St. Louis Cardinals: Jedd Gyorko resting for a trade (rumor)

The St. Louis Cardinals lineup for Thursday night’s game is absent the powerful third baseman being partially paid by the San Diego Padres. Either he is resting or is resting for a trade.

The St. Louis Cardinals, after sweeping the visiting Colorado Rockies, must now host the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks. In their last series against the Diamondbacks, the Cardinals took 2-of-3. Can they repeat the 2-for-3 or even take another sweep?

To help in these efforts, the St. Louis Cardinals are sending out a lineup that could very well have been a Memphis Redbirds (the organization’s AAA team) lineup. And why not? The Memphis Redbirds seem unstoppable as they have the best record in the entirety of AAA at 68-35 and have won 22 of their last 26 games.

The Cardinals in that same time have not fared as well. So, putting out a lineup reminiscent of a Memphis Redbirds lineup shows that someone (I refuse to attribute this to Mike Matheny) is paying attention and has a plan.

Here’s tonight’s lineup:

All you would need to do to blink and imagine yourself at AutoZone Park in Memphis is insert Luke Voit at first and you instantly transport Busch Stadium into a home game for the Redbirds rather than the St. Louis Cardinals.

That aside, one thing jumps out at me from this lineup: the absence of Jedd Gyorko. Why? Is he resting? Or is the rest a little more sinister with trade implications?

If Gyorko is resting, noting his recent “slump,” then that might be all it is. Gyorko reached epic proportions (for him) back on May 1 when his slash line (sorry, Jackson) was .369/.431/.754. Since July 1 (when he was slashing .299/.369/.518), Jedd has cooled and now resides at a slash of .280/.347/.481.

In his defense, Gyorko has played in every game the St. Louis Cardinals have played since the All-Star break. That makes twelve straight games in twelve straight days. Thinking this way seems to indicate simply a day off.

But wait, could there be more? What if the St. Louis Cardinals were in talks with the Blue Jays (who are rumored to be in talks to trade away Francisco Liriano currently) to send Gyorko (a much cheaper version of the Jays’ current third baseman) and Mike Mayers (who was just called up but didn’t appear) in exchange for Josh Donaldson?

Would you take that deal?

Let me squarely admit that this is all conjecture and that I have no “source” save the conversation that I shared with my cousin via text. Furthermore, I can assure you that neither he nor I am reputable for things like this. In fact, this rumor idea was squarely his and I’m just putting it to the proverbial paper here.

Back to the rumor then… I, for one, would not be surprised if this deal could be had. I have written about Donaldson as a smoke screen in the past and have noted his expensive contract but, to be honest, the Cards have that kind of cash. With Donaldson injured and having a down season, perhaps the slugger can be had for a deal such as this.

And would any of us blame the Cardinals for trying a deal like this? I know I wouldn’t especially in light of Miami wisely staying pat until the season concludes and until the team’s sale is completed.

With Miami out of the picture, and with the rise of Harrison Bader, the resurgence of Randal Grichuk (you’re welcome, Josh), the power show of Tommy Pham, and the return of Dexter Fowler and Stephen Piscotty looming, the St. Louis Cardinals might better look to use the value of Gyorko to impact the future at the corner while also adding consistent pop in the lineup.

Next: Podcast Episode 17

Like I said, this is a baseless rumor but one that intrigues me nevertheless. What do you think? Let me know on Twitter and thanks for reading!