Instead of addressing the St. Louis Cardinals' heartbreaking loss to the Chicago Cubs, Nolan Arenado was forced to address questions about a possible trade before Tuesday's deadline.
While St. Louis Cardinals management has not addressed the rumors of a possible trade involving their superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado going to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Arenado felt compelled to address reporters about the rumors.
In the most shocking news, Arenado returned to the clubhouse Friday evening to address reporters about these rumors as John Mozeliak has seemingly ghosted reporters.
This seems like another case of Mozeliak and the Cardinals failing to communicate properly, leaving the organization's All-Star third baseman to answer questions he should not have to in this situation.
According to further reporting from MLB.com John Denton, Arenado wants to help the team win. He added that while he is with the Cardinals, he will compete to the best of his ability.
Goold noted that Mozeliak never got back to him regarding his questions about Arenado. He said, "The fact that Nolan Arenado returned to talk to reporters about this and answer the questions as directly as he could – even ones that others should answer – is worth noting."
This was very professional of Arenado. He took questions about a situation he should not have to address. Arenado is the Cardinals' third baseman. He is not an executive that has to speak on these issues that are typically above his pay grade.
It's absurd that Mozeliak couldn't be bothered to answer these questions.
According to the Post-Dispatch's Ben Frederickson, Arenado didn't know where reports came from regarding waiving his no-trade clause to go to the Dodgers. "When Mo comes up to me and wants to have those conversations, we will have them."
Arenado is saying he hasn't been approached about a trade, but if he's approached, they can have the conversation at that time. Again. Not something Arenado should have to speak to the media about, but it is so professional of him. It shows respect for Cardinals fans and the media that informs them.
Frederickson tweeted:
Frederickson is correct in this being a bad spot for Arenado. Frustration is understandable. This appears to be another example of poor communication from the front office. That is frustrating.
There was hope that communication would improve when Mozeliak conceded that he failed to address the big concern of starting pitching last offseason and would use this trade deadline to make those changes. While no moves have been made, poor communication between management and the players is prevalent.
Not communicating with a star player in the organization, leaving him to address reporters about a situation he knows nothing about, is a terrible look. At a time when trade rumors are flying at a fast pace, where the player doesn't even know where they originated, leaving him to address those questions is bad.
Hopefully, this will not come back to bite Mozeliak before Tuesday's deadline with Arenado leaving. Mozeliak will have more problems, as a complete overhaul was never supposed to be in the Cards.
