This much is crystal clear: The St. Louis Cardinals are Nolan Arenado’s team now

Neither Nolan Arenado’s decision to opt in to the remaining five years on his contract nor his being awarded a 10th consecutive NL Gold Glove at third base came as a particular surprise, but both set the stage for him to secure his place at the center of the St. Louis Cardinals’ culture for years to come.

Calendar pages are turning, and one thing is clear — this is Arenado’s team now, in a way that perhaps not even the Rockies were before.

Even after signing a mega extension in Colorado — the same deal that was modified in the trade to St. Louis and cemented with Sunday’s announcement — the disconnect between Arenado and the Rockies’ front office was clear. General manager Jeff Bridich was widely reviled and indeed resigned after less than a month of post-Nolan play, and the spillover of their private feud into the public eye was once described by Arenado as his sole regret from his time as a Rockie.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, have had their own brand to maintain. Largely that’s been one that’s stoic, anchored to tradition, and arguably even a little stodgy. In every season since Roger Bresnahan’s arrival in 1909, at least one Hall of Famer (or, in Yadier Molina’s case from 2012-2021, certain future inductee) has been present in the club’s dugout.

That’s how you build a team culture premised on winning. That’s also a streak not, at this moment, guaranteed to continue; Arenado is certainly its best hope.

Third base has been a notoriously difficult position for cracking the doors of Cooperstown and has been largely judged based on offensive acumen, but Arenado’s superlative defensive work might make him a unicorn in terms of evaluating the scope of his career when it reaches its end.

He is, of course, an outstanding offensive contributor as well. The 2022 season is likely to see him, at a minimum, match his career best by finishing in the top three in the MVP race, marking his sixth top ten finish in ten years. His 154 OPS+ this season was a career best by a full 21 points as he rebounded from a somewhat lackluster first season in St. Louis to put all of his talents on full display.

That, ultimately, is what he has to contribute to the identity of the team. Yadier Molina’s mystical aura has moved on to manage in Venezuela, and Albert Pujols’s magical second half has been capped off by his officially having signed retirement papers. Paul Goldschmidt, with only two years remaining on his own contract, is as steady a presence as he’s ever been, but leadership styles vary.

Goldschmidt speaks up when necessary, but he smolders more than he erupts. Every player is responsible for their own internal fire, but the clubhouse also needs a direction in which to look for a spark, an ignition source that asserts itself from the outside.

More about Arenado

Arenado can be that player, and has been when the time has called for it, if ever with an eye on deference. The group of young players drawn to him like so many ducklings — Dylan Carlson, Andrew Knizner, Lars Nootbaar chief among them — have taken on some of his characteristics even as they’ve worked to lighten the load.

That corner of the clubhouse may frequently be the comic relief corner, but it’s not for lack of caring. Indeed, it often seems to come from the most base social instinct of many functioning groups — they adore and admire Nolan, they want to make him laugh, and they want to be just like him all at once.

The energy which pervades that group now is without barriers to be turned loose on the whole room. Adam Wainwright’s pending retirement aside, for the first time in decades, the way is clear. There’s no one on the position players’ side of the clubhouse better positioned or, indeed, more obliged to seize the leadership mantle and carry it.

Putting his stamp on the team

And Arenado, for the twists and turns his career has taken, has never been better positioned to put his stamp on a team and therefore the league. That will, in part, require postseason success; Arenado is 5-for-33 in the playoffs in his career, with his only extra base hit a home run in a Wild Card loss to Arizona in 2017. It will require repeating his offensively dominant 2022 season, demonstrating that a new bat and a confident attitude weren’t all that contributed to putting himself on display the way he always dreamed.

He will have to continue to blaze his path toward Cooperstown. That is the standard to lead the St. Louis Cardinals, and it is one that both through play and contract Arenado has earned. He is more than up to the challenge, and 2023 will be his first chance to demonstrate, without restrictions, that he knows what it means for a team to take on his identity.

This is Nolan’s team now. It’s time.

This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 6:00 AM.