SAN DIEGO — On the heels of the Trade Deadline and the Cardinals’ decision to focus on rebuilding instead of contending, the club placed struggling star third baseman Nolan Arenado on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder strain before their 4-1 loss to the Padres on Friday night at Petco Park.
Arenado, a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner and an eight-time All-Star, has endured one of the worst stretches of his career in recent weeks in power production, and his offensive numbers are at an all-time low in 2025. The 34-year-old third baseman has not homered since June 21 — a 25-game drought without a long ball that is just shy of his career worst of 29 games (done twice).
It is just the second time in Arenado’s five seasons with the Cardinals that he has been placed on the IL. He missed the final two weeks of the 2023 season with back soreness when the Cardinals were well out of contention.
Nolan Gorman, who homered Wednesday for Double-A Springfield on an injury rehab assignment (low back pain), was activated from the 10-day IL. Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Thursday that the club would prioritize playing time for Gorman and Thomas Saggese over the rest of the season.
“We’re going to try to find at-bats for Nolan Gorman the best we can,” Mozeliak said following his final Trade Deadline as the leader of the Cardinals’ front office before ceding that role to Chaim Bloom for 2026. “Unfortunately, the timing of his injury, it is what it is. Now, we’ve got to try and get him back to where he was prior to his injury. I think, from a playing standpoint, you are going to see those opportunities happen, but you’re also trying not to do it at the expense of somebody trying to get going.
“I do think these things tend to work themselves out over time. But you might say to me, ‘No, they haven’t.’ But typically, they do. So, patience.”
After trading veteran relievers Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton and Steven Matz on Wednesday and Thursday for six Minor League prospects, the Cardinals promoted right-handed relievers Ryan Fernandez, Andre Granillo and Roddery Muñoz to fill out the bullpen. All three have pitched for the Cardinals and Triple-A Memphis this season.
Arenado missed two games in early July with a sprain of the index finger on his right hand, and he missed two more games July 12-13 leading into the All-Star break because of irritation in the shoulder. As a result of the injury trouble, his production has sagged to a .175 batting average, no homers and two RBIs in July.
For the season, Arenado’s batting average (.235), on-base percentage (.294), slugging (.366) and OPS (.660) are at career lows in his 13th year in the big leagues.
After Arenado expressed an interest to play for a championship contender rather than go through a rebuild in 2025, the Cardinals tried trading the star to the Astros in December. Arenado used the no-trade clause in his contract to squash that deal.
Arenado and Mozeliak met again prior to the Trade Deadline to reaffirm the list of teams to which he would accept a trade. When no deal was worked out prior to Thursday, Arenado remained with the club.
Arenado, who was thought to be the missing piece of a potential championship club when he came to the Cards from the Rockies in 2021, finished third in National League MVP voting in 2022. Since then, his streak of eight consecutive full seasons with at least 30 home runs and 100 RBIs (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season) ended at eight and his offensive numbers have been in steady decline.
Arenado is still owed $42 million, with $27 million due in 2026 and $15 million due in ’27, per Spotrac.
