Houston Astros Predicted To Trade for Nolan Arenado at Winter Meetings

The Houston Astros could opt for a veteran option in the infield rather than bumping up their offer to Alex Bregman.

Sep 25, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third base Nolan Arenado (28) reacts in the fourth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros already made their offer to Alex Bregman and it doesn't look like it will be enough. It might be time to look at their other options.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller took a stab at predicting what is going to happen at the 2024 Winter Meetings and that included an Astros trade for veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado.

The St. Louis Cardinals have been shopping Arenado around to little success, but Houston might be the perfect partner to finally get a deal done.

Entering his age 34 season, the eight-time All-Star has started to decline. The good news is that his decline is still as good than a lot of people's best years.

He may no longer be an MVP candidate, but he can certainly contribute.

Arenado posted a .272/.325/.394 slash line last year with 16 home runs and 71RBI. The stark drop in home runs is the main thing that would cause some worry.

Extra-base hits in total were down. He had a healthy season career-low in both doubles and triples. That should be expected with his age, though. His speed declining is less worrying than home run power.

He still rarely strikes out and makes a lot of contact, it's just that the contract wasn't that great a year ago.

The California native could easily replace the production from Bregman last season if he can bring at least a bit of the power back to his swing.

It looked as though Bregman was going to need to be replaced anyway at the start of the season because of a slow first couple of months.

Overall, he provided a .260/.315/.453 slash line with 26 home runs and 75 RBI. Arenado had a higher average and on-base percentage, as well as similar RBI numbers, so home runs were the only real discrepancy.

In terms of defense, both were great, but Arenado boasted a slightly higher fielding run value.

The Cardinals have had such a tough time trading him that his current price tag should certainly be in the Astros' range. They don't have much in terms of capital, but it will be enough to at least get talks started.

Arenado has three years, $52 million left on his contract so Houston would be able to push a longterm decision at third base down the road a little bit.

If the Astros can't figure something out with Bregman soon, they should start serious talks with St. Louis.