It’s a good thing the St. Louis Cardinals didn’t trade for Nolan Arenado after all

I was as excited as anyone when it appeared that the St. Louis Cardinals were close to trading for Nolan Arenado, the disgruntled Colorado Rockies slugger.

But the Cardinals may have dodged a bullet when they failed to complete a trade that would have allegedly included top prospect Nolan Gorman and young starting pitcher Dakota Hudson. Imagine paying such a large bounty of talent for a player who was only under control for two seasons before he can exercise an opt-out in his contract — and then potentially have one of those two seasons be canceled or at least greatly shortened.

I’m not saying I’m off the Arenado bandwagon. With a sticky glove at a prime position and a powerful bat for the middle of the batting order, Arenado could be the perfect player for the Cardinals. But the Rockies market for him has changed drastically because of the state of the world. Because of his decreased amount of control, Colorado will likely have to take less for a player they hoped to mend fences with during an improbable good start to the 2020 season that will now never happen.

If St. Louis can hang on to either Gorman or Hudson in that deal, giving up pitching prospects less central to the Cardinals front office’s immediate plans instead, it could put St. Louis in position to gamble on one season of Arenado and the hope that he’ll fall in love with playing in St. Louis like former Rockies star Matt Holliday or fellow superstar Mark McGwire.

The mix of Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and rising slugger Paul DeJong in the middle of the batting order for the next four or five years is appealing. Especially when you consider the fact that the Cardinals will shed the contracts of Brett Cecil, Andrew Miller, Adam Wainwright and Mike Leake at the end of this year, Yadier Molina will likely take less money for 2021 and Dexter Fowler, Matt Carpenter and potentially Kolton Wong will be up at the end of next year. There will be a good mix of high earners in the middle, some ascending starts in DeJong, Jack Flaherty and Hudson and Gorman, Lane Thomas and Dylan Carlson will provide production as highly affordable players. Everything will be coming together at once.

While it would be great to wait until the end of the year to work on such things I hope that, as soon as they’re allowed to make roster maneuvers, that the Cardinals start talking with Molina and Wong about the future. I’m sure they would probably prefer to wait until the end of the season to prevent distractions. But the fact of the matter is that St. Louis is at a pivotal time in its roster construction and its catcher and second baseman are key to the roster matrix.

Molina wanted to be paid as the best catcher in the game when he got his last contract, although he was starting to enter his decline years. The team stepped up and showed its appreciation to Molina. Now, I hope he’s willing to return the gratitude and help the team reload for a couple of more shots at a World Series ring. It would be fair for both sides if Molina, who made $20 million a year for the past several seasons, took two years for $25 million, his choice of $15 million the first year and $10 million for the second or $12.5 million per year for two seasons. Either way, the Cardinals could save $7.5 million on average on one player alone.

As far as Wong goes, he’s a guy who has had a hard time putting it all together. He seemed to finally get there last year, and the Cardinals would be banking on the idea that it wasn’t a fluke extending him past the last year of his contract and potentially overwriting a 2021 option season. Wong was supposed to be the lead-off hitter who moved Carpenter down into a spot where his power did more good, but he was too inconsistent. Is the latest version of Wong the real deal? If so, sign him to a deal that will make him a Cardinal for five more years. If not, St. Louis should consider dealing him at the trade deadline — if there is one — and hand the job over to Edman. Hopefully, it’s the former. Then Edman would be available to be a super sub, playing third base, second base and the outfield, depending on where he’s needed. That would add a lot of depth to the Cardinals roster. But is that a luxury the team can afford?

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.