St. Louis Cardinals: A blockbuster, one-stop-shop in Seattle

Trading for Giancarlo Stanton has become more and more of a dwindling reality for the St. Louis Cardinals. So, it’s time to turn elsewhere. Let’s start by doing some big business with the Seattle Mariners.

As Dr. Miles mentioned on Tuesday, the Giancarlo Stanton sweepstakes appear to be over for the St. Louis Cardinals for the time being. While watching our dreams of Stanton dingers at Busch Stadium dwindle before our eyes is undoubtedly disappointing, it’s time to move on and realize that there are actually a lot of other fish out in the sea of ‘impact bats.’

In October, I brought up 5 potential under the radar ‘impact bat’ targets that the St. Louis Cardinals could acquire. For the time being, you can soothe your Stanton sores by reading that and renewing your hope. However, let’s throw together a trade that includes none of those players but all of the excitement.

Speaking of fish, we’re going to take our Stanton-induced tears and pay a visit to Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle to discover those other fish in the sea.

With a farm system ranked 22nd out of 30 teams at the end of the minor league season and a Major League team that could only manage 78 wins in 2017, the Mariners clearly appear in need of a youth resurgence.

Today, GM Jerry Dipoto began that youth resurgence in Seattle by making his first trade of the offseason, acquiring Ryon Healy from the Oakland Athletics. This trade signals, to me, the kind of offseason that Seattle is hoping to have.

Healy is a 25-year-old slugger with four years of control that Seattle is hoping and praying can be the solution to their 1st base woes. In acquiring Healy, the Mariners are essentially indicating a desire to downsize, but not rebuild. 

Seattle wants to use what little farm system they have, and maybe some Major League talent as well, in order to take advantage of whatever is left of Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and King Felix Hernandez.

But where do the St. Louis Cardinals come into this equation?

Well, dear reader, the Cardinals have quite a few pieces that would interest the Mariners. However, St. Louis really has no need for some low level minor leaguers. So, we’re gonna get creative here and use some of Seattle’s Major League talent in exchange for some of the Cardinals’ young, controllable assets.