, even as another round of revenue uncertainty swirls about. I don’t want to heap too much praise on the owners of a club whose highest-paid player is now reclamation project Dustin May, but these cash contributions are encouraging to see. Whether the DeWitts merely recognized this is what was needed to move the organization forward or whether Bloom’s powers of persuasion are at work (or whether it’s some combination of the two), it raises hopes that they’ll be similarly committed when it’s time to contend again.

More notable than the addition of yet another pitching prospect to the stable is what the Arenado trade means for the 2026 lineup. Arenado’s exit means that third base is now open for Nolan Gorman or, possibly, incoming rookie and top prospect JJ Wetherholt. I assume Wetherholt will be the priority, but it’s likely the Cardinals won’t be forced to choose. That’s because there’s still a high probability that uber-utility man Brendan Donovan is dealt away in the coming days and weeks, which would open up second base for Wetherholt and leave third for Gorman (or, perhaps, Thomas Saggese if the Bloom regime sours on Gorman this spring). Speaking of which, earlier on Tuesday Jeff Jones reported that the Cardinals would very much prefer to trade Donovan before the 2026 season begins. Bloom wisely waited out the market until the D-backs pulled Ketel Marte off the trade block, which may mean Donovan offers are starting to take final shape.

Until then, though, credit to Bloom and the DeWitts for finding Arenado a new home and making Oli Marmol’s 2026 lineup less complicated and more forward-looking.