Arenado: The Cards have a pretty long history of the trade/extend approach (would be my approach too). Maybe they re-work his deal, but I doubt they want him to leave and I doubt he wants to leave so I'd bet they work something out. Maybe they just add a year or 2, something simple.
While Arenado's certainly a far safer play than Gorman/Walker in 2023, the duo is probably more valuable to them beyond next season. Not to say they'll outperform Arenado, but the combination of 3-4 WAR from them with $35MM+ to spend on a more glaring weakness seems obviously preferable.
Arenado reported to be staying put.
My guess is they'll get something additional done after opt-out is officially complete....interesting thing about the deal is Rox still owe Cards ~31M as part of the original trade. By not opting out, Colorado stays on the hook for that money.
This action could be an indicator for something else too, we'll see.