Nolan Arenado returned to Busch Stadium on Monday night with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The homecoming landed after he once chose the St. Louis Cardinals over a bigger payday and later said he would not opt out of his contract.
That return came in the Cardinals’ series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium. For Cardinals fans, it put Arenado back in the place where he said he wanted to finish his career.
February 1, 2021 trade
The move that brought him to St. Louis came on February 1, 2021, when the Cardinals received Arenado and $51 million in cash considerations from the Colorado Rockies. St. Louis sent Austin Gomber, Elehuris Montero, Tony Locey, Mateo Gil and Jake Sommers to Colorado in the deal.
Arenado said after the trade that he had no interest in using his opt-out and that he had always admired the Cardinals and wanted to end his career in St. Louis. He later got an additional opt-out option after the 2022 season when he waived his no-trade clause to accept the trade.
Late October of 2022 opt-out decision
He reached that choice in late October of 2022, saying he would not opt out of his St. Louis Cardinals contract. That left him on the path he had described from the start: staying put unless the organization no longer wanted him.
The final two seasons in St. Louis did not match the promise of the beginning. Arenado’s offense declined, and nagging injuries played at least a partial role, along with natural age decline. Even so, he still finished third in the MVP vote after the 2022 season.
Busch Stadium return
Monday night brought those threads together in one place. Arenado came back to Busch Stadium as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Cardinals got a first look at the player they once built a trade around and then watched honor the contract he said he intended to keep.
For the Cardinals, Nolan Gorman remains part of the roster picture after the trade shaped the infield that followed. For Arenado, the return carried the weight of a promise kept in public and tested by the way his St. Louis years finished.
