The Arizona Diamondbacks are taking a big swing in the trade market.
Now, they're just hoping Nolan Arenado isn't a whiff.
ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Tuesday that the Diamondbacks have completed a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals for Arenado.
The star third baseman has a no-trade clause, but Passan reports that Arenado is waiving it to come to the desert.
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Arenado isn't the player he once was. He's owed $31 million over the next two seasons at the end of a big contract he originally signed with the Rockies.
He's also coming off a season in which he batted.237 with just a.666 OPS.
On paper, it's a fascinating acquisition for an Arizona team that was just sellers (Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor) at July's trade deadline.
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Why did the Diamondbacks trade for Nolan Arenado?
The Diamondbacks never fully closed up shop when they made their trade deadline deals of Naylor and Suarez. They were just sending out guys on expiring contracts.
Once they made the decision recently to hold onto Ketel Marte and not trade him, it became clear the Diamondbacks would try and contend in 2026.
They didn't have an obvious starting third baseman. Formerly promising prospect Jordan Lawlar can play there, but it's not his natural spot.
Instead, they can plug in the 10-time Gold Glover at the hot corner.
An order with Geraldo Perdomo, Corbin Carroll and Marte at the top is off to a good start. Arizona will hope Arenado has at least a bit of bounceback in his bat to join them in a formidable lineup.
The Cardinals clearly wanted to get rid of Arenado, so the trade cost was never going to be too high.
The Diamondbacks must've decided that paying some more money over the next two years to try and win more baseball games was a price they were willing to pay.
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