St. Louis Cardinals: Could Nick Ahmed Join the Redbirds?

The St. Louis Cardinals have a few questions to answer regarding their infield depth. However, Arizona may have just put the answer on the trade block.

The St. Louis Cardinals will surely start Aledmys Diaz at shortstop but answering who will be on the bench is proving to be a tougher question than expected. Greg Garcia and Jedd Gyorko are the most likely candidates, however, Matt Adams will also need a place and teams often don’t carry three infielders (not including a catcher) on their bench. A bench usually consists of two infielders, two outfielders, and a catcher.

This presents an issue because Garcia has proven to be a very solid utility infielder but he is also out of minor-league options. This would force him to either make the MLB roster or to be placed on waivers. Meanwhile, Gyorko’s power bat is far too valuable to not keep on the roster and Matt Adams is the only left-handed power on the bench. He’s also the only real option for first base if Matt Carpenter is injured or is playing elsewhere.

Simply put, the Cardinals can’t carry all three on the MLB roster without sacrificing another bench spot and putting the depth of the team at risk. Meanwhile, the Arizona Diamondbacks just made a valuable shortstop available according to MLB Trade Rumors. Nick Ahmed seems to be a man without a place after Chris Owings has taken the inside track on the starting shortstop position.

Adding Ahmed seems like it would only add to the St. Louis Cardinals’ infield roster issues. However, there are a number of reasons why he could potentially solve a lot of the issues and why the Cardinals should be interested.

Firstly, let’s discuss Ahmed’s value.

Currently, the Diamondbacks have Daniel Descalso, Chris Owings, Nick Ahmed, and Ketel Marte fighting for the starting shortstop job. Behind them are two prospects: Jack Reinheimer and Ildemaro Vargas. Clearly, their middle infield is extremely crowded at the MLB and near-MLB levels. Therefore, someone has to go and Ahmed looks like that guy.

With Ahmed on the block, the Diamondbacks would like to add prospects to their system. But, when looking around the league, not many teams are looking for a starting shortstop. That lack of demand immediately lowers any value that Ahmed would normally be worth. And don’t be fooled by his below average offensive stats, Ahmed is valuable.

Almost all of Ahmed’s value comes defensively. When using UZR/150, Ahmed is ranked as a top 4 defensive player at the shortstop position. If John Mozeliak wants to talk about adding defense and athleticism, then there aren’t many better options than Ahmed. He’s also recorded a dWAR of 4.9 but is making just above the league minimum and will be arbitration eligible after another full season.

Overall, Ahmed is one of the best defensive shortstops in the league and also has the ability to play second base while likely being solid at third if needed. His market is pretty dry which should make him cheaper to acquire and he also is costing the team close to nothing considering his low salary. Defense is becoming more and more important and expensive and Ahmed is a premier defensive player that is incredibly cheap.

Secondly, let’s discuss how he fits the St. Louis Cardinals.

The issue I originally brought up earlier was the over-crowded infield at the MLB level for the Cardinals. Ahmed would just add to that crowding and possibly make things worse. However, Ahmed has something that Greg Garcia does not…a minor league option remaining. This only adds to his value to the Cardinals because that minor league option makes the bench and depth more versatile.