St. Louis Cardinals Should Trade For Wil Myers

The St. Louis Cardinals could use another bat to bolster their offense and San Diego Padres’  slugger Wil Myers would be a great fit.

It’s getting hot outside, real hot. Summer is officially here. As the calendar flips to July that means trade rumors and speculation. There is one player the St. Louis Cardinals should target before the Aug. 1 trade deadline — Wil Myers.

Think back to July 24, 2009. The Cardinals needed a bat and seemingly out of nowhere GM John Mozeliak pulled off a great trade with the Oakland Athletics to acquire Matt Holliday. It was a bold move.

Much like the Jason Heyward trade last year, in 2009 Holliday was due to be a free agent. The Cardinals, as we know, were able to sign Holliday to a 7-year $120M deal that changed the course of the franchise and turned out to be a great deal for St. Louis.

So, here we are in 2016. The Cardinals are fourth in the National League with 95 home runs and third in the NL in runs scored. You might ask, ‘why would we need a guy like Wil Myers?’

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Despite those great offensive numbers so far, the Cardinals could still use a premier middle of the lineup bat. Myers is a guy who won rookie of the year in 2013 with the Tampa Bay Rays after hitting .293 and blasting 13 homers and 23 doubles  in 335 at-bats.

A slow start to 2014 and some nagging injuries led to a trade that sent him to the Padres in 2015. Last season, Myers started off decently before being sidelined with another injury that eventually led to wrist surgery. Many thought his power would be sapped, but Myers has come back healthy this season and is proving critics wrong.

Take a look at Myers’ numbers so far this season:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

The 25-year old is having a fantastic year. Myers is hitting a homer every 17 at-bats. What’s more, he has been great on the base paths. Myers has stolen 10 bases and only been caught twice. The guy is healthy and he is proving that he can be a superstar.

So, why would he be a great fit for the Cardinals? Besides the fact that any team would want a young guy who is a potential 20-plus homer and 20-plus stolen base player, there are other reasons this trade makes sense for the Cardinals.

For starters, Myers could be the answer to the Cardinals center field problem. Kolten Wong and Tommy Pham having been manning center field with Randal Grichuk trying to get his swing back in the minors, and both guys haven’t done much to hold onto the position.

Myers has primarily played first base for the Padres, but he has outfield experience across all three positions. Myers has logged 46 games in center field and 148 in right field. While he hasn’t played in center a ton, if the Cardinals were willing to give Wong a chance, I’m sure they would be fine with Myers in center field.

Not to mention, Myers’ speed would only help in that position.

Then there is the flexibility. Myers can also play first base. That affords the Cardinals more versatility with him, much like they have had with Brandon Moss. Speaking of Moss, if he keeps having the great comeback season that he is putting together, he could be gone next year and out of the Cardinals reach in signing a team-friendly deal.

All the more reason to get a young guy like Myers who has the same, if not better, versatility than Moss.

Where would Myers hit in the lineup? He has mainly batted second in his career with 86 games started there. Myers is a .280 hitter with 15 homers in the 2-hole and has only played 50 games in his career batting cleanup with a .245 average and a .712 OPS. But Myers has only gotten the chance to bat in the cleanup spot eight times this season.

With his power potential he could be a guy who slots into the cleanup hole for the Cardinals giving more protection to guys like Holliday and Stephen Piscotty.

Why the four-hole? Well, speaking of Piscotty, the 25-year old has struggled a bit in the move to the cleanup spot. Since moving there, Piscotty is hitting just .243 with a .409 slugging percentage and a .759 OPS.

Is Piscotty putting too much pressure on himself to produce in the four-hole? I don’t know. But what I do know is the Cardinals right fielder was slashing .349/.397/.556 with a .953 OPS batting second in this St. Louis lineup.

A trade for Myers could allow the Cardinals to slot Piscotty back in the two-hole with Myers batting third or fourth and Aledmys Diaz dropping down to the fifth spot. Any way you shape it, Myers would make this Cardinals lineup even more deep and dangerous.

Probably the best reason to trade for Myers though is his age. When the Cardinals traded for Holliday back in 2009 the slugger was already 29 years old and had the chance to be a free agent at the end of the season. That wouldn’t be the case with Myers.

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Myers is only 25 and isn’t arbitration-eligible until 2017 with 2020 being the earliest that he would be a free agent. The Cardinals would have more control over Myers and more time to get him to buy into this team and signing an extension with St. Louis, something general manager John Mozeliak didn’t have the luxury with when he traded for Heyward last year.

So, is this trade even a possibility? What would it take to pry Myers from the Padres? That is the million dollar question. The good news is, we know these two teams certainly can pull off a trade. The Cardinals recently acquired second baseman Jedd Gyorko from the Padres in the offseason in exchange for outfielder Jon Jay.

Myers will be a much different case. If the Padres are shopping him they, understandably, will be asking for a big package including one or more pitching prospects. I’m not sure who it would take, but a good start could be a package of the Cardinals sending Matt Adams, Grichuk and a pitcher.

That pitcher, hopefully, would be a prospect not named Alex Reyes. What about Michael Wacha? Wacha is a pitcher that is Major League ready right now, and who could be a deal that at least intrigues the Padres.

The time is ripe for the Cardinals to trade Adams with his resurgence. As for shipping off Grichuk, I don’t love it, but if we are honest — Myers is what we all hope Grichuk could be and a bonus because of his extra speed.

Mozeliak better hurry though if this is a deal he believes he should pursue. Earlier this week, Atlanta Braves general manager John Coppolella participated in a Twitter Takeover on the Braves Twitter account, answering various questions from fans. He answered one question about if Myers “sparked” his interests rather candidly:

Time will tell if a trade like this is in the works for the Cardinals. Most would say the Cardinals need more depth in the bullpen, and I agree. I imagine that is on Mozeliak’s radar as well.

But if Mozeliak can pull off a trade to land a guy like Myers, it could be the next big turning point for this franchise and a huge step in the right direction to remaining competitive with the Chicago Cubs.

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What do you think? Hit me up on Twitter and let me know if this is a trade you would like to see the Cardinals make and the pieces St. Louis might have to ship over to San Diego to land Myers. Thanks for reading.