Losing Nolan Arenado's bat was hard enough; losing his golden glove is the real gut shot to the Cardinals
That was always his greatest strength.
No offense to Nolan Arenado’s bat, swing, and past accomplishments, but his glove will always be his best attribute on a baseball field.
Finishing in the top 5 for MVP voting makes for a fine rose sitting on a platter that is going to someone else, but that’s not Arenado’s bread and butter. It’s winning ten consecutive Gold Gloves at a position that is among the toughest in sports. They don’t call third base the hot corner because you get hot pockets after sliding in safely; it’s the rocket retrieval zone for baseballs stung by lumber.
Arenado was better than everybody in his league at the hot corner for ten years, including two with the St. Louis Cardinals. He could get to the sharp grounders to his left, and strangle the line drives headed down the line. Little got past him. When he made an error, it wasn’t a bad idea to buy a lottery ticket after the 27th out.
Did he pick it better than Scott Rolen? Debatable, especially with their Gold Glove count coming in at eight and ten, respectively. Rolen would slide into foul territory, like Gary Gaetti dressed like Captain America for the day, snagging a baseball with eyes and slinging a dart over to first base--and I mean a dart! That’s something many Cardinals fans forget: this team has fielded some wonderful third basemen.
But they all crash down into Earth at some point. Father Time is winning on all cards, those late career Pujols and Waino boosts be damned. Rolen won a Gold Glove at 31 years old, which is also the same age that Arenado was when he won his last one in 2022. The angles aren’t as sharp, throws not nearly as sharp. The errors outnumber the highlight reel plays, and the defensive runs saved dwindle like the pizza box dropped in the middle of a bunch of unfed high school graduates.
In the first ten years of his career, per the wonderful Fangraphs website, Arenado saved his team 141 runs. Old school baseball fans may roll their eyes at something like DRS, but Fangraphs places their stock in the Fielding Bible, which is more worthwhile than that good book many worship. It stands for Defensive Runs Saved runs above average. Arenado built those ten trophies on 141 runs saved above the average defender.
How many has he saved in 2023-24 combined? -6. Negative six runs, the worst mark of his career. Before last year’s “one god damned run” saved above average finish, a 2021 finish of 6 DRS was his worst finish. Heck, he saved the team 13 runs in the shortened 2020 season. The guy was more stenchy with baseballs getting past him than the grandmother who puts out sixteen snack plates before Thanksgiving dinner, but doesn’t let you touch them until about 15 minutes before main dinner time.
That went away right along with the true playoff hopes of this Cardinals team, a indicated mark of a once golden defender losing his edge. It happens to all of them, including Rolen. He won another Gold Glove at 35 with the Reds, but that was it. He had a great all-around season with Cincinnati that summer. The shoulder must have felt great at last.
Maybe Arenado has another high-caliber season in him, but at 33 years old and counting, that’s a bet without much savviness or planning behind it. He’s declining, both at the plate and in the field. While Paul Goldschmidt has relocated some of his slugging ability, but his defense was only occasionally golden. He won three in his first six seasons, and another with the Cardinals. Arenado’s defensive touch is much more profound, especially when it’s missing.
Outside of his -7 DRS rating, the rest of the team is actually pretty solid defensively. Masyn Winn has a good amount of errors, but he leads the team in DRS and that won’t change. I knew the baton exchange would happen, but I wouldn’t have guessed 2024 would be the year it took place on the Cardinals infield.
Arenado made an error in Saturday’s game that led to a couple late insurance runs for Philadelphia, who showed how wide the gap is between the merely living (St. Louis) and the truly thriving (Phillies) when it comes to postseason tenacity. If we’re celebrating Arenado’s willingness to not enter Dan Uggla town with the slash line yet, we need to accept the fact that supreme Nado has been retired and probably isn’t coming back.
Arenado has won the Silver Slugger award five times, but only once in the past six years. His defense is the key component of his big salary and appeal, even if the .800 OPS and 25-30 HR were nice. Moving from the thin air of Colorado to the pitcher-friendly confines of Busch Stadium was always going to sting (or drop the OPS .100 lower), but the paltry .676 OPS this year is the worst since his rookie year. At least he kept that mark over the sorta respectable .700 mark.
If Rolen and past greats are any clue, the Gold Glove days are all but over for Arenado. One can wish the defense didn’t get this poor so quickly, just like his bat. Losing one was hard enough for the Cardinals, who annually hand over 20% of their payroll to the third baseman. Losing both of them over the span of a year has been a crushing blow.
The runs he saved on defense helped balance out the runs lost from his bat after the move from Colorado. His very good but not great status has been reduced to a barely league average player all around, but a well below average third baseman. Those runs saved have now been given back to the other team.
Why now? Pressing harder in the field due to the lack of power at the plate is one of the many reasons, including older age and lack of a shift. Outside of that, only the voices inside his head could give real clues. At the moment, Nolan Arenado has lost his touch on the diamond. Can he retrieve it? Conventional wisdom says nope, but you never know.
Maybe collecting more than two hits in twenty at-bats would be wise, even if those two hits are home runs.