Arenado thrown off by Astros trading Tucker: 'What does that mean?'

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado confirmed one of the reasons why he used his no-trade clause to block a move to the Houston Astros was because the club dealt All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs.

“(Tucker) is one of the best players in the game," Arenado said Monday, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic. "When you see a team trade him, 99 out of 100 players would probably be wondering, 'What does that mean?' That's the question I asked myself.

"And obviously if I went there, (Alex) Bregman wouldn't have been going there - that's another player."

Arenado blocked the deal to the Astros in mid-December, five days after the Tucker trade was finalized. The former would've replaced Bregman, who eventually signed with the Boston Red Sox, as Houston's starting third baseman.

The 33-year-old acknowledged the Astros were originally on his five-team list of preferred destinations but his perspective changed.

"There was rumors of me going there, and there was a chance, obviously, but at the end of the day, Bregman wasn't going back there, I think that kind of threw everybody off," Arenado said. "I think we all thought there was a chance he would retire an Astro. That group of players, it just seemed like they all gelled well together. When you saw that not happening, it's kind of crazy."

The eight-time All-Star added that seeing Framber Valdez and Ryan Pressly's names in trade rumors also created doubt in his mind about going to Houston, according to Rome. Pressly ended up getting dealt to the Cubs, too.

The Astros quickly pivoted to signing first baseman Christian Walker once it became clear that Arenado was no longer a viable option.