Paul Goldschmidt's Yankees success will make you rethink Nolan Arenado situation

This offseason, as the New York Yankees attempted to reconstruct their own ambition, post-Juan Soto, it was easy to criticize their reliance on 37-year-old Paul Goldschmidt while preemptively admonishing them for chasing his ex-Cardinals teammate, Nolan Arenado, too.

As it turned out, and as Jack Curry reminded us forcefully several times, the team was never in on an Arenado trade, despite glowing reports on his leadership coming from inside the clubhouse, as well as a vacancy at third base. The Yankees showed (perhaps a foolish amount of) faith in their internal options (plus Pablo Reyes) and that was that. They confidently entered the season deciding not to double down on creating an extra ex-Cardinal, struggling to find a silver lining between Arenado's bad park fit at Yankee Stadium and his lingering back injury.

But ... as the season has chugged along ... it turns out that saving Goldschmidt from the doldrums and believing in his strong second half has had real value. The power hasn't quite been there yet, but the line drive gap-to-gap approach has been lethal - and almost reminiscent of 2019 DJ LeMahieu as a game-changer. Is it possible that it wouldn't be quite so silly to explore Arenado more earnestly this summer, too?

Also making us rethink our initial aversion to Arenado? Arenado himself, who's managed to look rejuvenated in St. Louis without a helping hand out of town. On Monday, he improved all of his already impressive numbers by detonating on the Houston Astros, the team he publicly nixed a deal to earlier this offseason.

An offensive/defensive rebirth and a burning hatred of Houston? Where do we sign up for a midseason swap to the Yankees?

New York Yankees should feel more comfortable pairing Nolan Arenado with Paul Goldschmidt after 2025 season's first few weeks

Arenado would come to the Bronx highly recommended. The only issue? He doesn't need the Yankees to save him. He's doing a good enough job of that on his own in St. Louis - and ruining the discount the Yanks maybe could've taken advantage of this offseason.

Through the season's first two weeks, Arenado is leading a still-flawed Cardinals team by drilling the ball, hitting .311 with a 158 OPS+. He's heard the doubters, from Houston and across the map, and responded forcefully. Maybe he looks even better with a nudge towards a contender? The Cardinals still lack pitching and a long-term vision. They should be just as willing as ever to listen on Arenado, suppressing a smile that they may have fended off the offseason criticism and played this one exactly right.

If the Yankees, still searching at third base, need an internal recommendation and a look beyond the metrics, they don't need to look any further than No. 48, who's swiftly becoming a rock solid stalwart in their system.