Cardinals’ Rumors: St. Louis Cardinals chasing Colorado Rockies outfielders?

Via Jon Morosi, the St. Louis Cardinals are engaged with the Colorado Rockies for a possible trade pertaining to one of their outfielders.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals have collected a rugged starting pitcher in Mike Leake to shore up their rotation innings problem, the focus should shift back to the need for a bat to help an offense that has averaged 2.9 runs the past two seasons.

If General Manager John Mozeliak doesn’t value one of the free agent bats enough to fork over a nine figure contract, does he finally deal out some of his prized possessions (propects) and young players to acquire a bat.

I talked about this at length last week when I previewed whether or not Carlos Gonzalez was a good potential trade target. Well now this has become an official “rumor”.

According to Jon Morosi’s Twitter account, the Cards are still looking at Colorado as a trade target.

Let’s look at each guy. Treat this like a quick glance at a buffet.

Carlos Gonzalez-I looked at the long view on CarGo last week, but in short he’s a power hitting gold glove winning outfielder who played over 140 games in 2015 for the first time since 2010. Gonzalez can’t touch lefties, but he shreds righthanders like a sirloin steak dinner.

He hit 40 home runs last year, but does like the home field of Coors like any other Colorado Rockies’ player. He still slugged well away from Colorado(.464). The truth is take the seasons from 2011-13 and Cards fans would take it.

Gonzalez is a little like Jaime Garcia. A great impact even when not covering the whole schedule. Gonzalez’s appeal also comes in the two modestly salaried remaining years on his contract.

More from St Louis Cardinals Rumors

• Cardinals: Trade targets after signing Willson Contreras
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• St. Louis Cardinals: Alejandro Kirk or Danny Jansen?
• Cardinals: Free-agent Cody Bellinger hitting with Matt Holliday
• Cardinals: Pros and cons of free agent targets for St. Louis

Charlie Blackmon

This is the centerfielder Cards fans have been wanting. A leadoff hitter type with speed, solid defense and some slug in his bat. Blackmon is under team control until 2019 and has put together back to back seasons of .775 OPS production or more. He relies on the Coors Field effect more than Gonzalez, but still offers this team a dimension they currently don’t have.

There’s no denying the 170 hit, 30 doubles and 9 triples with 19 home runs that Blackmon could bring. Blackmon also gives the Cards a legit stolen base threat. He stole 28 and 43 bases the past two seasons, getting caught 23 times but still showing a tool the Cards don’t have. He may also offer Matt Carpenter a chance to hit 3rd.

Corey Dickerson

A 26 year old(youngest of three players) with considerable pop. He has compiled a 550 plus OPS the past two seasons and had an OPS+ over .900 in 2015. He hasn’t played over 131 games in his two full seasons, but he could be the diamond in the rough of this pack. He does play left field and a little center, neither really well so that could be a problem.

Next: A long look at Carlos Gonzales

All three offer something unique. Power. Something the Cardinals do not have. Which one do you think the Cards should trade for? Right here and now, I’d take Gonzalez against his injury history and splits due to his lineup changing bat and durability in the field but Blackmon is also appealing due to his versatility and, well, his beard.