Nolan Arenado's silence-breaking explanation for Astros trade veto made no sense

Eric Cole

Houston Astros v St. Louis Cardinals / Scott Kane/GettyImages

One of the more bizarre developments from last offseason was the failed attempt by the Houston Astros to trade for St. Louis Cardinals' star Nolan Arenado. Through not a perfect fit, Arenado was a logical pivot for the Astros when talks with former third baseman Alex Bregman broke down.

Obviously, that did not happen. The Astros had the framework of a trade in place, but the veteran third baseman famously vetoed the deal and Houston had to shift their attempts to overhaul the roster.

There's been little in the way of an explanation as to why Arenado vetoed the trade. When asked recently about his decision to stay with the Cardinals, Arenado provided some fascinating insights into his thought process. However, his stance on the matter makes very little sense in the grand scheme of things.

Nolan Arenado's explanation for blocking Astros trade doesn't hold up to scrutiny

Almost everyone can understand Arenado's position. Entering the twilight of his career, Arenado wanted to be in a situation where he's comfortable and has a chance to win a World Series. The Astros had just traded away Tucker, causing Arenado to be spooked by what could be the makings of a roster teardown. Arenado said he didn't "veto" the trade per se, but simply asked for more time to see what happened. That was time that Houston couldn't give him and the deal died.

Arenado negotiated a no-trade clause and had every right to exercise it. If he loves St. Louis and wanted to stay there, so be it. However, being worried about the Astros being competitive going forward makes no sense. While concerns of a potential drop-off in 2025 are fair, Houston clearly wasn't set to begin a rebuild, which is more than the Cardinals could say.

Houston has to be feeling good about the acquisition Isaac Paredes, but using the intended money for Arenado on Christian Walker may have fans on edge at the moment. Walker's been one of Houston's worst performers to date, and leads the team in strikeouts.

And while Arenado has gotten off to a hot-start, the Cardinals look like a team who is going to win 80 games if they're lucky, and ultimately miss playoffs. One wonders if Arenado is regretting his decision given that he was never traded this offseason and is now stuck in St. Louis.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.