The Cardinals placed Nolan Arenado on the 10-day injured list this evening with a right shoulder strain. St. Louis activated Nolan Gorman from his own IL stay in a corresponding move. They also recalled relief pitchers Andre Granillo, Roddery Muñoz and Ryan Fernandez to fill the bullpen spots vacated by recent trades of Steven Matz, Ryan Helsley and Phil Maton.
Manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Katie Woo of The Athletic) that there’s no timeline for Arenado’s return. Marmol added that the veteran third baseman has been playing through discomfort for a while. It’s presumably no coincidence that his already pedestrian numbers have continued to drop. Arenado has a .235/.294/.366 batting line with 10 homers in 394 plate appearances on the year. He’s hitting only .175/.230/.211 in July, by far his worst month of the season.
Arenado remains a strong defender, but he’s amidst his worst full season at the plate since he was a rookie. That follows consecutive league average seasons between 2023-24. He seems to be firmly in the decline phase of his illustrious career at age 34. He’s signed through 2027 and the Cardinals have been unable to find a satisfactory trade agreement since he vetoed a potential deal to the Astros over the winter. If he is out for most or all of the remaining schedule, an offseason deal would be equally difficult to envision.
The 25-year-old Gorman returns after a couple weeks lost to a back issue. He’ll play third base regularly for at least as long as Arenado is sidelined. Asked last night whether the Cards were considering a change in playing time in the infield, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak somewhat vaguely replied that they’re “going to try to find at-bats for Nolan Gorman as best we can” (link via Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Arenado’s injury opens that path for the former first-round pick.
Gorman has big power but has struggled to make contact against MLB pitching. This season’s 30% strikeout rate is a marginal improvement relative to his first three seasons but remains too high. He has a league average .219/.310/.408 slash with nine homers in 226 plate appearances. Gorman hit 27 longballs a couple years ago and has formerly been an everyday second baseman. The Cards had a tougher time finding at-bats for him this year. They held Brendan Donovan past the deadline; he’ll play regularly at second base. Donovan can also play the corner outfield, but they’ve got Alec Burleson in left and have begun giving catcher Iván Herrera some outfield reps as well. That’s before considering Lars Nootbaar’s eventual return from the injured list.
In what amounts to a transitional year for St. Louis, the primary focus has been on the evaluation of young players like Gorman and Jordan Walker. They’ll have another two months to get more data before Mozeliak turns control of the front office to Chaim Bloom. The upcoming offseason will provide an insight into how Bloom evaluates the mid-20s players and what he considers the priorities to get the team back to playoff contention in 2026 or ’27.
Maybe they can trade the shell of Arenado this offseason!!!
ah yes, the good old phantom IL to get younger guys playing time. gotta love it
You don’t think Arenado would file a grievance if they tried to fake an injury just to bench him?
I mean hey realistically it’s probably true that he has something that might be nagging. Whether or not it’s serious enough to warrant an IL stint is the question for me, personally. I don’t think he would make things that awkward with the Cardinals, and he’s been open about how his family enjoys St. Louis and that he doesn’t want to leave for the sake of leaving or a trade getting done. I just can’t help but wonder whether this is real or not, that’s all
Agreed Mr. Twopitch, but there’s also the reciprocal.
Cardinals may have let Arenado limp along playing kinda hurt because it would be easier to trade an active player, than an IL player.
If he has a nagging injury then an IL stint is probably best. The Cards aren’t going anywhere so it’s best to err on the side of caution with a player they will have for two more seasons.
I think with what happened after the Dodgers suspect IL placements and Preller’s secret medicals years back MLB cracked down on just putting guys on the IL for illegitimate reasons.
For the record, Arenado and his then-girlfriend now wife publicly loved Denver, too.
Maybe if he was in contract year.
Just a misunderstanding. “The deadline’s over and I’m still here, Oh, how it hurts….”
A mistake anyone could make.
couldn’t trade him and so they hide him on IL, not a serious franchise
No team in their right mind would trade for him. It’s his contract that makes him untradable unless it’s too a big market club
Couldn’t trade him. Can’t release him. So put him on the DL. Love it!
