Last week, the St. Louis Cardinals traded eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks for salary relief and right-handed pitching prospect Jack Martinez. 

However, according to a new report from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the Athletics also wanted Arenado - and they were willing to pick up more of the bill. 

The A’s would have absorbed more money than the Diamondbacks, who will pay Arenado $11 million of the $42 million he is owed the next two seasons, with his previous club, the St. Louis Cardinals, picking up the rest. But Arenado indicated he would not necessarily approve a trade to the A’s, a person familiar with his thinking said. He preferred the Diamondbacks or Padres.

Arenado had a full no-trade clause that he used to block a deal to the Houston Astros last offseason, and he was evidently prepared to use it again here. Therefore, it's easy to see that the Cardinals were hemmed into a corner when it came to possible Arenado deals. It seems as if the deal with Arizona hit the best sweet spot they could have hoped for: They got out from $11 million of the money, Arenado was happy with the destination, and the Cardinals got at least an interesting prospect.

Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps Arenado was turned off from the A's fourth-place finish in the American League West last season. Perhaps he's turned off by playing in a minor league ballpark in West Sacramento, Calif. Perhaps he's turned off by the team's lack of pitching options or maybe he just doesn't like the color green. It doesn't really matter. He didn't want to go there.

Now 22 years old, Martinez was selected in the eighth round of the 2025 MLB Draft out of Arizona State. He did not play after getting drafted, so he has yet to appear in a professional game. He went 6-4 for the Sun Devils in 2025, posting a 5.47 ERA. He struck out 110 batters in 77.1 innings, showcasing the kind of swing-and-miss stuff that teams salivate over. The Cardinals will surely enjoy monitoring his development as he goes through the 2026 campaign, likely with innings and workload restrictions in place.

Over the weekend, it was confirmed that Cardinals' relief pitcher Riley O'Brien will play for Team Korea in the World Baseball Classic. Top prospect JJ Wetherholt will not.

Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!