John Mozeliak expresses sorrow over his handling of the trade negotiations involving Nolan Arenado.
John Mozeliak, the president of baseball operations for the St. Louis Cardinals, seldom discusses particular trade or free agent discussions, but he did so earlier this winter with Nolan Arenado.
“The club had every intention of moving Arenado in a trade that offseason,” Mozeliak told reporters back at the Winter Meetings. “Then, Arenado’s agent, Joel Wolfe, confirmed that plan and was openly discussing Arenado’s willingness to play elsewhere.”
Since that time, Arenado has turned down a trade to the Houston Astros, and it appears that his trade market is completely stagnant. In addition to creating illusory optimism, Mozeliak’s belief that a deal may be reached by Christmas has made it possible that Arenado won’t be traded this summer.
John Mozeliak apologized for his public remarks on trading Nolan Arenado.
Mozeliak discussed the incident and seemed remorseful about how he handled the rumors at the Winter Meetings on KMOX’s “Countdown to Opening Day” with Matt Pauley and Mike Claiborne.
“At the time, I thought, pretty confidently, we had a deal in place and we were likely going to move him,” Mozeliak said. Now, a month later, it’s clear that didn’t occur. Perhaps I wouldn’t have said what I did that evening if I had known what I know now. However, we must accept that what I said was what I said.
It’s unclear if the agreement they believed they had was with Houston or another team, but it’s obvious that Mozeliak believed it was close enough to start telling people that Arenado would be moving soon. However, things either fell through or stalled, and now there are serious doubts about their ability to move Arenado.
In this interview, Mozeliak made it apparent that the Cardinals think Arenado is a quality player and that they would want to be the club that benefits from him rather than giving him away for free or spending a lot of money.
Although it’s a different circumstance, it does bring to mind Mozeliak’s public confirmation that the Cardinals intended to trade Tyler O’Neill during the previous summer. Similar to Arenado, it seems obvious to the industry that was the Cardinals’ goal, but telling the media explicitly that it is seems like a certain way to destroy or seriously damage a player’s trade value. Such remarks inform all teams that the player must go, and they also remove any power a team may have over that player.
In contrast to O’Neill, the Cardinals do appear to be serious about keeping Arenado if the offers aren’t present. However, it’s obvious that they would like to finalize a deal as soon as possible, ideally before Spring Training, in order to free up playing time for young bats and accomplish their other offseason goals.
It will be intriguing to see if Arenado and the team will have to accept the status quo or if Mozeliak can make a deal soon. Although there doesn’t seem to have been any tension in the relationship, both parties would desire a new beginning.
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