Inside The Pinstripes

Why Yankees Aren't in on Nolan Arenado

The New York Yankees have a clear reason to be out on 10-time Gold Glove Award winner Nolan Arenado.

Grant Young

Sep 26, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third base Nolan Arenado (28) in the dugout in the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
Sep 26, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third base Nolan Arenado (28) in the dugout in the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
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The New York Yankees have been linked to 10-time Gold Glove Award winner Nolan Arenado several times this offseason.

While Arenado is still under contract and therefore would require a trade to secure him, a December 9 article from The Athletic's Katie Woo asserted that, "At least one team involved in the Soto bidding — the New York Yankees — has expressed interest in Arenado".

The Houston Astros had a deal in place to acquire Arenado, but the 33-year-old exercised his full no-trade clause and halted the deal.

There's no reason to believe Arenado would block a trade to the Yankees. But a December 30 article from Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic conveyed another reason why the Yankees now seem to be out on Arenado.

"Speculation has circulated around the Yankees in particular, especially after Paul Goldschmidt — Arenado’s good friend and teammate in St. Louis for the last four seasons — signed a one-year, $12.5 million contract with New York in mid-December," the article wrote.

"However, multiple league sources say that while the Yankees like Arenado, they aren’t interested in taking on the majority of his contract, something that would almost certainly need to happen from the Cardinals perspective.

"New York also does not have to trade for a third baseman; it can move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base and hope a healthy DJ LeMahieu can man the hot corner consistently next year," it added.

While Arenado would undoubtedly be an upgrade on defense, it seems the Yankees don't believe his upside is enough to justify the cost it would require to bring him to the Bronx.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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