St. Louis Cardinals Hot Stove: Five trade candidates at first base

Roster Strengths

The bullpen and outfield are the St. Louis Cardinals’ two areas of strength. Signing Jason Heyward would almost certainly make a guy like Randal Grichuk or Peter Bourjos expendable. Even without Heyward, there’s buzz that the Seattle Mariners could make a push to acquire one of them. Here are the outfielders the Cardinals currently have on the 40-man depth chart:

LF … Matt Holliday, Stephen Piscotty, Brandon Moss,

CF … Grichuk, Peter Bourjos, Jon Jay, Tommy Pham

RF … Piscotty, Moss, Anthony Garcia

That’s seven guys for three spots, although Moss is really a first baseman/designated hitter at

These days, you don’t have to be a closer to command a king’s ransom. And that makes a guy like St. Louis Cardinals setup man

Kevin Siegrist

highly marketable. Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

this point in his career. Garcia has yet to break in and has the potential to be nothing more than a replacement-level fourth outfielder. That said, the St. Louis Cardinals still have excess to deal from.

The bullpen is another story. Trading a reliever would be more of a risk. Trevor Rosenthal is still one of the best closers in the game. But Kevin Siegrist and Seth Maness were the only other two relievers manager Mike Matheny trusted. Tyler Lyons, Steve Cishek (signed through 2017), Mitch Harris, Miguel Socolovich and Sam Tuivailala are all variables.

Then you have Jordan Walden, who seemed likely to come back from a bicep strain he sustained in April but never did. He was removed from a rehab assignment in August and that was that. Who knows what we’ll see in March?

That said, relievers have never been valued more than they are now. The market for former Baltimore Oriole middleman Darren O’Day is arguably hotter than the prospects for any other free agent right now. Should the Cardinals dangle one of their three top relievers, Mozeliak’s phone will surely blow up.

Next: Roster Weaknesses