KC Royals Rumors: Could Nolan Arenado update help JJ Picollo in trade efforts?

A potential rekindling of trade talks between the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros sparked as spring training got underway, only to be quickly snuffed out once again. That leaves the eight-time All-Star in camp with the team he's spent the last four years with, despite their repeated efforts to trade him this offseason. Remember the Kansas City Royals were once involved here?

Over at The Athletic (subscription required), Katie Woo recapped the twists and turns along the way over the last several months as outgoing Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak attempted to unload his team's highest-paid player while navigating a narrow list of six teams Arenado said he'd approve a trade to.

Those teams, the Astros, Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees and Padres, all made sense as potential fits at varying points of the offseason. However, Houston trading Kyle Tucker to the Cubs sank a potential Arenado-to-Houston deal that was described as being "at the one-yard line", but as the offseason went on he remained a Cardinal. St. Louis' "last" chance at moving him, in a potential trade to Boston, went up in flames when the Red Sox landed Alex Bregman on a three-year, $120 million with opt-outs after the 2025 and 2026 seasons.

But talks weren't limited to just those five teams. The Tigers, Angels and Royals all checked in with Mozeliak on Arenado, but were deemed "non-starters" by the veteran.

So with potential Houston talks hitting a roadblock yet again of late, could the door re-open for the Royals to add another big bat to an already potent offense? Probably not. Arenado seems perfectly content to open the year in St. Louis, regardless of how badly the front office has tried to move him this winter, potentially waiting to see if an opportunity with one of his preferred clubs opens up at the deadline or even next offseason.

Even if GM and president of baseball operations JJ Picollo felt like third base was a black hole (it's not, it's actually one of six positions around the diamond projected for 2.0+ fWAR), Arenado hasn't shown any inclination to approve a trade to Kansas City. This feels like a waiting game, and until Mozeliak figures something out with one of his approved destinations it seems unlikely Arenado is going anywhere.

The Royals, meanwhile, will open the year with Maikel Garcia penciled in at third. Any improvement at the plate over what he did last season would be big, but the bulk of his value comes from his defense and baserunning abilities. This is an area the Royals could add offense at the deadline, but given the players around Garcia, it's far from an urgent need for a team looking to build on its dramatic improvement from a year ago.