St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado remains the subject of trade speculation, and he added fuel to that fire with a move he made on Wednesday.
Despite having the option to take two days off, Arenado made the unusual decision to drive four hours just to face the New York Yankees in a road spring training game on Wednesday. That led to widespread speculation that Arenado might be trying to showcase himself to the Yankees, a team that had been linked to him in trade rumors during the offseason.
Arenado was quick to downplay the speculation. He said he wanted to take the opportunity to visit with two of his former teammates, Paul Goldschmidt and DJ LeMahieu, and sought to remain on schedule with his spring training routine.
“Day 3 of spring training. That wouldn’t be a good day to showcase myself. I’m not ready for that,” Arenado said, via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Arenado went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in Wednesday’s game, and admitted that his timing is still a work in progress.
There are plenty of reasons for the rumors. The Yankees’ third base options definitely are not ideal. From that standpoint, Arenado would be a fit. The third baseman has a no-trade clause, but might be open to waiving it to facilitate a move to the reigning American League champions.
Whether Arenado wants the move or not, the Yankees have yet to show a lot of interest. One reason may be that the team is already narrowly over the $301 million luxury tax threshold, and based on some recent comments from owner Hal Steinbrenner, they might be reluctant to invest much more.
Arenado is still owed roughly $60 million over the next three years, though the Cardinals would likely pay some of his salary to facilitate a deal. Still, even a reduced sum may be more than the Yankees want to pay.
Recent rumors suggested that another AL contender might be pushing for an Arenado trade, though those talks do not appear to have much momentum.
Arenado turns 34 in April. He hit .272 last season with 16 home runs, a down year statistically by his standards.
