Arizona Diamondbacks Trade for 10-Time Gold Glove Winner Nolan Arenado

Arenado, an eight-time All-Star, spent five seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and has two years remaining on his contract.

Nolan Arenado of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates after hitting a sacrifice fly against the Texas Rangers during the second inning at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on May 31, 2025. Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Nolan Arenado, one of the most accomplished MLB players of this era and one of the greatest third basemen of all time, has a new home.

The 10-time Gold Glove winner was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, ending his five-year run with the Cards.

The Cardinals announced the move on social media and stated that, in return, they are receiving right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez from Arizona. Martinez was an eighth-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of Arizona State.

“We are grateful for Nolan’s five years as a Cardinal, on and off the field—for his drive, his competitiveness and for all of the memories he gave us,” Cardinals President of Baseball Operations, Chaim Bloom, said in a statement. “We wish Nolan and his family the very best as he continues with the next chapter of his great career.

“As we continue to move forward, we are pleased to add another intriguing pitching prospect to our organization and excited for the opportunity this move creates for a number of our players to step up and further establish themselves at the big league level,” he said.

Arenado had been the subject of trade rumors dating back to last offseason and was almost dealt to the Houston Astros back then. However, he possesses a no-trade clause in his contract and invoked it to end any potential deal to the Astros.

Turning 35 in April, Arenado has two more years remaining on his contract, with part of it being paid by his original team, the Colorado Rockies. The third baseman is due $27 million in the 2026 MLB season and $15 million in the final year of his deal in 2027.

It’s become an annual tradition in St. Louis for a respected veteran, and potential future Hall of Famer, to depart the team, for whatever reason. Last offseason, Paul Goldschmidt, who won the National League MVP award in St. Louis in 2022, departed in free agency after six years with the Cardinals. The previous offseason saw pitcher Adam Wainwright, who spent 18 years with the franchise, retire at 41 years old.

The year before that, both Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina retired from baseball after spending a combined 29 seasons with the Cardinals. Add in the team trading away first baseman Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox last month, and the Cardinals currently don’t have a single player on their 40-man roster over the age of 30.

Arenado is coming off a down season in which he had career lows nearly across the board. He hit just .237 with 12 home runs, 52 runs batted in, and 48 runs scored. He missed more a month due to an injured list stint with a shoulder injury as his 107 games played were the fewest of his 13-year career, save for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

However, Arenado’s overall body of work throughout his career indicates he will be inducted into Cooperstown one day. He won 10 straight Gold Gloves from 2013 to 2022 and also claimed six Platinum Gloves during that stretch. He’s an eight-time All-Star, a five-time Silver Slugger winner, and led the National League in home runs in three different seasons.

Only Brooks Robinson has more Gold Glove awards (16) at the hot corner, as Arenado is one of 17 players in MLB history to win the award at least 10 times. Pointing to his two-way ability, Arenado is one of four players in baseball history with double-digit Gold Glove awards and five Silver Slugger awards. The others—Mike Schmidt, Ken Griffey Jr., and Iván Rodriguez—are all in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Arizona is hoping that Arenado can fill the void that was created when the team traded away slugger Eugenio Suárez last season. Suarez hit 49 home runs in 2025, and while Arenado doesn’t bring that kind of power, he marks an improvement in defense at the position. Arizona led all of baseball with 24 errors from its third basemen last season and also had the worst fielding percentage in the game (.944 percent) at the position.

That was a reason why the Diamondbacks regressed in 2025, as they went 80–82 after going 89–73 the previous year. While neither year ended with a postseason appearance, it was just in 2023 that the Diamondbacks were in the World Series, ultimately falling to the Texas Rangers 4–1.

As for what St. Louis gets in this trade, Martinez went 20–8 over his college career, which included stops at three different schools. He was a local product for the Diamondbacks, as his last stop was at Arizona State, where he went 6–4 with a 5.47 earned run average in the 2025 college baseball season.

Martinez, who turns 23 in March, pitched for Louisiana in 2024, where he helped the Ragin’ Cajuns make the NCAA tournament with a Regional appearance. Prior to that, he began his college career at Trinity University, where he was named to the first team in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, as well as being named to the first team by D3baseball.com.