The St. Louis Cardinals are doing some major team reconstruction this offseason, as they have reportedly been looking to trade some key players like Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, Wilson Contreras, Nolan Gorman, and Lars Nootbaar. This follows St. Louis having already traded their pitcher in Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox.
When it comes to Lars Nootbaar, it might be a bit more difficult for the Cardinals to trade him due to Nootbaar having gone through offseason surgery, but if he can bounce back quickly and start producing once again upon changing teams, he becomes a perfect buy-low trade candidate for teams to look at trading for.
There is one team that makes sense to go through with this and trade for Lars Nootbaar, and that is the New York Yankees.
*THIS IS A PREDICTION, NOT A REPORT*
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St. Louis Cardinals Trade Lars Nootbaar to the New York Yankees
The New York Yankees fell way short of expectations last season. Following a 2024 season in which they made the World Series, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, they followed it up by getting eliminated in the MLB Playoffs during the American League Divisional Series to the Toronto Blue Jays.
New York knows changes are needed, and that they can’t run things back with the entire same roster once again. One point of emphasis for the Yankees this offseason has to be on fixing their outfield, and while they could look to re-sign Cody Bellinger or sign Kyle Tucker in free agency, there is the chance they could miss out on both.
The way the Yankees can look to improve their outfield, without having to panic that they might not land Bellinger or Tucker, is to trade for Lars Nootbaar.
Lars Nootbaar has been in MLB for just five seasons, and upon doing so, just had his worst season with playing over 100 games as he had a .234/.325/.361 slash line. While that took a dip, his home runs stayed consistent with 13, as well as RBI production with 48, showing that the potential is still there when it comes to Nootbaar.
The kind of skillset that lars Nootbaar has shown throughout his career with being a high-contact hitter and batting left-handed, would fit well into the Yankees’ lineup. In addition, his ability with having played left field, centerfield, and right field, gives the Yankees a versatile player they can plug anywhere and see where he works best to maximize their lineup for the 2026 season.