The NL Central is waking up, and the Pirates can’t sleepwalk through it. One trade just made urgency unavoidable.
The Nolan Arenado trade sounded an alarm throughout the NL Central. For the last couple years, the division has felt like a neighborhood where everyone keeps the porch light on but nobody actually throws a party.
The St. Louis Cardinals were the biggest offender — too proud to fully rebuild and too stubborn to fully retool. Arenado changing addresses is a signal that St.