St. Louis Cardinals: Likely trade partner teams to consider

Like the Blue Jays before them, the Baltimore Orioles do not seem to be postseason bound and have a slugger the St. Louis Cardinals should be coveting,

The St. Louis Cardinals, if they have interest in a name like Donaldson, should absolutely hold interest in Manny Machado with the Orioles. The Orioles are in almost the same position as the Cardinals in their divison– second to last and roughly four games out of the lead. By not appearing to be a postseason team, and by having a big-dollar name, the two clubs could be a nice pair.

Machado is a beast and would fit nicely in the St. Louis Cardinals roster. He has a 2017 slash of .228/.299/.446 which isn’t his best, but is worth noting. Could a change of pace help him find is slugging ways again? These low numbers could also help the Cardinals land him…

Machado is a free agent in 2018 so, like Donaldson before, the Cardinals will need to offer some kind of extension to lock-up the gold-glover and all-star. Manny is being paid $11.5M in 2017 and could well earn in the neighborhood of $15-16MM in free agency.

More from St Louis Cardinals Rumors

• Cardinals: Free-agent Cody Bellinger hitting with Matt Holliday
• Cardinals: Pros and cons of free agent targets for St. Louis
• Cardinals: Alex Reyes and Delvin Perez should be cautionary tales
• Cardinals: One move they don’t want to see each NL contender make
• Cardinals: 6 stars St. Louis should trade for this off-season

The St. Louis Cardinals should offer this money and offer the Orioles any prospect they request and/or the names mentioned in the previous slide. See? It is easy to get good players, Mo, if you are willing to part ways with those you have.

Along these lines, I think Lance Lynn would be a name of interest to the Orioles. Baltimore could use pitching and Lynn is a pending FA who the Orioles could convert into a long solution. Lynn is a good pitcher but I just don’t see him on the Cardinals team past 2017 and perhaps this fact could help send him somewhere he would find success and land the Cardinals a power bat in return.

Bottom line in all of these is the fact that the Cardinals need to decide to become buyers or sellers. The series that begins today with Arizona should/could offer some insight into what changes the Cardinals need to make to reverse the “not a positive trend” (Mozeliak) the birds are currently experiencing.

For more on the precarious buy/sell conundrum, jump over and read Nathan’s recent post. For more on the upcoming Arizona series, check out Trevor’s preview.

St. Louis Cardinals: This team needs to free Carson Kelly

The St. Louis Cardinals catching prospect Carson Kelly is ready. He needs to be on the big-league club, and the team needs him.

What do you think? Should the St. Louis Cardinals kick the tires on the players mentioned here? Which team do you think makes the best trade partner for the Cards? Let me know on Twitter and thanks for reading!