Sonny Grey Commerce Exhibits Cardinals More likely to Lower Ties With Extra Veterans

[ad_1] The fireplace sale has began in St. Louis this winter as Sonny Grey was traded to the Boston Crimson Sox on Tuesday. Many insiders and executives questioned if this might occur because the Cardinals seem to endure a rebuild.

Grey was traded away for 2 prospects, Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke, each of whom are pitchers. Nevertheless, that is prone to be the primary of many strikes the Cardinals make to shed payroll and ship out older gamers.

Buster Olney of ESPN believes now that Grey has been traded, the probability of third baseman Nolan Arenado and first baseman Willson Contreras may quickly be proven the door as nicely.

<img id="11109190" alt="" caption="KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MAY 17: Nolan Arenado #28 and Willson Contreras #40 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrate a 1-0 win over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on May 17, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)" credit="" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="5379" height="3586" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" src="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2215638498_abb5a7.jpg?w=640&quality=80&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2215638498_abb5a7.jpg?w=750&quality=80&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2215638498_abb5a7.jpg?w=1000&quality=80&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2215638498_abb5a7.jpg?w=1200&quality=80&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2215638498_abb5a7.jpg?w=1360&quality=80&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2215638498_abb5a7.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2215638498_abb5a7.jpg?w=1600&quality=80&webp=1"/> "It appears inevitable that the Cardinals will both commerce or launch Nolan Arenado earlier than the beginning of the '26 season; in that case, Willson Contreras would be the final St. Louis participant with a contract for 2027. Except he is traded," Olney wrote in a submit on X.

Olney then added a reply to his personal submit.

"To place this into context: The Cardinals may have a decrease payroll subsequent 12 months than the Reds. Which could've appeared inconceivable in previous many years," he wrote.

This could come to the shock of only a few baseball followers, if any, as Arenado has been the topic of commerce rumors for fairly a while. In actual fact, there was a variety of hypothesis as as to whether he was going to even play final 12 months with the Cardinals.

Contreras is the title that ought to come as a shock as there has not been as a lot chatter round him as there was Arenado. If St. Louis was to commerce him, it will have to discover a workforce that's trying to find a primary baseman (cough cough New York Mets) or somebody to function the designated hitter. His catching days are over as he did not seem behind the plate as soon as this previous season.