Nolan Arenado: Insider Links Yankees to Trading for Star $260 Million Infielder
The New York Yankees have a need at third base and one insider believes they may trade for an eight-time All-Star.
According to New York Post insider Jon Heyman, he believes New York could explore trading for Nolan Arenado of the St. Louis Cardinals.
“The Cardinals will consider trading 3B Nolan Arenado, as Katie Woo of The Athletic first reported,” Heyman wrote in his article. “Arenado could fit the Yankees.”
Arenado is entering the fifth year of his eight-year $260 million deal. The star infielder is an eight-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glover winner, and a five-time Silver Slugger winner.
The 33-year-old would be New York’s starting third baseman and be able to play good defense at the hot corner. Although his bat isn’t as good as it has been, he still could be an average hitter in the Yankees lineup.
Arenado hit .272 with 16 home runs and 71 RBIs last season.
Cardinals Looking to Trade Arenado
St. Louis made a splash trading for Arenado in 2021. It was a blockbuster deal, but with the Cardinals looking to enter a rebuild, MLB insider Mark Feinsand claims the team may deal Arenado.
“We’ve started to hear some whispers about Nolan Arenado being traded, and given the state of the Cardinals, that could gain some steam as the winter progresses,” Feinsand wrote.
Cardinals reporter Katie Woo of The Athletic also claims St. Louis may look to move Arenado. However, she’s uncertain if the Cardinals will be able to get off of his contract.
“Arenado’s situation is less clear, though even if he does prefer to be traded, there is no guarantee he will be,” Woo wrote. “His heavy contract and performance decline over the last two years, along with his full no-trade clause, does not leave much room for negotiations. Trading Arenado would open third base to Donovan and Gorman (who came up the Cardinals system as a third baseman).”
As Woo wrote, by trading Arenado, St. Louis can open third base to younger players to develop.
Yankees Focused on Soto
Before New York does anything in the offseason, the first domino to fall will be Juan Soto.
Soto is the top free agent available and the Yankees are hoping to keep the star outfielder.
“We certainly have an interest in retaining him and we’ll put our best foot forward there,” GM Brian Cashman said. “That will either lead to us retaining him and signing him back. Or we’ll be forced to go to a different direction if we can’t.
And if we can’t, there’s a lot of different players in this marketplace that can positively impact this roster in different ways. Clearly that pressure point’s not on us today. But it does exist in the marketplace every winter, so those are the tough decisions you have to make.”
The Yankees were one of several teams who had meetings scheduled with Scott Boras, who is Soto’s agent.
Soto is expected to get a 13-year deal that could exceed $700 million in free agency.
Soto hit .288 with 41 home runs and 109 RBIs in 157 games with the Yankees in 2024. In the playoffs, he hit .327 with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs.
