With the MLB trade deadline coming up quickly, here's the latest on what you need to know about the St. Louis Cardinals and their possible options.
To start Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals are 36-57, 3-7 in their last 10 games, and still last in the NL Central. The All-Star break which starts on Monday gives a needed reprieve from all the losing.
After that, there isn't much time to change the roster before the MLB Trade Deadline if the organization hopes to make any adjustments to the roster to stay competitive this year.
Here's a quick helping of rumors around the league relevant to what the Cardinals might do as we come up on the midseason break.
Jordan Montgomery injury could not be timed worse
Jordan Montgomery left Friday's game in the fifth inning in a road contest against the Chicago White Sox with a hamstring injury. On three hits, Monty had given up just a run and had struck out five.
Montgomery told reporters that he was trying to catch his balance after slipping on the mound.
With the All-Star break coming up, the injury, which he will undergo testing on soon, could be timed perfectly with built-in rest time due to the break possibly serving as a needed break for the pitcher. Or, if Montgomery hits the injured list, it could be terrible timing.
Montgomery is one of the best trade pieces the Cardinals have that they could flip at the deadline to make some magic happen. He's a free agent this winter and is a proven starter, a position that teams are after at the deadline this season. As a player who joined the team midway through last season, the organization seems to have less attachment to him than other players as well.
If Montgomery is on the injured list as trade discussions are heating up, it could give teams pause about surrendering the value they may have otherwise parted with to land Montgomery from the Cardinals.
We'll learn more about his timeline soon, which will be the ultimate determinant for how ill-timed this incident was.
Paul Goldschmidt unlikely to be dealt, extension possible
The great debate beneath the arch this year: To trade Paul Goldschmidt or not.
In the stead of Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols, and soon Adam Wainwright, Goldschmidt is clearly a player worth keeping around for the legacy factor. St. Louis has routinely developed or acquired talent and kept those players in for the long haul. In the case of Pujols, they've even gone out to bring those players back.
St. Louis has a strong legacy about it, and part of the reason for that is that the organization, for the most part, has historically stood by its people, avoiding turnover.
But with the team performing like an engine on its last legs this season, some have thrown out the idea of trading Goldschmidt. The reasons are logical… He doesn't have long left on his deal, he's talented enough that he would secure the team a substantial payday, etc.
The reasons against it, as outlined above, are tacit to the organization's ethos. Trading a player like Goldschmidt just isn't what St. Louis baseball is about.
And in fact, we're learning that trade is becoming less and less likely, with the exact opposite outcome expected. According to Joel Sherman of the NY Post, rival executives think it's more likely that Goldschmidt, with an OPS+ of 132 this season, secures a contract extension than a trade to a new home.
Either decision will help the Cardinals piece together their picture for the future. On one hand, trading Goldschmidt now ensures they can get the assets or players needed to build its team for the future. While it might make sense to trade Goldschmidt due to the short period of team control left, an extension covers those bases entirely and gives the Cardinals a key foundational piece to keep building around.
Shohei Ohtani's availability is in question yet again
Let me be clear: I fully expect that reports from earlier this week that Shohei Ohtani is exceedingly unlikely to be traded are probably how this trade deadline ends. The Angels, as much as I think they should cash in for Ohtani while they still can, need to keep their reputation intact. Trading him is exactly the kind of move you might kick yourself for centuries to come, even if the most likely outcome in free agency is him leaving for nothing.
Now, that said, Jon Heyman of the New York Post says the door is still cracked on Ohtani as a trade piece. Heyman reports the Angels are telling people to check back in two to three weeks, which, for what it's worth, would be just days before the MLB Trade Deadline on August 1.
The Angels are telling folks they will "know a lot more in the next two or three weeks" regarding their plans. Folks still have a hard time imagining owner Arte Moreno trading the game's best current player, and maybe the best ever, even if he's somehow convinced they have no chance to re-sign him. Even so, Angels people seem to be leaving open the slight possibility of an Ohtani blockbuster.
The Cardinals have been speculatively connected with Ohtani for a while now. As one of the most successful franchises in the league, their banners and ability to build consistent winners might be attractive to the two-way star.
Ohtani also gets along swimmingly with Lars Nootbaar, a youngster on the Cardinals roster under team control for years to come. Nootbaar and Ohtani both played on Team Japan during the World Baseball Classic before this season started.
For St. Louis, if Ohtani does become available, the question surely becomes whether or not they could simply get him in free agency this winter. If they think they can, they may not bite on him as bait.
But at the same time, trading for Ohtani shows the player just how badly they want him and gives them an opportunity to sell him on their culture and organization. That could serve as a massive leg-up in free agency when the time comes.
It also completely changes the game — not just for the Cardinals, but for every team in baseball — if the Angels open up the lines on Ohtani. For St. Louis, perhaps they make Goldschmidt available in such a scenario, though his inclusion in the deal would likely require a third team.
For now, most sources are reporting Ohtani won't be available, but it's clear that it's far from a sure thing, at least so far.
