DALLAS — The Yankees could use a third baseman, and the Cardinals are attempting to offload a proven if perhaps fading one.
Among the fallback plans Brian Cashman & Co. can adopt after their Juan Soto chase ended in disappointment is targeting Nolan Arenado, whom the Cardinals have publicly placed on the trade block.
Arenado holds a no-trade clause that will allow him to have a say on his next team.
Geography is not an issue, but a team’s projected success is — which would bode well for a Yankees club that is coming off a World Series appearance and has not had a losing season since 1992.
Arenado desires “a team that he thinks is going to win now and win consistently for the remainder of his career,” his agent, Joel Wolfe, said at the Winter Meetings on Tuesday.
The Cardinals and Arenado are working together to facilitate a trade, and Arenado has done his best to open up avenues by stating he would be willing to move across the diamond to play first base if needed.
The Yankees (and the vast majority of teams) would prefer the all-time glove at third, where he has won 10 Gold Gloves.
Arenado is a tremendous defender, an eight-time All-Star and a potential future Hall of Famer who will be 34 in April and appears to be on the downside of his career.
Over the past three seasons, his OPS has slipped from .891 to .774 to .719.
Partly because of the downslope — and partly because Arenado is owed $74 million over the final three years of his contract — the Cardinals are seeking a new home for the 12-year veteran.
“We hope something good happens,” Wolfe said before cautioning, “He’s not going to go just to go.”
The fit would have to be right — and it is debatable whether the fit would be right for the Yankees.
They have cycled through aging third basemen in DJ LeMahieu and Josh Donaldson over the past few years.
Arenado’s slip is evident in his under-the-hood numbers, too, including an average 86.3 mph exit velocity last season that ranked in the ninth percentile of hitters.
All things equal, the Yankees probably would prefer a lefty bat over Arenado’s righty bat.
The club has plenty to add, and Arenado is not cheap.
Yet, Arenado is still an excellent defender, finished last season far better than he started it (.743 OPS in the second half) and has an obvious upside if he rediscovers his form — an upside that could be tempting without Soto around.
In the post-Soto era, the Yankees are planning to spread around their money this winter and plug several holes, including a pair in the infield.
They lack a first baseman and either a second baseman or third baseman, depending where Jazz Chisholm Jr. ends up.
“If we end up importing a third baseman or plugging someone, I feel like Jazz is someone that can obviously move to second base,” manager Aaron Boone said.
With Willy Adames off the board, the best free-agent options at second and third include Alex Bregman (who is an elite talent but will command a lot of money at 30 years old and who would come with concerns about how he would fit in the clubhouse and how his bat would fit in The Bronx), Ha-Seong Kim and Gleyber Torres, to whom the Yankees declined to extend a qualifying offer.
Other options rumored on the trade market include the Phillies’ Alec Bohm.
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