Yankees' Paul Goldschmidt gets high praise from former Cardinals teammate Nolan Arenado

TAMPA, Fla. — Nolan Arenado, an eight-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner at third base, spent the last four seasons of his career throwing the baseball across the diamond to Paul Goldschmidt.

Arenado, of course, has been the subject of trade rumors involving the Yankees all winter and the 33-year-old making the 3 1⁄2-hour drive across the state to play Wednesday raised eyebrows (veteran players of that ilk generally avoid the longer trips of the Grapefruit League season).

But Arenado, who did not play in Tuesday’s game in Dunedin, Florida, against the Blue Jays, doesn’t like to take consecutive days off in the spring. Additionally, driving to Tampa on Tuesday allowed him to have dinner that night with the Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu, a close friend from the pair’s time with the Rockies.

Arenado has a full no-trade clause and though he hasn’t publicly said which teams he would waive it for, it is believed around the Cardinals he would for a handful of clubs, the Yankees included.

“I would just say I’m a Cardinal, I’m going to go hard for them,” Arenado said after taking batting practice before the Yankees’ 7-0 victory at Steinbrenner Field. “I try not to speculate too much on all those things.”

Though declining to delve much into that subject — something he’s had to address all spring as Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, in the midst of a rebuild, has been open about trying to deal Arenado — the third baseman practically glowed when talking about Goldschmidt, the St. Louis first baseman from 2019-24.

“You get a professional, someone that takes pride in their work,” Arenado said. “Obviously, I’m biased but I think Goldy’s still one of the best players in the game, I still think he’s going to be very good. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a big year.”

Goldschmidt, a seven-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover, to the surprise of no one has had a seamless transition into his new clubhouse, already impressing teammates and staff with his detailed approach day-to-day.

“He ups our room value, which I already feel is very strong, but he does just bring a level of professionalism,” Aaron Boone said after Wednesday’s game in which Goldschmidt had an RBI single in a six-run third. “[There’s] a been-there-done-that [confidence], student of the game, game within the game, those have always been calling cards of his. He’s carried that reputation.”

Goldschmidt is coming off the worst season of his career, one in which he hit .245 with a .716 OPS. In a Zoom news conference shortly after signing a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Yankees, Goldschmidt said: “I think I can still play at a really, really high level.”

Arenado has little doubt he can.

“I think he’s got a lot left,” Arenado said. “I think the one thing with Goldy, he’s very strong, he’s in great shape, he takes care of himself and he’s always prepared for the day. Goldy wants to be out there, and you go to battle, you want a guy that wants to be out there every day and that’s what they have with Goldy.

“I’m going to miss him for that, and then I just think that ballpark [Yankee Stadium] . . . he hits a lot of balls to right-center hard and at Busch [the Cardinals’ home ballpark] they kind of ate him up a little bit. I think in New York he’s going to get rewarded a little bit more for those.”

As for Goldschmidt’s defensive abilities, Arenado smiled again.

“One, he’s a great target, and two, he can really scoop,” Arenado said. “He’s a great first baseman, obviously a Gold Glover. I really enjoyed throwing to him. He’s very good at staying on the bag. Everything. He has great footwork. He’s just as solid as they come.”

Extra bases

Catcher Austin Wells, healthy all spring but held out of games with the intent of conserving him for the long season, made his spring debut Wednesday, going 1-for-2, including a two-run double in a six-run third inning. Dom Smith started the inning, which also included RBI singles by Jasson Dominguez, with his second homer in as many days . . . Righthander Will Warren, whom Wells politicked Boone to catch on Wednesday and who may well have won the fifth starter job last spring had it not been for Luis Gil’s electric final three weeks of camp, was terrific in a second straight outing. Making his first start this spring, Warren struck out four and did not allow a baserunner in three innings. He has seven strikeouts in five innings so far.