The New York Yankees have seen a little bit of change to their lineup this offseason, but they may not be done making moves.
One of the biggest additions they made was bringing in Paul Goldschmidt from the St. Louis Cardinals as a free agent.
Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller thinks that the Yankees could bring in another Cardinals star, predicting that future Hall of Famer Nolan Arenado will end the season in New York.
St. Louis is in the middle of a youth movement, which has already pushed Goldschmidt out of town. They are projected to trade away some more veterans this year, which would include Arenado.
The 34-year-old is still one of the best defensive options at the hot corner and his down year’s at the plate are still at least around league average.
He is coming off of the worst season of his career, which saw him slash .272/.325/.394 with 16 home runs and 71 RBI.
Even if he does continue with that level of production, it would still be an improvement over what they have at the moment.
Best case scenario he makes a bit of a bounce back to the level that he has shown that he is still capable love just a bit earlier in his 30s.
From 2020 to 2023, he slashed .271/.328/.495 with an average of 30 home runs and 100 RBI.
No matter what, it seems like the Yankees are still likely to make a change/addition third base.
The current starter looks to be penciled in as Oswaldo Cabrera, but New York is going to want to improve upon him and send Cabrera back to a super utility role rather than every day starter.
If the near 26-year-old wants to earn an every day role before the Yankees make a trade, he would need to make a big improvement at the plate. He is at least slightly above average with his glove.
Last year, Cabrera slashed just .247/.296/.2365 with eight home runs and four stolen bases. The campaign before was even worse.
New York cannot risk having him as the only option at the hot corner come October with that unreliable of a bat.
That’s why trading for Arenado makes sense. Even coming off of a down year, it would be better to rely on him to come up in the clutch than an unproven player.
He is still due $51 million over the next three years, and his contract counts $75 million over thenext three years for luxury tax purposes. Trading for the St. Louis slugger may not cost them much in terms of prospect value.
