The offseason continues to march on, and the New York Yankees still find themselves in need of an infielder to replace the departed Gleyber Torres (and serve as a necessary upgrade to the incumbent trio of DJ LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera). Willy Adames? Out of the team’s price range. Alex Bregman or Nolan Arenado? Brian Cashman never seemed too interested. Gavin Lux or Luis Arraez? Not a great fit, apparently. We’ve reached the “kicking the tires on Jorge Polanco” stage, which is never a good sign.
And yet, despite all those swings and misses, not all hope is lost for Cashman finding a meaningful upgrade before Spring Training begins in February. And he has his counterpart with the St. Louis Cardinals to thank, as John Mozeliak’s stubbornness in arbitration may have just opened a path to the perfect trade target for New York. John Mozeliak may be on his way out of St. Louis, but if you thought that meant the Cardinals were going to take it easy ahead of MLB’s arbitration deadline on Saturday, think again. St. Louis failed to settle with three of their six arbitration-eligible players, and while Cardinals fans might be wondering why a team openly in rebuild mode would sweat thousands of dollars and risk angering the guys who might actually be in their long-term plans, their pain might be the Yankees’ gain.
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