Nolan Arenado is staying put.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that the St. Louis Cardinals third baseman has decided not to opt out of his long-term contract and test the free agent market this offseason.
The perennial All-Star is currently playing under an eight-year, $290 million contract he signed with the Colorado Rockies in 2019. That deal runs through 2027. Arenado, who was traded to St. Louis before the 2021 season, could have opted out of the remaining five years of that deal.
The 31-year-old Arenado enjoyed one of his best seasons in 2022 as the Cardinals won the NL Central. He hit 30 home runs and drove in 103 runs, with a career-high 154 OPS+. He topped National League position players with 7.9 WAR.
He’s also a finalist — and the presumed favorite — to win his 10th Gold Glove when the awards are announced. That would tie him with Mike Schmidt for the second-most Gold Gloves by a third baseman, behind only Brooks Robinson (16).
That kind of performance likely would have earned him a raise as a free agent, but Arenado has decided to stick around. There was enough concern in the Cardinals organization he might opt out that club president John Mozeliak flew to California earlier this week to meet with his star player.
Many fans felt Arenado walked away from a bigger potential payday to stay in a good situation with the Cardinals.
Would love to have been a fly on the wall when Mozeliak and Arenado were discussing off-season plans for the team earlier in the week…
— Jordan Vass (@JVass23) October 29, 2022
It’s funny when everyone thinks that it’s all about the money. It’s not. He loves it in StL
— Sharx (@SharxFN) October 29, 2022
I just wanna say STL loves Nolan Arenado
— nick Hudson (@SportsNick314) October 29, 2022
Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinal.
This year’s NL MVP candidate is staying in the Lou
@FOX2now pic.twitter.com/PIxpCA36ht — Daniel Esteve (@DanielJEsteve) October 29, 2022