The Cardinals are days away from a probably awkward state of affairs on the ballclub’s spring coaching facility in Jupiter, Fla.
One which president of baseball operations John Mozeliak addressed Wednesday with reporters because the deadline for gamers to report by Sunday loomed, as did the prospects of an sad Nolan Arenado.
The Cardinals have been overtly making an attempt to commerce the star third baseman to no avail, partially due to the complete no-trade clause he has in his contract and Arenado’s need to finish up with one among 5 particular groups.
Mozeliak described the state of affairs, in response to MLB.com, as an “oddity” and stated the group is opening spring coaching, historically a time for hope and optimism, with “this over our heads.”
“Could something happen in the next week? Possibly. Could this go into camp? Possibly,” Mozeliak stated. “So, I don’t have a definitive answer. Patience is required.”
Arenado is predicted to report back to the workforce’s facility on Sunday if a commerce doesn’t materialize by then and could possibly be on the sector the following day for the Cardinals’ first full-squad exercise.
Mozeliak did acknowledge that he had but to talk with anybody from the star infielder’s camp in a number of weeks and anticipated some awkwardness if he does arrive.
However he added that Arenado remains to be a professional and understands the expectations.
“I still think he’s a professional baseball player and he’s currently a St. Louis Cardinal, and we all understand once you are here, you’re pushing forward,” Mozeliak stated. “Would that mean trying to accomplish something during spring training? Possibly, but there are no guarantees at that point.”
MLB.com’s John Denton reported in December that Arenado had six groups on his commerce want record, which included the Dodgers, Padres, Angels, Phillies, Mets or Pink Sox.
On Wednesday, he reported that Mozeliak had been restricted to making an attempt to commerce with the Yankees, Pink Sox, Dodgers, Padres and Angels.
The Pink Sox doubtless got here off the board Wednesday night time after Boston agreed to a take care of Alex Bregman.
“If you think back to when we started discussing the possibility of trading him, we thought all along that we could probably do something this offseason, but it just hasn’t happened,” Mozeliak stated. “Ultimately, I did not have a large list of teams, and it wasn’t like there were 29 teams I could take him to, so I’m trying to navigate what I could work with. Obviously, it hasn’t moved at the pace many of us had hoped for.”
In December, the Cardinals did have a deal in place with the Astros for Arenado, however the third baseman nixed the deal.
Time is ticking for something to get executed earlier than issues actually get going throughout spring coaching.
