St. Louis Cardinals: Trade for Yasiel Puig, Trade for Andrew Miller, No Please

The St. Louis Cardinals could use some help before the trade deadline but please say it will not come via Puig or Miller!

The trade deadline is approaching and we can all agree that the St. Louis Cardinals could benefit from an addition.  Will this addition come via a real addition or an addition by subtraction?

Two pieces said to be hitting the market are Yasiel Puig and Andrew Miller.  I beg the baseball gods to keep the St. Louis Cardinals away from both of these players.  Let me tell you why.

Let’s first look at Miller.  Miller is a powerful left-handed reliever who has commanded a 51.1 percent ground ball rate with the Yankees through last season.  Miller was told by the Yankees, according to MLBTR, that he will be traded by the deadline.

These are his career stats:

As a point of reference, let’s compare the above stats to those of the St. Louis Cardinals’ powerful lefty reliever, Tyler Lyons:

See similarities?  While Miller has a larger sample size in the majors, Lyons is out-performing him in the long run but not by much.  Having said that, Miller is far out-performing Lyons this season.

But what might Miller cost to land?  He is signed through 2018 at $9MM a year while Lyons is set to become a free agent at the close of the 2016 season.  The fact that Miller is having a great season makes me believe that the Yankees will demand a great deal.

This kind of deal might end up costing the St. Louis Cardinals a package of Lyons, plus position player, plus prospect (or two).  I just don’t feel that this is of benefit enough to take the risk considering the fact that Miller hasn’t pitched well in his career in the National League.

Let’s move to Puig.  According to Ken Rosenthal and MLBTR, the Dodgers are considering trading Puig contingent upon Andre Ethier– his return from the disabled list- and whether they pick up another outfielder.  Should the St. Louis Cardinals kick the tires?  I hope not.

Let’s look at Puig’s career numbers:

Now, to compare, let’s look at Stephen Piscotty‘s career numbers (since this will compare RF to RF):

Similarities?  Again, Piscotty has a smaller sample size like Lyons above, but unlike Lyons, Piscotty is out-performing Puig.  So this begs the question for me on whether the St. Louis Cardinals would actually benefit from adding a player such as Puig…

More from St Louis Cardinals Rumors

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• Cardinals: Trade targets after signing Willson Contreras
• Cardinals Rumors: Is Willson Contreras Defense a Concern?
• St. Louis Cardinals: Alejandro Kirk or Danny Jansen?

Let me say this, I do hope the St. Louis Cardinals at least kick the tires on this one but I feel this admission comes with some strong connotations.  These being a belief that Matt Holliday is less-than-likely returning at the end of the season and/or the admission that the St. Louis Cardinals have zero center field options and feel that Piscotty is the best solution here.

So, in short, I really hope the St. Louis Cardinals stay clear of these two names.  Does this mean that I want them to make no trade?  Not at all, but I am concerned that these names do nothing to add to the chance of a postseason this year and/or cost too much.

Next: How Memphis Flew into the Break

On the flip side, perhaps it is time for the St. Louis Cardinals to make additions via subtractions.  In other words, maybe this year’s trade deadline will feature the Cardinals as sellers, not buyers… More on that in another article to release very soon!  Thanks for reading!