MLB Trade Deadline August 3 6 PM ET

[CardsofSTL]

Former Cardinal Luke Weaver might make a return to the Central as the Mets are shopping him and the Pirates and Brewers seem to be the most interested teams.

Weaver has made a nice career for himself since transitioning to the bullpen.

[jagtrader]

This season is a good example of how difficult it is to develop above average major leaguers. Most of the guys the Cardinals thought could play for them have flopped.

Something to keep in mind when the prospects list hounds do cartwheels over the trade deadline acquisitions.

[Fan_In_NY]

This season is a good example of how difficult it is to develop above average major leaguers. Most of the guys the Cardinals thought could play for them have flopped.

Something to keep in mind when the prospects list hounds do cartwheels over the trade deadline acquisitions.

I don't think the group the Cardinals have been putting on the field represents players that the Cardinals thought would be above average major leaguers. Maybe Gorman when he was first a prospect, but that ship sailed a couple of years ago. Same maybe for Liberatore - he was pegged as average at best by 2023. But coming into this year, those guys being average would have been seen as a nice progression.

The rest of the team - Church, Winn's bat, Torres, Victor Scott, Church, Saggese, Fermin, Blaze, and basically the whole pitching staff have the prospect pedigree of being major league average being a 70th percentile outcome, being above average was probably at 85th percentile outcome.

[Popeye_Card]

I think if anything, this season has suggested that you should go with what you've got. Of the current top 25 position players in fWAR, I believe only 2 have signed major FA deals to switch teams (Ohtani and Freeman). It is littered with guys I didn't even hear of until this season. Just looking at the Cardinals, Weatherholt and Walker have clearly been our best two players by a country mile. Other than possibly trading Walker in a Soto package 4 seasons ago (to see both Walker and Soto playing for different teams now), I'm not sure I see an argument for Trade All Prospects given this year's results.

EDIT: Which to be fair jagtrader - I don't think that's the argument you are making. If it is more of a "don't trust top prospect lists" thing, I agree but that has also been the case for a long while.

[jagtrader]

My argument is you have to supplement your lineup. Guys like Lowe and O’Hearn have made a difference in Pittsburgh. You can’t just roll out a lineup of homegrown players because it’s easy, cheap and convenient.

The Cardinals aren’t ready for that, I suppose. But this is Year 4 in the wilderness and Year 3 of being unable to hit and it’s really [expletive] old.

[Popeye_Card]

Oh yeah. If the Cardinals think they can seriously improve by just drafting a few guys and “pump and dump’ing” guys like May or O’Brien for mid prospects, they’ll be in the wilderness for a long time.

[ghostrunner]

I was pretty much all in on the original plan but I’ve definitely flipped. Turns out we’ve got 3-4 really good hitters, current relative slump aside. And 1-2 more who seem likely to be ready in the next year or two. Arguably the best up the middle defense in the league. On the pitching side we could easily fill a couple slots because it’s not at all clear we’ve got anything coming up in the next year now that Mathews is up. We just got a slew of draft picks after becoming a top rated farm system in the offseason. Why wait? Signing a couple pitchers now isn’t blocking anything. I think you could make that argument last offseason, but not now.

I’m more hopeful about the future spending than jag is, but the stick to the plan thing now strikes me as more stubborn than wise. Mainly because I don’t see how upgrading at a few spots precludes anything. Where is 3rd baseman coming from? Or a centerfielder? Or at least two rotation spots?
Upgrade even a couple of those and you’ve got an even more competitive season than we’ve had already.

[TGantz]

2028 Lineup
2B-Wetherholt
LF-Baez
1B-
RF-Walker
DH-
C-(Biggest strength to trade from)
3B-
SS-Winn
CF-

Anyone else in the organization is tradable for a top of the rotation arm that will be ready by 2028.

[jagtrader]

It’s hard to express how stupid it would be to trade Burleson.

[MinorLeagueGuy]

So, nothing?