Cardinals trade Nolan Arenado to Diamondbacks, finally find 'fit' for All-Star

Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan 13, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals' found their "better fit" for Nolan Arenado and traded the 10-time Gold Glove-winner to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

The Cardinals will send close to $30 million with the All-Star third baseman to Arizona for right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez, a 2025 draft pick out of Arizona State. The team announced the deal Tuesday morning.

Martinez, 22, did not pitch for an Arizona affiliate this past season following his final college spring with the Sun Devils. In 15 starts for ASU, the 6-foot-4 right-hander had 110 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings and a 5.47 ERA.

The trade opens up third base as a possible spot for top prospect JJ Wetherholt to play in 2026 or Nolan Gorman could start there as he did while Arenado was on the injured list in 2025.

Arenado, 34, has two years remaining and $42 million remaining on his current contract. The Cardinals expected to pay a significant portion of the $37 million they owed after Colorado paid the $5 million it agreed to cover of his 2026 contract. The Diamondbacks are paying $11 million of his remaining salary, per a source. The Arizona Republic reported that the D-Backs will pay $6 million of Arenado's salary in 2027, the season the Cardinals originally added on to his contract to make a trade possible with the Rockies in 2021.

A year ago, Arenado vetoed a trade to Houston, setting the stage for the Cardinals' second consecutive offseason of trying to find a team that met Arenado's wishes to contend and also be a fit for their trade goals.

Arenado is coming off the most difficult season offensively of his career. He missed more than a month due to a shoulder and arm injury, and he spent most of the season searching for his swing on the way to a career-low .377 slugging percentage and .666 OPS. Arenado hit 12 home runs and drove in 52 RBIs in 107 games.

The Cardinals scripted a send-off for Arenado in his final game at Busch Stadium so that he could receive a standing ovation.

At the time, both sides agreed for the team to find a trade, and Arenado expressed a willingness to increase the number of teams he'd consider to waive his no-trade clause for.

The past 12 months are not the ending that he expected when first pursuing a trade to the Cardinals and reworking his contract before the 2021 season to make it possible. The Cardinals and Arenado saw his arrival as the superstar addition to combine with Paul Goldschmidt to push the team back toward October success.

In 2022, Goldschmidt and Arenado each had MVP-worthy seasons with Goldschmidt winning the award and Arenado leading the league in Wins Above Replacement. That same summer, the Cardinals welcomed back Albert Pujols for his drive toward 700 career home runs and their drive to a National League Central Division title. The postseason ended abruptly, however, with a wild-card series loss to Philadelphia at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals have not been back to the postseason since, and in the past year they pivoted away from their goal to contend annually to focus on their future by rejuvenating the farm system and reducing payroll.

The trade opens up a spot on the 40-player roster that the Cardinals can now use to finalize a deal with reliever Ryne Stanek. The right-hander and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year deal this past weekend, per sources.

For the upcoming World Baseball Classic this spring, Arenado has been invited to be on Yadier Molina's Team Puerto Rico squad.