The St. Louis Cardinals’ top priority this offseason was to trade superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado but after several failed attempts, the fan favorite remains with the floundering franchise.
Opening Day for the Cardinals is less than weeks away and the odds of Arenado being moved beforehand are slim-to-none. Due to the 10-time Gold Glove defender’s full no-trade clause restrictions, St. Louis’ front office doesn’t have many options other than to hold out for a possible deal this summer.
However, Arenado continues to be mentioned as a logical trade chip for the defending American League champion New York Yankees. Perhaps a blockbuster involving a former Chicago Cubs hurler could help the Cardinals find a new home for the fan favorite.
“I’ve been saying this since the beginning of spring training: it’s such a natural thing for me to bring Arenado over,” long-time Yankees broadcaster for YES Network’s Michael Kay stated Thursday in an interview with New York Post’s Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman.
Despite conflicting rumors as to whetherthe Yankees are open to trading for Arenado, the five-time Silver Slugger is a potential future Hall of Fame candidate who is starving for a World Series ring, much like the Bronx Bombers, who are amid a 15-year championship drought.
And I’ve heard that the Yankees are not that high on him, but when you’re going to go into the season with a combination of Oswaldo (Cabrera) and (Oswald) Peraza, I’m not sure you could feel that great about it,” Kay continued. “I think they could do the job defensively. And I keep hearing about the drop-off that Arenado has. He might have a drop-off, but he’s still not a terrible player… I think if the Yankees could get the Cardinals to take Marcus Stroman, I would make that deal.”
Stroman, a two-time All-Star and former starting pitcher for the National League Central-foe Cubs has a steep $18.5 million price tag for 2025 with an $18 million vesting option the following season.
