MLB Trade Rumors: This Team ‘Enamored’ With Nolan Arenado

If Shohei Ohtani isn’t available to the Dodgers ahead of the Major League Baseball trade deadline, Los Angeles might turn its attention to a different superstar.

The Dodgers have a history of making huge splashes before the league’s trading window closes, and that trend very well could continue this year. As ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez explained in a column published Monday morning, LA is in need of both starting and relief pitching as well as a right-handed bat leading up to the Aug. 1 benchmark.

Perhaps that last box could be checked by one of the game’s best all-around players, Nolan Arenado.

“The Dodgers have long been enamored of Arenado, 32, and they see third base as a need they’ll have to address in the offseason given their present construction,” Gonzalez wrote.

“The Cardinals aren’t expected to trade Arenado at the moment, but the Dodgers have the type of young talent — particularly pitching — to sway teams in a situation like this. Arenado has a full no-trade clause, but he grew up in Southern California and the expectation is that he would waive it for a team like the Dodgers.”

It makes sense why St. Louis reportedly isn’t looking to move Arenado, who is under contract through the 2027 season. A playoff berth isn’t likely for the Cards this season, but the state of affairs in St. Louis seemingly isn’t jarring enough for the organization to ship out its best player with an eye on a rebuild.

That said, everyone has a price, and the Dodgers are one of the few teams in baseball that are capable and willing of meeting even the steepest of demands. So if a “Godfather” offer comes across the Cardinals’ desk, they might have to consider it.