St. Louis Cardinals: Landing Wil Myers

The St. Louis Cardinals should trade for Wil Myers.  Our own Josh Brown feels this way and I am now endorsing his claim.

We fans of the St. Louis Cardinals have watched this season’s experiments at first base and the outfield meander from week to week.  We fans have also watched a third place, no wait- second place, no wait- third place team waffle back and forth with either a strong offense or an absent one.

Enter a solution: trade for Wil Myers.

Josh Brown, a staff writer for us here at Redbird Rants, has been a staunch champion for the St. Louis Cardinals to sign Wil Myers from the Padres.  With the recent injury to Jon Jay (a gift from the Cardinals to the Padres– like the gift of the Statue of Liberty), San Diego may indeed be looking for a sweet deal.

Josh suggested a few items that he felt, at the time of his article (linked above), would be necessary to land Myers.  In his article, Josh suggests that Myers could spell the end of the experimentation in the outfield and first base.  Furthermore, Josh suggests that a package of Matt Adams, Randal Grichuk, and a pitcher might work.

In further discussion, Josh suggests that perhaps this pitcher could be Michael Wacha.  I don’t like this suggestion.  There, I said it.  Sorry, Josh.  I do, however, like the idea of landing Myers so let’s look at what I think it will take.

In a recent MLBTR article, wherein the injury to Jay was discussed, it is suggested that the Padres were likely hoping to use Jay as bait for prospects.  With this in mind, I feel that the following packages might work.

Package A

For my first proposed package, I’ll suggest Tommy Pham (to replace Jay) + Matt Adams (I agree with Josh that the time is ripe to send him packing) + Deck McGuire.  Let’s look at this a little deeper.

These are Pham’s numbers this season as a point of comparing him to Jay as a replacement:

These are Jay’s numbers this season:

As you can see, Jay is out-performing Pham but Pham would be a good substitute.  Adams, as Josh points out, has his value on the rise so this piece could help seal the deal.  In terms of pitching prospects, McGuire is a solid pitcher (see my posts on him) and one that could work well in the Padres organization.

Package B

While I can see this happening with these pieces listed above, let me suggest a prospects-only package deal that I could see as enticing to San Diego:  pitcher Ryan Sherriff + pitcher Jeremy Hefner + OF/1B Carlos Peguero + OF Jeremy Hazelbaker.

Since the MLBTR article stated that the Padres were likely thinking of using Jay as a piece to land prospects, and in collaboration with the article also recognizing the Padres’ other bait pieces, Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner, being on the DL, I feel this package might be enticing indeed.

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In this package, the Cardinals would lose a good pen pitcher who has shown shut-down stuff (Sherriff), a good starter who is working and learning his material but who is probably a full year away from MLB-ready (Hefner), a power bat outfielder who can play first base who could realistically replace Myers today (Peguero), and an MLB-ready outfielder who could replace Jay (Hazelbaker).

While Hazelbaker has a decent enough upside, I’m worried we may have likely seen his peak this season with the St. Louis Cardinals.  This doesn’t mean his value is diminished but that his best for us, which isn’t good enough right now to maintain him on the MLB roster, might be adequate to satiate the Padres during Jay’s absence.

Can these happen?  Sure!  We have seen things like this pulled off by Mozeliak for seasons.  Will one of these happen?  I hope so and I know Josh hopes so too!  Which package would I prefer?  I would love to see either but I think the Cardinals will suffer less from package B.

Next: Fists Fly in Memphis

So, now we wait.  Josh and I will continue to hope and, in the meantime, let’s hope our birds (who start a nine-game home stand tonight) win and win and win.  And then trade for Wil Myers!