Nolan Arenado Will Add Teams to Trade List, Says It's 'Best to Move On' from Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado told Katie Woo of The Athletic that "it looks like it's best to move on" from the organization.

"There are drastic changes that need to happen for me individually and probably with this team," Arenado said. "I'm not a part of those plans for those changes for the team, and that's OK. I understand that. Obviously, I could come back. That's always a possibility, so I try to understand that. But at the same time, it looks like it's best to move on."

Arenado has a no-trade clause, but he noted he will lengthen the list of teams he'll waive that clause for moving forward. In addition, Woo noted Arenado's desire to be more open-minded about the trade process as a whole this offseason.

"I think I have to be," Arenado told Woo. "That's something I'll discuss with my agent and my family. I think the discussion I'll have with my agent for sure is that the list will be different."

Arenado is a 10-time Gold Glove winner, eight-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger who has played 13 MLB seasons (eight with the Colorado Rockies and five more with the Cardinals).

He's a .282 lifetime hitter (.846 OPS) with 352 home runs and 1,183 RBI. Arenado has also posted a career 162-game average of 32 homers and 107 RBI.

This past season was a tough one for Arenado, who hit a career-low .236 (.660 OPS) with 11 home runs and 51 RBI in 105 games. He missed a month-and-a-half with a right shoulder strain and returned on Sept. 15.

The Cardinals nearly traded Arenado to the Houston Astros last December. Per Woo, Houston was actually one of the five teams on Arenado's list of teams he would play for, alongside the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres. However, Arenado ended up turning the move down.

"Part of the reason for Arenado's reluctance to come to Houston in December, according to a source, was that the Astros had just traded Tucker to the Cubs, but the addition of Walker signals Houston is still looking to win," per Brian McTaggart, Mark Feinsand and John Denton of MLB.com last February.

"The Astros lost free agent third baseman Alex Bregman in free agency to the Red Sox, which also helped Arenado clarify his market."

Trade talk persisted during last offseason for Arenado, who has two years and $42 million remaining on his current deal.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak even said that trading Arenado was "priority No. 1, 2 and 3" for the team, per Woo.

That deal never happened, but as Woo noted, his Cardinal tenure "should come to an end this winter." So now the Cardinals move into this offseason in hopes of trading Arenado after wrapping up their third straight campaign outside the playoffs.