An early season push into playoff contention was not enough to stop the St. Louis Cardinals from trading outfielder Lars Nootbaar. A move to the Arizona Diamondbacks was agreed upon on Monday, a league source told The Athletic.
Nootbaar, 28, has one more year of arbitration eligibility before potentially becoming a free agent after the 2027 season. He’s making $5.53 million this year.
An eighth-round draft pick in 2018, Nootbaar has emerged as a solid big-league regular the past five seasons in St. Louis. His offensive numbers were down in 2025, but he’s otherwise been above-average at the plate while capably playing all three outfield positions. Nootbaar bats left-handed and has been vulnerable to left-handed pitching, but as a strong-side platoon he’s been used as both a leadoff hitter and a middle-of-the-order run producer.
Nootbaar underwent offseason surgery to address Haglund’s deformities in both heels and missed the first two months of this season, but he returned in early June with a two-hit game. He’s since been the Cardinals’ primary left fielder, though he’s spent ample time in both right and center field in the past. Defensive metrics vary — and, like his offensive numbers, they were down last year — but he’s generally graded as a roughly league-average defender with a good arm. He has modest speed and power — 12 to 14 home runs a year — but he walks at a good rate without striking out a ton.
By trading Nootbar, the Cardinals are continuing a massive rebuild that started with offseason trades of Brendan Donovan, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado. Nootbaar is one of nine Cardinals to have accumulated at least 7 fWAR since 2022, and eight of the nine — Nootbaar, Donovan, Contreras, Arenado, Gray, Paul Goldschmidt, Tommy Edman and Miles Mikolas — are now gone. Only Masyn Winn remains from that previous core.
This story will be updated.
