Yankees plotting swoop of Cardinals' Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt per report

The Nolan Arenado rumors continue to swirl day by day, and now that the Houston Astros are off the board, it appears a different American League powerhouse may try to land both Arenado and his former teammate Paul Goldschmidt.

Per reporting from MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, John Denton, and Bryan Hoch, now that Yankees' free agent target Christian Walker is in Houston, the club is ramping up efforts to secure Goldschmidt, and in turn, may be able to pull off an Arenado trade with the St. Louis Cardinals in the process.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch told me on the Dealin' the Cards charity livestream last night that Goldschmidt's destination could have influence on where Arenado wants to play, with the Yankees being the clearest landing spot for the pair to reunite outside of St. Louis. Since that conversation, the possibility has now increased and it appears the Yankees will try and thread that needle.

In this latest report, Feinsand, Denton, and Hoch confirmed previous reporting that the Yankees have had discussions regarding Arenado with the Cardinals, and they have now added that New York attempted to swap right-handed Marcus Stroman for Arenado, but the Cardinals declined the trade outright and did not even present it to Arenado's camp. Stroman is due $18.5 million in 2025 with a vesting option for 2026, so while it would save the Cardinals some money in 2026 and 2027, it would not do nearly as much for salary relief as the trade they were working on with Houston.

In the proposed deal with Houston that Arenado shut down, the Cardinals were set to kick in $15 million dollars, meaning the Astros would have been on the hook for the remaining $49 million of his deal. In this Yankees trade, the Cardinals would need to pay Stroman $18.5 million in 2025 and could owe him an additional $18 million in 2026 should he throw 140 innings next season. Stroman really struggled in 2024, posting a 4.31 ERA in 30 games.

The Yankees' payroll is currently projected to be around $267 million, and that's without the potential additions of Goldschmidt and Arenado. After taking on the majority of Cody Bellinger's contract from the Chicago Cubs this week, the Yankees likely want to shed a salary like Stroman's if they are going to take on another large deal like Arenado's.

The Cardinals' main motivation right now is to shed salary though, and while Stroman's $18 million in 2025 mostly does that in terms of total money, the potential of his option vesting would make him an unattractive candidate for the Cardinals' current payroll purposes. The Cardinals also seem to want to spread out the money they owe on Areando's deal over multiple years, rather than paying a significant sum on someone else's contract for this season.

Keep an eye on the Yankees here over the coming days. If they are able to pull off signing Goldschmidt, it would seem like only a matter of time before they land Arenado as well.