With the Cardinals struggling to move Nolan Arenado, St. Louis and their front office have reportedly re-engaged the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox regarding a new kind of trade structure according to John Denton of MLB.com. While they had originally approached teams with an unwillingness to eat a significant portion of the money, this time around they’re more open to the idea of eating salary in order to facilitate a deal.
ESPN’s Jorge Castillo recently reported that the Yankees aren’t considering a pursuit of Arenado, so perhaps those conversations were shortlived. Boston and St. Louis have seemingly gained some traction in talks, as while the Red Sox would prefer Alex Bregman, their unwillingness to go long-term with the veteran could make a deal unlikely.
The Dodgers are also not considered a real suitor in these talks, especially given that Max Muncy already occupies the hot corner.
Nolan Arenado Talks Swirling Again, Yankees Still Involved?
The Cardinals are in desperation mode with Nolan Arenado, who is simply owed too much money over the next three seasons for any team to want to part ways with anything other than bad money to acquire him. Mark Feinsand reported that the Yankees offered Marcus Stroman to the Cardinals for Nolan Arenado, which St. Louis rejected without much thought.
Jack Curry of YES Network rebuffed those claims, but perhaps the organization didn’t want to leak an active attempt to trade away a player still on the roster. The Yankees have not been very involved in the Arenado sweepstakes outside of that one attempt to dump a bad contract and take on another one, and that’s for good reason.
Yankee Stadium does not fit what Nolan Arenado brings to the table offensively, as he’s a pull-happy hitter who has lost most of his raw power. It would take the Cardinals eating some significant money and other teams refusing to part ways with prospects to even remotely make sense of an Arenado pursuit.
Baseball America ranked the Yankees’ farm system 25th in the sport, while the Red Sox ranked 1st on their list, so in terms of prospect ammo, New York has far less to offer.
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It wouldn’t make sense for the Yankees to part ways with Spencer Jones or Chase Hampton for three years of Arenado, who is entering his age-34 season. Last year was arguably the worst 162-game season of his career when you exclude his rookie season, posting a 102 wRC+ and hitting just 16 home runs. While he’s still an elite defender, the years remaining on the deal make this more of a burden than a worthwhile addition to the roster.
Owing Nolan Arenado and DJ LeMahieu between $20-25 million a year for the next two seasons sounds like a nightmare, and there are better opportunities for the Yankees to improve third base. According to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, the Twins were looking to spend $5-6 million this winter but have spent $9.25 million in the last week; perhaps Willi Castro is dealt sooner rather than later to clear some payroll.
The Twins owe Castro $6.4 million for his final year of arbitration, which is more than affordable for the Yankees, and Minnesota is still eyeing a right-handed infielder. Alex Bregman is being courted by the Cubs, who have a four-year offer north of $100 million that could finally win him over, and that would potentially make Nico Hoerner available.
Nolan Arenado is expensive, old, and not a great fit for Yankee Stadium, and both ESPN and YES Network have poured cold water over the Yankees’ interest. The Cardinals can try, but it doesn’t seem as if Brian Cashman is listening much at the moment.