Red Sox insider’s post changes tone on Cardinals’ dead Nolan Arenado rumors

The Nolan Arenado commerce saga took a number of years (and a veto) to resolve, although all of it got here to an finish when the St. Louis Cardinals lastly shipped him to the Arizona Diamondbacks in change for Jack Martinez again in January.

There are discussions available concerning the high quality of the return and the legacy Arenado left in St. Louis, nevertheless it was an vital step within the rebuild the Cardinals embarked on this winter underneath Chaim Bloom. No matter what kind it took, somebody was going to take the third baseman off their fingers.

However, it seems that a substitute for the Diamondbacks commerce could have truly been on the desk; Boston Globe author Tim Healey casually dropped a comment that Arenado was “almost” a Red Sox participant whereas the 10-time Gold Glover chatted with Boston’s president of baseball operations Craig Breslow.

We know the Sox were involved to some extent in the Arenado market, they usually clearly established a powerful commerce rapport with Bloom this winter, having secured offers for Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras. But did issues actually progress so far as Healey makes it sound?

Nolan Arenado was apparently nearly a Red Sox earlier than commerce to Diamondbacks

One purpose to be doubtful about that is Arenado himself; it was ceaselessly reported that he favored a return to the West Coast, a sentiment he’s shared since arriving in Arizona. Boston is clearly about as far east as you will get on this nation, and definitely even much less geographically interesting than Houston was to Arenado.

Then once more, the prospect to play with Gray and Contreras once more in all probability appealed to him. Perhaps he signed off on a deal to the Red Sox if the groups might agree on the parameters of a deal, however the Diamondbacks got here in with a greater supply (or have been keen to take on extra money) when the ultimate buzzer sounded. It’s unattainable to say with out extra reporting, however maybe Arenado really was “almost” the Red Sox’s new third baseman.

In the tip, this what-if state of affairs ended up resolving itself. The Sox acquired Caleb Durbin from the Milwaukee Brewers to function their starter on the scorching nook, whereas Arenado returns to the NL West with an opportunity to do what he by no means might with the Rockies: dethrone the Dodgers.

The Cardinals, in the meantime, offloaded all of their key veteran commerce chips as they anticipate a number of lean years of rebuilding before their next competitive era.