Nolan Arenado saga should reinforce Guardians fans' appreciation of José Ramírez

After more than a year of going back and forth, the dam between the St. Louis Cardinals and Nolan Arenado finally broke on Tuesday as the Cardinals traded the disgruntled third baseman to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a deal nowhere near commiserate what a player of his skillset should get. 

While he's not the player that he was earlier in his career, he’s an eight-time All-Star who still remains one of the best defensive infielders in all of baseball. But instead of St. Louis getting a bevy of prospects in return for him, they received a single pitching prospect while still having to pay down $31 million of the $42 million remaining on his salary. 

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians have a roster headlined by their own superstar third baseman in José Ramírez, who is a seven-time All-Star and seems to be getting better as gets older. 

Although the Arenado saga isn’t as much of a cautionary tale as the Angels’ Anthony Rendon debacle, it’s still another reminder of how blessed Guardians fans are to have Ramírez. 

The Cardinals’ trade of Nolan Arenado is a reminder of just how blessed the Guardians are with José Ramírez

The Cardinals have been trying to trade Arenado for more than a year as they’ve begun to shift into a rebuild, and nearly traded him to the Astros last offseason before he invoked his no-trade clause to nix the deal. 

Instead, he spent one more (largely uninspiring) season with the Cardinals before this offseason’s trade to the Diamondbacks in a deal that really only happened because Arizona missed out on Alex Bregman. 

Arenado was one of the best players in baseball from 2015 to 2023, as he was named an All-Star in every 162-game season in that span while also netting four top-five MVP finishes.

But he’s fallen off a cliff since his near MVP season for the Cardinals in 2022, and has been a largely league average player in the past three years. 

Meanwhile, Ramírez has been on another level since 2020 and is on a seven-year, $141 million deal. Getting his production for an AAV of $21 million seems downright criminal. 

On the other side, Arenado’s eight-year, $260 million contract became an anchor on the Cardinals’ books — and is still going to be one thanks to the amount they needed to pay down to trade him. 

Arizona being able to slot him in at third base for just $5 million is a deal, but it’s nowhere near the kind of deal the Guardians are getting with Ramírez. 

And don’t get us wrong, Ramírez’s decline is inevitable given Father Time is undefeated. But it’s easy to imagine Ramírez continuing to age well given the amount he puts in on his craft combined with his cerebral playstyle.

Even if all of that makes the front office’s lack of movement around him even more frustrating, it still doesn’t change the fact that Ramírez is one of the best players in baseball and is on one of the best deals in baseball.