Have The Cardinals Inquired On Starlin Castro?

It’s been a minute since I have had a chance to put my thoughts out there, but now that the Series is over it’s time to address one of the impending changes on the horizon.

Sep 15, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro (13) stands in the dugout against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the seventh inning at PNC Park. The Pittsburgh Pirates won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Late last night the Cards were reported by Chicago Now to have already checked in with the Cubs about the availability of Starlin Castro via trade. If true, it’s nice to see Mozeliak is wasting no time in trying to address this obviously glaring issue. Clearly, the SS situation has to be addressed this offseason because there are no signs that St. Louis has anyone near the MLB level that can be an offensive contributor out of the position. Pete Kozma just isn’t cutting it. Daniel Descalso is a valuable piece in a backup capacity, capable of covering 3B, SS, and 2B, but he is not an MLB level every day starting SS.

In the post above the idea is floated that the package would center around either Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, or Tyrell Jenkins and would also need to include a SS coming back to the Cubs, which at this point would most seemingly have to be Kozma because they are going to be looking for a stopgap to provide a bridge to super-prospect Javy Baez, and Kozma is the only every day, defensively capable SS the Cards possess at this point.

From the Cubs angle, it seems like a sell low option because Castro has a ton of talent if some team could just manage to keep him engaged in the game mentally day in and day out. Perhaps a winning environment is all that it would take for Castro to become locked in every day. Certainly, that would have to be the Cardinals hope if they went through with this trade.

From the Cards angle, they’d be giving up a prized pitching prospect to facilitate this deal no matter which way they went. Is this the real reason Miller was held out throughout the playoffs? If it’s the case, I hope not, because they had a legit chance to win a World Series and it should have been all hands on deck. Regardless, in order to get anything of value you have to give something of value, and one of these young arms is probably going to be the price.

Most fans are going to want to see Lynn, or Kelly, dealt instead of Miller or Martinez, but the simple fact is that the Cards are in a position such that their pitching depth can absorb a loss like this and the machine should keep right on rolling along without registering much more than a minor blip on the radar.

Any trade is a risky proposition, but if the Cubs are willing to part with an everyday premium position player that has the ability that Castro has then the Cards definitely need to take these discussions seriously. We all saw that pitching alone can only take you so far. Therefore, parting with a minor amount of pitching to fill a major need should be more than acceptable.

So, Cards fans, does the idea of Starlin Castro donning the Birds on the Bat intrigue you enough to outweigh having to part with a prized pitching asset that St. Louis would then have to face for years to come, or should the Cards look elsewhere to fill their SS need?

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