Just DFA him already. You don’t have to keep using something that doesn’t work for you even if you still have to pay for it. You honor your debt, but you simply stop using the product.
If he sits enough his no trade list might shrink.
He’s hurt you idiots. He’s been hurt for a while now.
King: If “he’s been hurt for a while now,” how did he just play 12 of the Cardinals’ last 13 games?
As for other people being idiots, you know what they say, it takes one to know one, lol.
Nootbar was playing injured as well, then went on the IL. Some players try to play thru the pain before it becomes too much.
Its called playing through injury knucklehead.
King: You know, you have the right to remain silent because whatever you say will probably be stupid anyway.
It would be wise for you to do so. That way, you see, the rest of us would only think you’re an ignorant shmuck instead of you speaking and confirming it with every comment.
And I saw Helsley on Mets pregame tonight saying how excited he is to come to NY and get out of a losing environment. He looks great in blue and orange!
I seriously doubt those were Helsley’s words.
Whenever I think of the Mets I think of Carlos Beltran staring at strike 3 in the NLCS. Brings back memories.
King: You must really get warm and fuzzy recalling the 2000 NLCS as well.
And how did Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey work out in St. Louis? Asking for my friend Keith.
Mets haven’t won it all since 1986. Thats amazing…..
Because the Cardinals are stupid and played him because they were desperate
Rockies should trade Kris Bryant for Nolan Arenado, straight up.
Arenado says no. As do the Cardinals.
Anthony Rendon
Same.
Arenado was placed on the IL with hurt feelings after his name didn’t come up in a single trade deadline rumor
It’s too bad really. The guy is still one of the best fielding third baseman in the game. He just can’t hit. Takes horrible at bats. Takes the good pitches and swings at the bad ones. Does it over and over again.
Has Arenado ever been on the IL before?
He’s had a lingering shoulder injury he’s been playing through for 2+ years now.
That’s called the wear and tear of playing third base. At his age and amount of miles, It’s not something that gets better without some needles. Which he doesn’t have the balls to go down that path, nor should he.
Acupuncture??
I know the article says Gorman will play 3B regularly in the coming weeks, but what about Saggese? He’s looked pretty good there, and I figure they’ll continue to wait for his bat to come around.
They need Gorman to rebuild his trade value.
Yeah, Gorman will play, I just would think he’d see time at DH and 2B, too.
Gormans best position is probably 1b but hes blocked there. Could be an offseason trade coming.
His .227 average this season is above his lifetime mark Sometimes, they are what they are. Trade value = not quite zero, but close.
Saggesse’s arm isn’t really strong enough to play third. And with Gorman MAYBE starting to take better ABs with yet another swing adjustment, playing him makes sense.
Gorman has a ton of upside and is running out of chances, so with a season that’s essentially over, playing him now is the right choice.
He’s been injured the last three weeks and still played games. What’s wrong with the Cardinals doing that? His last home or was June tent for crying out loud
2B belongs to Donovan this year and Wetherholt next year. DH belongs to Herrera.
I would like to see JJ transition to 3B in Memphis immediately, hopefully play in the Arizona Fall League at 3rd, go to Jupiter early to work with Oquendo, and do a 50/50 split with Arenado next year.
I’m willing to wager Herrera is going to be our everyday left fielder sooner than later. Let Burly be our everyday right fielder and Walker goes to DH for now. Noot rides the pine, playing all over the OF/DH for the rest of the season.
Winn has a bad leg too. He needs to heal and take time off
No doubt Nolan has been playing hurt. He’s not the problem with this team. We are three years into a lost decade.
I believe they’ll try to find a team that wants him and to get the deal done add one or two other players so a three for One type deal
SpockOut
Rumor is a three-team trade with the Cardinals getting Anthony Rendon while the Rockies get Nolan Arenado and the Angels get Kris Bryant.
I still think Arenado on a bad day is a better defensive player than Gorman is any day. I would love to know what Lies and broken promises MO made to Arenado to get him to not exercise his OPT out clause’s he had?