NEW: Cardinals Trade Nolan Arenado to the Diamondbacks ...Middle East

After over a year of rumors (and at least one failed attempt in the past), the St. Louis Cardinals are finally trading Nolan Arenado. Per multiple reports (ope, and now confirmed by the teams), the former Rockies and Cardinals third baseman is headed to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who sure love to keep everyone on their toes, eh?

Remember, the Diamondbacks were previously interested in both trading Ketel Marte and signing (now) Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman. But eventually, they pulled Marte off the market, ducked out of the Bregman sweepstakes, and have now swung a trade, themselves, for Arenado, who had to approve the deal by waiving his no-trade clause.

Nolan Arenado Traded to Arizona

Of course, this doesn’t come as much surprise from the other end.

The Cardinals have been extremely motivated sellers all winter, shipping Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras to the Red Sox and discussing a Brendan Donovan trade with everyone, including, most recently, the Giants (who may or may not be using Nico Hoerner as leverage).

For what it’s worth, the Cardinals also sent $31 million to Arizona, covering a large portion of the $42M left on Arenado’s deal. That was likely necessary to get anything of note for Arenado, 34, who has been trending way down in recent years:

2023: 107 wRC+, 2.7 WAR2024: 103 wRC+, 3.2 WAR2025: 84 wRC+, 0.9 WAR

Even his defense, while still above average, isn’t what it used to be. His ten consecutive Gold Glove streak ended in 2023.

In exchange for Nolan Arenado and $31 million, the Diamondbacks have sent back 22-year-old righty Jack Martinez, whom they drafted in the 8th round last year. I don’t know much about Martinez, but here’s Baseball America’s write-up:

Martinez spent two seasons with Division III Trinity (Texas) and one season with Louisiana-Lafayette before heading to Arizona State for his 2025 senior campaign. He proved a pleasant surprise for scouts in the Four Corners area this spring, with a 5.47 ERA over 15 starts and 77.1 innings to go with a 32.3% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate. A 6-foot-4, 215-pound righthander, Martinez has above-average fastball velocity and sits in the mid 90s while topping out at 97.

Martinez showed less strike-throwing ability with his fastball compared to his secondaries and used the pitch only about a third of the time. He went to an 80-mph changeup and a low-80s slider in near equal measure, and will also occasionally mix in a slower curveball in the upper 70s. If Martinez sharpens his fastball command, there’s no reason why he couldn’t profile as a starter in pro ball.

It seems like a fine pickup for the Cardinals, who tend to develop pitching well (or at least they used to). And they did the right thing by including so much money to improve the return. That’s what you hope your team will do when you’re selling and rebuilding. Get the best young talent you can when you are shipping out big league players, regardless of the financial impact.

The Cardinals are very likely not done yet. And while they may be setting themselves up well for the future, they are staring down what figures to be a very poor showing in 2026. That’s good news for the Cubs, who are absolutely going for it next season.

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