The St. Louis Cardinals have been trying to trade eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado since at least the end of the 2024 season. The 33-year-old still has three years and $74 million left on the eight-year, $260 million contract he originally signed with the Colorado Rockies.
However, due to Arenado’s no-trade clause and the Cardinals’ struggles to strike a deal with teams he would approve, only one realistic landing spot remains: the New York Yankees. On Wednesday, Britt Ghiroli, a senior MLB writer for The Athletic, predicted that an Arenado trade will happen—and that it will be finalized before the Yankees’ Opening Day matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 27.
“This is just a no-brainer to me,” Ghiroli said on SNY, a New York cable sports network. “I mean, we’ve been talking about it all winter.” She also mentioned that Arenado could still be dealt to the Astros, despite previously rejecting a trade to Houston, even when the Cardinals had a deal in place.
During the same SNY discussion, former Mets executive Zack Scott suggested that Arenado seems to favor a move to the Yankees. He pointed to Arenado’s decision to travel nearly 200 miles with the Cardinals for a spring training game against New York at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida.
“Normally, I’d say we’re reading too much into this, but I actually think this means something,” Scott said. “It’s really early in spring training, and veterans don’t usually make that trip. It feels like he wants this resolved and is trying to showcase himself.”
If Arenado was attempting to make an impression on the Yankees, his performance didn’t help his case. He went hitless in three at-bats, striking out twice in a 7-0 Yankees win. His first strikeout came in the second inning against top Yankees prospect Will Warren, and he went down on four pitches in the seventh against Brent Headrick, a career minor-leaguer with just one MLB appearance since 2023 and 15 total in his career.
