Trade Rumors: St. Louis Cardinals could trade for Cole Hamels or David Price

FOX Sports writers Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi stirred the pot last night when they reported on trade rumors that the St. Louis Cardinals could sign free agent pitcher Max Scherzer or trade for Cole Hamels or David Price.

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We’ve known for sometime that the Cardinals have said that they would like to bring in another starting pitcher. Why they would do this with both Carlos Martinez and Marco Gonzales fighting for the fifth spot on the pitching rotation is beyond me. The only way that they could bring in another starting pitcher would be via a trade.

The fact that they are looking at two left-handed starters in Hamels and Price says that they don’t trust the status of Jaime Garcia in the long term and want a left-hander in the rotation.

"No deal appears close on any front, and it’s possible that the Cardinals will simply decide that the acquisition cost in each case is too high."

No matter what option the Cardinals decide to do, it will be seen as an expensive move by the fan base. It’s all going to come down to which prospects or players the Tigers and Phillies covet the most. Do the Cardinals send Martinez packing if it means getting Price or Hamels in return?

I like the idea of Price to the Cardinals as he’s a left-hander and a previous Cy Young Award winner. If he can win the award by pitching in the American League East Division, he should be able to have no problem adjusting to the National League Central Division. The only question that people are asking would be if Price would sign a contract extension with the Cardinals. He’s a free agent at the end of the year and the Detroit Tigers are going to want a heavy return on his value rather than get nothing back outside of a draft pick.

St. Louis isn’t too far from his home in Nashville, which could be seen as a plus in trying to sign Price to a long-term extension.

Hamels has four years ($90 million) remaining on his contract with the Phillies. The Cardinals are on the list of teams that Hamels can be traded to. David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News suggests the Cardinals or San Diego Padres as a trade option, citing “the relative fisal strength with which they operate and then bounty of talent they possess in their farm system.”

Rosenthal and Morosi suggest that to get Hamels, it would mean trading either Martinez or Gonzales as well as Randal Grichuk or Stephen Piscotty. The Phillies are interested in Peter Bourjos as well.

Scherzer, while appealing as a St. Louis native, is just going to be too darned expensive. It doesn’t matter that he is represented by Scott Boras. The Cardinals are not about to spend $200 million on a pitcher north of 30 when they can wisely use the money elsewhere.

UPDATE: Derrick Goold was on The Ryan Kelley Morning After to talk about this rumor and said that the Cardinals have the most interest in Price.

"“That seems to be the best blend of the trio,” Goold told The Ryan Kelley Morning After on Thursday. “As far as the blend of all these things, who fits their profile and maybe the price best, would be price."

It’s just a matter of which pieces to send over in a deal. Goold suggests some names:

"“They’ve traded three young starters in the last four, five months now. The player teams want, the Phillies have mentioned before, is Carlos Martinez. The sort of shape of the discussions for Tampa Bay took (last year) was a position player. Stephen Piscotty would be the most likely one. Matt Adams was part of the discussion.”"

I’d hate to lose somebody like Piscotty but that would mean that the Cards would have a strong interest in extending a deal with Jason Heyward.

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