The Cardinals and Astros previously agreed on a deal in December which would've sent Arenado to Houston, but he vetoed the deal thanks to the full no-trade clause in his contract.

The Cardinals were on the verge of trading Arenado, their top offseason goal, and they’d not only pulled off a deal, they’d matched with one of the teams on the eight-time All-Star’s short and semi-problematic five-team list of acceptable destinations.