In the last year, almost every established veteran on the St. Louis Cardinals roster has been linked to trade rumors.

There was fire to a lot of smoke behind those rumors. Closer Ryan Helsley, starting pitcher Sonny Gray, first baseman/catcher Willson Contreras, second baseman Brendan Donovan and third baseman Nolan Arenado have all been dealt by the Cardinals in the last year.

Even for the players who didn't or haven't been traded yet, those rumors haven't gone unnoticed.

Outfielder Lars Nootbaar arrived to the team's spring training facility in Jupiter, Fla., on Wednesday. Nootbaar was late reporting to camp due to the team not having a piece of equipment he needed to keep his rehab on schedule.

According to a post on "X" from Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, Nootbaar heard from his representation this offseason about the possibility of being dealt. 

It looks like the potential of being traded is still on the table for Nootbaar, who's currently recovering from surgery to repair a condition in his heels.

Nootbaar underwent a procedure in October to correct a condition in both of his heels. He was reportedly dealing with Haglund's deformities, which is a bone deformity that causes pain, enlargement and inflammation.

According to Jones' report, Nootbaar has been able to throw and hit but is just getting around to being able to run without aid.

It's still unclear when Nootbaar will be able to compete in games.

Last season, Nootbaar slashed .234/.325/.361 with a .686 OPS and hit 24 doubles, a triple and 13 home runs with 48 RBIs in 135 games.

Nootbaar's games played, hits, RBIs and doubles were all single-season career-highs for the 28-year-old, who made his major league debut in 2021. In the same breath, his on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS were all single-season career-lows.

Nootbaar is currently under his second year of arbitration and is set to earn $5.25 million in 2026. He has one more year or arbitration for 2027 before he'll be a free agent ahead of the 2028 season.

St. Louis has moved on from the aforementioned veterans in efforts of building assets who can contribute and become focal points for the Cardinals' rebuilt roster.

Nootbaar is still relatively young and St. Louis will need some veterans to balance out the growing amount of young players who are expected to become faces of the franchise. Time will tell if Nootbaar will be one of those veterans of the future or another player that Cardinals choose to cut ties with.

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