St. Louis Cardinals: 4 Winter Meetings Takeaways

Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Blockbuster Trade

There is no doubt about this one. After shocking the baseball world by giving Zack Greinke the sun, earth and moon to spurn division rivals in L.A. and San Francisco, the Arizona Diamondbacks moved a huge package of young players to the Atlanta Braves for former St. Louis Cardinals starter Shelby Miller. Honestly, it’s  hard to say which of the two moves was more surprising.

The consensus in the immediate aftermath of the trade is that the Braves won it by getting a talented, young Major League outfielder in Ender Inciarte, a near Major League-ready starter in Aaron Blair (the 36th overall pick in 2013) and last year’s top overall pick in shortstop Dansby Swanson. The St. Louis Cardinals couldn’t have come close to making an offer like that for Miller, even if they wanted to.

While Atlanta certainly got a load of talent, the trade works out well for both teams. The Diamondbacks are building their team around Paul Goldschmidt, easily one of the best hitters in all of baseball. They’ve got plenty of talent surrounding him in the order already. And given that their starting rotation finished in the bottom half of the National League ERA standings last year, they’ve clearly addressed a key weakness.

So far, the Arizona Diamondbacks have won the offseason. Now let’s see if they can win when the St. Louis Cardinals do. When it counts.

Next: The Big Free Agent Signing