St. Louis Cardinals: Painful but obvious decisions must be made

ST. LOUIS, MO - JULY 2: Greg Garcia #35 of the St. Louis Cardinals throws to first base against the Washington Nationals in the third inning at Busch Stadium on July 2, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - JULY 2: Greg Garcia #35 of the St. Louis Cardinals throws to first base against the Washington Nationals in the third inning at Busch Stadium on July 2, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

The St. Louis Cardinals MUST make decisions as the trade deadline approaches. Two of these are obvious but hurt me to admit.

Will the St. Louis Cardinals be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? It might not matter for two players on the active roster today: Greg Garcia and Jose Martinez. These two have contributed to the Cardinals this season but, with their contracts, might have exhausted their time wearing the birds on the bat.

This pains me greatly to say. I love both of these players and wish they could stay with the St. Louis Cardinals. That said, I’m not sold that I see that happening.

Let us admit this right out of the gate, the St. Louis Cardinals should immediately offload Randal Grichuk before they do anything with either of these two names. But even doing that, I feel that Garcia and Martinez are two names to watch from the rear view mirror.

Let’s take a quick look at Greg Garcia’s career with the St. Louis Cardinals:

Standard Batting
YearAgeTmLgGPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+TBGDPHBPSHSFIBBPosAwards
201020STL-minRk582512204963151424751836.286.363.418.7819239310JOH · APPY
201121STL-minA+,A10543136056102216226864866.283.384.392.776141612921PLM,DAV · FLOR,MIDW
201222STL-minAA1245044128111720310511058083.284.408.420.82817347414SPD · TL
201323STL-minAAA11642435450962343351424970.271.377.384.76113610111001MEM · PCL
201424STL-minAAA,AA11045839762109143841854299.275.358.385.743153411532MEM,SPD · PCL,TL
201424STLNL1418142210010016.143.333.214.54858303000/46
201525STL-minAAA9438833047971920361634855.294.391.364.754120115411MEM · PCL
201525STLNL4987757185024001012.240.337.387.72498292110164/5
201626STL-minAAA3012010413284108221120.269.350.327.6773432301MEM · PCL
201626STLNL992572143359110317113850.276.393.369.7621087934014564
201727STLNL7216113210294028202133.220.344.295.639723934400456
4 Yrs234523435521082107303170101.248.367.345.71293150812515
162 Game Avg.1623623013675150521214870.248.367.345.7129310468313

Decent numbers from a super-utility player but with no options remaining on his contract, the Cardinals are stuck with him on the MLB roster or must choose to release him.

I’m also a little worried that his lack of options might make any interested team gun-shy about signing him through a trade. This worry lessens if Garcia is passing through waivers, however, as he is a great steal of a pick up under those conditions.

The next one that hurts is examining Jose Martinez. Unlike Garcia, Martinez has options (as we have witnessed with him bouncing around already this season). Martinez also carries stronger numbers. Here’s a look:

Standard Batting
YearAgeTmLgGPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+TBGDPHBPSHSFIBBPosAwards
200617BAL/CHW-minFRk,FgW55195162274580430542529.278.381.401.7836534131VN2,LGU · VESL,VEWL
200718CHW-minRk,FgW7728225035701137371332354.280.348.432.78010824320BRS,LGU · APPY,VEWL
200819CHW-minA39156144194450218751226.306.359.382.7415570000KAN · SALL
201021CHW-minA+,Rk67285258336691629511945.256.309.368.67795102330WSM,BRS · CARL,APPY
201122CHW-minA+,AA,FgW18172967483203364663873994.301.341.393.734265245562WSM,BIR,LGU · CARL,SOUL,VEWL
201223CHW-minAA,FgW13053748759122172544734496.251.315.324.639158122310BIR,LGU · SOUL,VEWL
201324ATL-minAA,FgW14854849652138201846894472.278.337.371.708184171521MSS,LGU · SOUL,VEWL
201425ATL-minA+,FgW,Ind1516145517917528513781425379.318.371.457.8292521000103LBG,LGU,RFD · CARL,VEWL,FRON
201526KCR-minAAA,FgW,Rk16266658692209447139712569105.357.423.522.945306183261OMA,LGU,ROY · PCL,VEWL,ARIZ
201627KCR-STL-minAAA,FgW17871764579186412169913462108.288.349.433.782279282174OMA,MEM,LGU · PCL,VEWL
201627STLNL1218164710010021.438.500.5001.000171800000/73
201728STL-minA+314124420141021.333.429.7501.179910000PLM · FLOR
201728STLNL5213912822356151710932.273.319.453.772101582011179/3
2 Yrs64157144264271518101133.292.340.458.7981096620111
162 Game Avg.162397365661061831346302884.292.340.458.79810916750333

I doubt that the St. Louis Cardinals would release Martinez when he has much stronger value in a trade. This almost-career-minor-leaguer could well be a good piece of a trade deal from the Cardinals should they look to be buyers.

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While I like him and while his numbers are nice, I don’t see Martinez being a name that the Cardinals would offer as a selling piece. In other words, should the Cardinals become sellers, I think Jose is a safe bet to stay with the club.

As much of a pain as it is for me to admit it, I think these are two names to watch closely as we approach the end of July. We may learn more if they are allowed to play more to showcase what they have to observing teams. Again, I don’t see either being front-runners in a trade but could see these names being pieces in a larger deal.

And, sorry Greg, but the likelihood that you are simply released to make a roster spot grows stronger each and every day.

If the St. Louis Cardinals were to release/offer these names, who would you like them to see them land in return? Would these names even add any value to any potential trade? Let me know on Twitter and thanks for reading!

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