St. Louis Cardinals: Missing out on Sonny Gray deal

Reports surfaced about a deal that possibility between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Oakland Athletics. 

Ken Rosenthal, in a Facebook post, mentioned the St. Louis Cardinals had interest in pitcher, Sonny Gray at the trade deadline. Gray, dealt to the New York Yankees, went at the trade deadline for three prospects. The Cardinals, in my opinion, would benefit greatly from this deal if it were to happen.

Considering what it took to get Gray in the first place, it was difficult to tell whether the players in question would have been enough to land Gray. The deal would’ve moved RF Stephen Piscotty and either RHP Luke Weaver or Jack Flaherty for SP Sonny Gray. Another question to ask is whether the trade made sense.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal in Facebook post, stated the following:

“One other note on the Gray saga: The Cardinals entered the discussions late, floating the idea of a package that would have included outfielder Stephen Piscotty and a right-handed pitcher, either Luke Weaver or Jack Flaherty.”

My initial reaction to this possibility was the St. Louis Cardinals are crazy for what they offered, but the more and more I began to think about the trade, the more it began to make sense to me.

This was a move that would’ve helped the Cardinals right now and in the future. The Cardinals would be adding a great piece, who is under team control for the next 2 years, to their already pretty good rotation. Along with that, the Cardinals would be giving up two players from positions they have plenty of depth in, pitching and the outfield.

Prospects such as Harrison Bader, Magneuris Sierra, and Tyler O’Neill are all waiting for the call up for permanent big league time, so replacing Piscotty would not be an issue.

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In the short time we saw Bader last week, he had six hits in twenty-one AB with a .729 OPS and patrolled the outfield very well defensively.

As for Sierra, he was a bright spot at the beginning of the season.

I still think he needs some more time to develop, but I don’t think it wouldn’t be bad for him to come up and see some major league pitching.

The Cardinals for sure could use his speed on the base paths.

On the other hand, Tyler O’Neill, who came over in the Marco Gonzales‘ trade with the Mariners, has torn up Memphis. He is batting, as of August 1st,  .306 with three jacks and slugging .694 in only thirty-six AB. A lot of people’s early analysis on O’Neill is that he is Randal Grichuk 2.0.

However in my opinion I see him more as Stephen Piscotty with a little more pop. If you compare the two based on their minor league stats, they are relatively the same. The only difference is Piscotty having a high average, not by much, and O’Neill slugging for a bit more.

As for pitching prospects, the Cardinals, as we all know, are loaded with names such as Alex Reyes, Jack Flaherty, Luke Weaver, Dakota Hudson, and Sandy Alcantara. All ranked in the top-10 prospects in the Cardinals farm system according to MLB Pipeline.

Sooner or later, these guys are going to need to be called up or moved. I know adding another pitcher in Sonny Gray, to this already clogged up mix, wouldn’t make sense. Look at it this way, not all of these guys are going to turn out to be aces. You are not going to be able to hold on to all of them, so might as well start moving them for needs.

Sonny Gray, on the other hand, is a proven MLB starter and has been the ace for the A’s for the past few seasons.

Next: Trade deadline and Lance Lynn part two

You know what you going to get out Gray. Add Gray to a projected 2018 rotation of Carlos Martinez, a resurgent Michael Wacha, hopefully a healthy Alex Reyes, Mike Leake, and veteran anchor Adam Wainwright. That is one lethal rotation. That is the kind of rotation that could make up for the lack of power on the offensive side, which we all know the Cardinals do have.