St. Louis Cardinals: The time is ripe to call the Boston Red Sox

The St. Louis Cardinals have two great candidates for the Boston Red Sox in light of their recent news released today.

The St. Louis Cardinals have two players, Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter, who have good-to-great value at the moment and who could be solutions to a few clubs. One club- the Boston Red Sox- immediately comes to mind.

Fellow Redbird Rants writer, Christian, covered the news of the designation of Pablo Sandoval this morning by the Red Sox. This move, combined with the earlier release of Jhonny Peralta, could well indicate that the Sox are in the market now that space has been created.

Enter Gyorko and/or Carpenter. Let’s do a quick comparison. Out of the gate, let’s skip Peralta because we all know how poor his play has been this season and none of us are surprised by his release. That out of the way, Sandoval is carrying a 2017 slash of .212/.269/.354. Sleepy, right?

Here’s the comparison… Gyorko is slashing .300/.369/.519. Carpenter is slashing .237/.378/.449. Both of these options would be a nice upgrade for Boston.

How about money? Carpenter is signed through 2019 with a 2020 option. He is making $10M in 2017, $13.75M in 2018, and $14.75M in 2019 with an $18.5M option for 2020 ($2M buyout).

Gyorko is signed through 2019 with a 2020 option as well. He is making $6M in 2017 ($2M paid by the Padres), $9M in 2018 ($2.5M paid by Padres), $13M in 2019 ($3M paid by the Padres) with a $13M option for 2020 ($1M buyout).

Peralta’s release simply meant that the St. Louis Cardinals remained on the hook for the remaining money owed to Jhonny so it was no harm to the Sox. Should Sandoval clear waivers, a new contract could be negotiated by Boston. In the meantime, Pablo is currently signed through 2019 with an option for 2020 (see a trend here?).

Under his current contract, Sandoval is making $17.6M in 2017, $18.6M in 2018, and $18.6M in 2019 with a $17M option for 2020 ($5M buyout). You can easily see why the Red Sox wouldn’t mind to reconfigure this high-dollar contract. That said, with his declining statistics and his growing age, it is also easy to see how they wouldn’t mind seeing him depart.

Noting the numbers and the financials, it is also easy to see how great a fit Gyorko and/or Carpenter would be for the Red Sox. If it were up to me, I would approve of the St. Louis Cardinals sending Matt Carpenter to the Red Sox.

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The Sox would gain a versatile and cheap (to them) infielder and the Cardinals would clear space for a player who has lost playing time and actual space on this team. In addition, this would be a good move for Carpenter since the Red Sox are in first place currently in their division and look to be postseason-bound.

Looking at what the St. Louis Cardinals could gain in return, I think the Cards should ask for Rafael Devers and honestly leave it at that. Devers is the number-one prospect in the Sox system and is currently playing at the AA-level. This third baseman-to-be has an estimated ETA of 2018 and was ranked as the best left-handed bat in the international trade market of 2013.

The St. Louis Cardinals could do MUCH with Devers whether they keep him in the Cardinals system or flip him for a big bat and/or arm(s). In all honesty, however, the Cards might need to send a prospect or two with Carp to land Devers but, for a get like this, I think that Girsch/Mo should pick up the phone today anyway.

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Would you make a move like this? Hit me up on Twitter and let me know. Thanks for reading!

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