Nolan Arenado and the New York Yankees have been mentioned in the same sentence over and over for the last eight months.
The Yankees had a fairly obvious hole at third base this offseason, but chose to turn that key position into a hodgepodge. Meanwhile, Arenado was up for grabs, but the St. Louis Cardinals couldn’t get anyone to take on his contract–save for the Houston Astros, who Arenado refused to waive his no-trade clause to play with.
Now that the trade deadline is approaching, perhaps the Yankees will be motivated to rmake a real push for Arenado, which they didn’t seem to do all winter. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is playing out of position at third base, and DJ LeMahieu is hurting the Yankees with his defense at second.
One baseball writer has a trade in mind that would bring Arenado to the Bronx.
Earlier this week, Dave Holcomb of Fantasy Sports on SI proposed a mock trade that would bring Arenado to the Yankees for infielder Oswald Peraza and pitching prospect Brock Selvidge.
“The prospect value the Yankees are willing to give up for the veteran third baseman could be completely depend on what the Cardinals are willing to send in cash considerations to the Yankees,” Holcomb wrote.
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“If an Arenado trade is more about a salary dump for the Cardinals, then they aren’t likely to receive much back in a deal. Arenado isn’t the player he once was but will continue to be paid like a star through the 2027 MLB season.”
Arenado would still be owed over $50 million if he were traded today, so the two sides would have to figure out some sort of contract retention plan. The 34-year-old isn’t guaranteed to be an offensive upgrade, as he owns a .701 OPS this season.
Bringing in an aging Arenado is risky. But doing nothing to solve third base isn’t just riskier–it’s flat-out malpractice.
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