The door is still open for the New York Yankees to acquire a veteran, Gold Glove third baseman. General Manager Brian Cashman left the door open for a move outside the organization in his comments to the YES Network early in February. Alex Bregman, the top free-agent third baseman, has yet to sign a deal for the 2025 season, but the Yankees don’t seem to be looking for a long-term, high-price commitment there. According to St. Louis Cardinals beat writer John Denton, however, the Yankees have circled back to talk about Nolan Arenado.

“After failing to make much trade progress elsewhere throughout January, the Cardinals reengaged the Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers about possible restructured deals for the star third baseman,” Denton wrote on MLB.com. The Red Sox are seemingly waiting on Bregman, who they would prefer, to decide. The Yankees had talked to the Cardinals about Arenado earlier this offseason, but the talks had cooled off. Arenado, who will turn 34 in April, is still owed $74 million on his contract, which includes a full no-trade clause. He declined a trade to the Houston Astros already this off-season.

To do so, they will clearly have to pay down some of his salary. The veteran has also seemingly come to terms with the idea of playing for a contender rather than sticking with the Cardinals during a rebuild. Arenado is “highly motivated” to be traded, ESPN’s Buster Olney reported, though the 10-time Gold Glover said that in terms of being traded to the Red Sox. Arenado is an upgrade at third base, but his offense has clearly declined. He hit just 16 home runs and slashed .272/.325/.394.

In previous conversations, the Yankees reportedly offered the Cardinals veteran right-hander Marcus Stroman for Arenado, which was flatly refused. They are still trying to trade Stroman and clear his $18.5 million salary from their payroll before adding more.