Nolan Arenado Trade Rumors: Dodgers 'Enamored' with Cardinals 3B Ahead of Deadline

The Los Angeles Dodgers "have long been enamored" with St. Louis Cardinals star Nolan Arenado, according to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez.

While the Cardinals are fourth in the National League Central at 44-56, Gonzalez added they aren't expected to move the veteran third baseman.

In an interview with Martin Kilcoyne of Fox-2 in St. Louis, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak acknowledged the team was likely to be a seller at the deadline but that a full fire sale was out of the question.

"Right now, I can tell you, we're going to trade people, you just don't know if it's going to be household names or guys who are more likely to not be here next year," he said.

"It's easy to talk about what we may or may not do at the moment, but we're not going to just give away players. We want to get some value in return. We want to get some value that helps us in 2024. And that's really going to be our focus as we enter the trading period."

Arenado is under contract with St. Louis through 2027 after opting in to the remainder of his eight-year, $260 million contract. Not only is there no threat of him leaving as a free agent anytime soon, but the $109 million he's owed over the next four seasons is a more than reasonable figure.

The 10-time Gold Glove winner ranks fifth in WAR (2.7) among third basemen at FanGraphs. Through 96 games, he's batting .291 and slugging .523 with 21 home runs and 76 RBI.

Gonzalez wrote the Dodgers will look to address the hot corner in the offseason, so acquiring Arenado would immediately take care of that need.

With the deadline a little more than a week away, it doesn't look like a realistic avenue, though.