Nolan Arenado's value may have decreased, but he's still an asset to the Cardinals

Defense and a hungry veteran presence carry dividends for a surprising team.

The hardest part of acquiring a player in his late 20s or early 30s is the well-known reputation that their best years are behind them. You’re taking on a large contract due to their accomplishments, but those are things that have been done already and are likely to decrease as time and a sharpened opposition take shape around their talents.

Nolan Arenado isn’t precisely a player on the decline for the St. Louis Cardinals, but his attributes aren’t what they used to be. Three years ago, he was facing off against his then-teammate, Paul Goldschmidt, for the National League MVP award. A rapid decline last summer saw him go from a 4-6 WAR player to someone who could compile a 3.0 WAR if the bat didn’t go completely cold. Hoping for him to hit 20 home runs and slug well over .400 shouldn’t be such a big wish, but here we are as that reality has moved in.

He turned 30 when the Cardinals traded for him, and put up a 12.3 WAR combined for his first two seasons. Over the past two years, though, he hasn’t even been able to put up a combined 6.0 WAR. For most players, giving a team a few wins above replacement isn’t a bad thing to have on the resume. When your price tag exceeds $25 million, expectations shift, and the ceiling is raised. The Colorado Rockies may be paying a portion of his salary, but the team still needs him to be a fraction of the player he once was.

So far in 2025, Arenado hasn’t improved much from his 2024 production. The bat has its moments, but is mostly kept in check. He has one more home run at this moment than he did at the same point last season, but that doesn’t make enough of a dent to expect a higher quality of slugging for the next four months. The doubles and RBI aren’t much higher, and the average and on-base percentage still sit in a lower range. It had become so average that he recently asked to be taken out of the lineup to help the team produce more offense.

It’s that selflessness that stands as one of the greatest attributes for Arenado. At the age of 34, the team must cling to the few things he can do well. A hungry veteran presence, if not a leadership role, helps a younger team. Nobody on that team wants to win more than him, even if a chance to go to a first-place Houston team in the offseason lay on his table only to be scrapped. Arenado is a valuable asset to a team that is surprisingly contending while in transition. St. Louis is changing the minds of leadership next season and is already embedded in a shifting development process.

The other thing Arenado brings to the table is an above-average level of defense at a very crucial position. After 2023 saw a sudden downturn in performance at third base, he has raised his game back to an expected level over the past two seasons. While it’s not exactly Gold Glove-worthy (he has ten of those already), the effect is still saving runs and helping a pitching staff with a dependency on groundballs find gloves instead of open terrain.

Arenado’s defensive WAR used to be up in the 2.0-2.5 range, but it’s still a positive number and one that turns potential bad innings into quiet endings. While his desire to win may be more geographically challenged than his reputation leads one to believe, he does feed off winning ways--at least with his glove. The bat is only 3-19 in its last five games, but his glove can still range to the left and snag a would-be base hit and stop a big inning from commencing.

At this point, Cardinals fans should take the sweet with the bitter in regards to their last star player. Like I wrote earlier this season about Miles Mikolas, it’s all one can do when the chances of him being traded aren’t much greater than they were in the offseason. He isn’t a better player than he was on April 1, so don’t go chasing waterfalls with that notion. St. Louis would still be eating salary in order to let him save runs in the field for another team.

I compare him to Alexander Steen and his final year or so with the Blues. During the team’s illustrious 2019 Stanley Cup run, Steen went from being a top line player to a fourth line grinder. It helped the younger players blossom, and the Blues fed off the selfless attitude. He couldn’t score goals or create plays like he used to, but Steen went all out in helping the team however he could. Arenado did that by dropping down in the order, and by sacrificing his body on foul ball catches like the one he made last week.

Now, don’t think I’m saying the Cardinals are making a World Series run. Catching up to the Chicago Cubs is first on the docket, and that won’t be easy. A renewed rivalry would be a nice first step in regaining some dignity around the league and in the city. Arenado isn’t going anywhere and he is what he is at this point, so the fans have to adapt and soak all the goodness out of his talent just like the coaching staff is.

He has two years left on his deal, and the odds of him being dealt don’t improve with each passing month, unless he rebounds at the plate. For the time being, he can help the young guys understand how the game is played and how to tackle it on a daily basis, and preserve some leads with his still wicked defense.

Thanks for reading, and have a nice weekend.