One day after the Cardinals couldn’t find a taker for Nolan Arenado, St. Louis placed the veteran third baseman on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder strain.
Arenado had sought a deal prior to the season but he used his no-trade clause to prevent the team from trading him to the Houston Astros. This time around, he submitted a list of teams he would join, but St. Louis was unable to make a trade prior to Thursday’s deadline.
Arenado’s sagging bat didn’t help the cause as he has not homered since June 21 and batted just .175 with two RBIs in July. He has hit 30 or more home runs and driven in 100-plus runs seven times in his career.
The 35-year-old Arenado currently has career lows in batting average (.235), on-base percentage (.294), slugging percentage (.366) and OPS (.660). He has 10 homers and 43 RBIs in 96 games.
Arenado is an eight-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner. He played his first eight seasons with the Colorado Rockies (2013-20) before forcing his way out of Denver and being traded to St. Louis.
In a corresponding move, the Cardinals activated infielder Nolan Gorman (back) from the 10-day injury list. Gorman is batting sixth and playing third base in Friday night’s road game against the San Diego Padres.
Gorman, 25, is batting .219 with nine homers and 29 RBIs in 66 games with St. Louis.
St. Louis also recalled right-handers Ryan Fernandez, Andre Granillo and Roddery Munoz from Triple-A Memphis to fill roster openings stemming from the trades of right-handers Ryan Helsley and Phil Maton and left-hander Steven Matz over the previous two days.
Fernandez, 27, is 0-2 with an 11.42 ERA in 11 appearances with the Cardinals this season. Granillo, 25, is 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA in eight appearances and Munoz, 25, has an 8.10 ERA in six appearances.
–Field Level Media
