Nolan Arenado trade is not good news for the have-nots of baseball

Now that Nolan Arenado reportedly is headed to the Cardinals in a complicated, mega-contract-altering swap with the Rockies that still needs approval from MLB and the Players Association, we can start calling this a trend.

Arenado becomes the third franchise player in the past year — and second this month — to be traded, joining Francisco Lindor (Jan. 7) and Mookie Betts (last February) in blockbuster moves entirely motivated by payroll concerns.

Unlike Lindor and Betts, who were headed into their walk seasons, Arenado was only two years into an eight-year, $260 million contract. Cleveland believed it couldn’t come up with the $300 million that Lindor wanted to stay. The Red Sox, similarly rebuffed by Betts, decided to push the reset button for 2020, which is a euphemism for not trying.

Then there are the Rockies, who evidently decided they didn’t feel like paying Arenado anymore or didn’t want to risk seeing him opt out and jump to a team such as the NL West rival Dodgers after this season. So much so, in fact, that Colorado reportedly is sending $50 million to the Cardinals to help alleviate the $199 million left on his contract.

Though the full details of the trade have yet to come to light — it likely won’t be completed for a few days — the Rockies’ return is not expected to be a franchise-changing haul as far as prospects go. Given the sport’s uncertain economic climate and how much players tend to enjoy going to a perennial contender in a baseball-loving market such as St. Louis, it’s not hard to see Arenado staying put rather than opting out.

That’s great for the Cardinals, who are firmly affixed as the favorites in the soft NL Central, especially with the Cubs’ new austerity plan. But as was the case with Lindor and Betts, the Rockies’ dumping of Arenado, 29 — a homegrown superstar with five All-Star appearances, eight Gold Gloves and elite run-producing power — is another disturbing shot across the bow for baseball as some owners cry poverty.

Franchises dumping their most marketable stars because of salary concerns isn’t a new thing. But when it increases in frequency and the gap widens between the haves and have-nots, it’s a bad look for those franchises and potentially damaging for the sport overall.

The Red Sox’s cost-cutting measures certainly worked out well for Betts, who signed a 12-year, $365 million extension with the Dodgers before even playing a game, then helped lead them to a World Series title. Lindor should be getting his own $300 million extension any minute now from the Mets, who are rejuvenated under new owner Steve Cohen (and his $14 billion fortune).

And the previously disgruntled Arenado surely is thrilled to be going to the Cardinals after warring with the Rockies’ front office not long after he put pen to paper on that deal.

Tanaka’s escape route

On Friday, general manager Brian Cashman explained the Yankees’ decision to part ways with Masahiro Tanaka as theoretically a "two-for-one" move, preferring to sign Corey Kluber and trade for Jameson Taillon — at a total cost of roughly $13.25 million — to bolster the rotation.

Tanaka, 32, evidently wanted to return to the Bronx, but when the conversations between Cashman and agent Casey Close indicated it wasn’t going to happen, he agreed to return to his original NPB team, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, on a two-year deal. There is a catch, however.

At Friday night’s news conference in Japan, Tanaka said he will sit down with Rakuten after this season and discuss his future, suggesting that the Eagles could let him opt out if he wishes to go back to pitch in the States.

"We agreed on a two-year contract, but I received assurance we would talk after the season and see where to go from there," Tanaka said in the transcript. "I certainly can’t tell at this stage. Also, I feel I have unfinished business in America, and I haven’t given up on that, so they agreed on terms that would keep those options open."

That doesn’t necessarily mean Tanaka is destined to return to the Yankees, but he deserves a better send-off than how last year ended, without fans having a chance to show their appreciation and finishing with the worst postseason of his seven-year career in pinstripes.

Tanaka was 78-46 with a 3.74 ERA for the Yankees during the regular season and went 5-4 with a 3.33 ERA in 10 playoff starts.

"He performed to that contract," said Cashman, who signed him to a seven-year, $155 million deal (plus a $20 million posting fee). "He came over wanting to compete. He was a great teammate and he was a great Yankee and I feel like he did everything he could to get us to where we wanted to go.

"He probably would have gotten to the World Series if we didn’t run into some shenanigans, and that’s one thing I thought of when he went back to Japan. It’s kind of sad that, when you have those dreams . . . and that was potentially stolen from him, that opportunity."

Those "shenanigans" were the Astros’ cheating methods during the 2017 season, which ended for the Yankees with an ALCS loss to Houston.

"At the instant I became a free agent, truthfully, my desire was to re-sign with the Yankees and continue playing for them," Tanaka said at his news conference. "But at a very early stage, I heard from them through my agent and felt it would be better if I considered other options, which I considered, including a return to Japan.

"Honestly, I was suddenly thinking of things I had never ever thought of before, and it was really troubling. What got me out of that conundrum was asking how I want to play baseball and in what circumstances do I want to play. There were offers, and I guess those details will come out. But things are difficult right now in this pandemic world."

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.