Via the Athletic: Arenado, who opted into the remainder of his contract with St. Louis at the end of the 2022 season, was agreeable to the concept. He presented Mozeliak with a short list of teams he’d be willing to waive his full no-trade clause for. That list originally included the Astros, though one source said Houston’s trade of Kyle Tucker and the uncertainty over Alex Bregman returning may have changed Arenado’s mind. The Cardinals are financially motivated to trade Arenado, who is owed $74 million over the next three seasons. According to a league source, if Arenado approved the trade, the Cardinals were set to pay roughly $5 million each year. Houston would foot the rest of the bill, amounting to approximately $45 million after factoring in deferrals.
The Astros want to trade for Nolan because they think he could be a big help keeping the team in contention for a championship. Nolan doesn't want to come because he knows his best days are behind him and he wants a team loaded with all-stars that can help him win a championship. That no trade clause may have kept the Astros from being Abreu'd again.
This whole thing just feels like the inevitable song and dance down to mediocre baseball town. If you can't play at the financial level of the market then you are destined to always be below it.
It makes it more palatable if you say “10%”. Lots of people make that kind of decision over 10% difference in income.
I wanted Arenado as I said before, but please dont tell me people are going behind your GMs back to try and get their guy...... the worst thing possible for us is to become an organisation where decision makers have diferent agendas. Just work together and trust the brain power as a unit Waiting on a Nook about these Arenado news
As the offseason starts to drag on I’m liking the acquisition of Paredes more and more. His versatility allows Houston to follow the market. If the market presents a deal on a 1B, Paredes can play 3B. If it gives them a 3B and a 1B (or 2 3B), he can play LF. Hasn’t really been a joyous offseason for Astros fans, but it’s lining up to be the most impactful offseason since Houston traded for Gerrit Cole and in terms of long term impact it might be the most impactful offseason since Jeff Luhnow was hired.
The Cardinals called Baggie direct and they worked out the whole deal before bringing it to Brown and Crane? That seems unlikely.
Not true. The Astros have been working on a deal for Arenado for some time. I posted it over a week ago. There have been consistent talks for sometime. Also a lot of Astros fans are happy the deal was blocked - but the Astros have been talking down the asking price for some time, to the point it was a steal for the Astros. This being blocked is a bad thing.
That’s because it never happened. Arenado has been on the Astros list for sometime and they have been working on a deal for over a week. The Cards got sick of waiting on Bregman to trade Arenado and were willing to deal him to the Astros for a few prospects and eat a decent amount of his contract. Astros wanted to speak directly to Arenado a few days ago to convince him to come to Houston.
I feel like if Bagwell is calling the shots on this deal, then we're lucky that Arenado is exercising his veto. One would think Bags' voice would not be very persuasive to Crane after the Abreu fiasco.
Signing Arenado is something the old Astros would do. The new Astros would find a good production guy that meshes well with the team and plays hard. We don’t need to go back to the days of signing big names on the decline.
So you’re telling me the random dude on X that heard from “a little birdy” is full of ****? Color me shocked. Shouldn’t have even posted that on here. There will be several people who take that and run with it.
I agree with you on Paredes. He was bad in Chicago last year but was very good for years before then and is in his prime. His versatility- low salary and quality bat means he can always play. I think fans are being way too hard on Crane and Brown. The Astros have a high payroll and will add to it. They don’t have the revenue or location that NY or LA has but we remain very good. Arenado blocking the trade to Houston was not a good thing. Brown worked on a deal for over a week and was going to get him for $15,000,000 a season and even if he has the same season as last year - it would be a positive outcome. We missed on an opportunity to fill a major hole for 3 years at reliever money. The Astros were planning on moves beyond just Paredes and Arenado as well - they were and still are talking to some good outfielders.
