St. Louis Cardinals: Five players who could make the Birds a playoff team

The St. Louis Cardinals are 36-28 and in third place in the NL Central. Right now, we would be missing the playoffs for the third straight year. Who can we trade for to turn the team into a playoff contender?

The St. Louis Cardinals need offensive power and the Orioles need to rebuild.

Manny Machado

Machado has already been rumored to be a fit for the Cardinals. The Baltimore Orioles have the worst record in baseball. They are already 23 games back of the New York Yankees. They are not making the playoffs.

Plus Machado is a free agent after this season. They have to trade him because I think there is zero chance they re-sign him this off-season. They will get a huge return for him.

He’s currently hitting .322 with 18 home runs and 50 RBI. He moved to shortstop this season and has been awful defensively, posting the second-worst DRS (defensive runs saved) among qualified shortstops.

Maybe he’ll get better with more playing time. Regardless, he could be moved back to third base, where he’s won two gold gloves. Or a team would just deal with the poor defense in hopes it eventually gets better, and appreciate the great offense.

The St. Louis Cardinals would have to give up a lot to get him. Two or three of our best pitching prospects plus one or two Major-League-ready hitters might get the trade done.

Even if the team was able to pull it off, what are the chances Machado wants to sign a free agent deal with the Cardinals after this season? I think the chances are slim to none. I think he will want to play in a “big market.”

In my opinion, what we’d have to give up is not worth a player we’d have for half a season. But, him plugged into our lineup, plus some bullpen upgrades, combined with our successful starting pitching could make the St. Louis Cardinals into a scary team.