Why isn't a Yankees-Cardinals trade match on Gleyber Torres being talked about more?

This feels a bit too easy.

New York Yankees v St. Louis Cardinals
New York Yankees v St. Louis Cardinals | Dilip Vishwanat/GettyImages

All this time we're looking at the Mariners, Dodgers and Marlins as potential Gleyber Torres trade destinations, and even the Red Sox slipped in as rumored suitors, before we identified the most obvious candidate?! Why aren't the New York Yankees talking to the St. Louis Cardinals about this?

Though the Cards don't necessarily need a second baseman with Nolan Gorman, Tommy Edman and Brendan Donovan holding it down at the position, those guys have all been speculated as trade candidates to varying degrees. Same goes for Dylan Carlson, Tyler O'Neill and Alec Burleson.

But, truth is, Torres is better than all of those guys. And he more so fits the Cardinals' smaller window of contention rather than the Yankees' plan (whatever that is). Torres probably isn't staying in New York beyond the 2023 season, and the Cardinals could have good reason to extend him should they acquire him in a trade.

St. Louis has so many young assets that they can afford to part with to help other areas of their roster. Guys like Gorman, Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker might be off limits, but is there room for a more expansive trade here involving Torres and Donovan? That's not worthy of a one-for-one swap; the Yankees would have to surrender a bit more. Maybe a bullpen arm or pitching prospect knocking on the door to help with St. Louis' pitching staff? We know they're enamored with recent 40-man joiner Clayton Beeter.

Why isn't a Yankees-Cardinals trade match on Gleyber Torres being talked about more?

Donovan for ... Torres and Jhony Brito/Randy Vasquez/Yoendrys Gomez/Beeter? You'd have to think Chase Hampton, Drew Thorpe and Will Warren are reserved for a larger trade package or for the Yankees' use, so consider them out. Same goes for Clarke Schmidt and Michael King.

Could Gorman be had for a similar price? The lefty slugger plays second base and third base and would seemingly be part of the antidote to fix the Yankees' lineup problems. The Cardinals have a surplus of versatile mix-and-match guys that could help them net a better infielder and some more pitching help. Just sayin'.

Perhaps we're off the mark and a deal for either of those guys has to be a bit more expansive. The Cards need a shortstop, right? Oswald Peraza and Trey Sweeney could be had, per our educated guesses. It'd be harder to pry Roderick Arias or George Lombard Jr. here, and those guys don't necessarily help the Cardinals within the next year.

The Winter Meetings are boring us and we've entered this territory. Forgive us, but anything and everything has to be considered with the lack of movement.

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