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

BALTIMORE, MD - JUNE 11: Manny Machado #13 of the Baltimore Orioles watches the game in the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 11, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - JUNE 11: Manny Machado #13 of the Baltimore Orioles watches the game in the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 11, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) /
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St. Louis Cardinals
DETROIT, MI – MAY 27: Jose Abreu #79 of the Chicago White Sox sits in the dugout during the eighth inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on May 27, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers defeated the White Sox 3-2. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) /

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 would be a better team with an AL slugger.

Jose Abreu

This guy has been rumored a few times as a fit for the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s an incredibly consistent hitter, hitting at least .290 with 25 home runs and 100 RBI in each of his first four seasons.

He’s currently hitting .299 with 10 home runs and 36 RBI. He’s a free agent in 2020, so we’d have his services for 2019 at least. This would dispel Jose Martinez. Abreu would be an upgrade offensively and defensively. But, would the price of trading for him be worth the moderate upgrade?

JMart is better suited for the AL, where he can’t hurt his team with his atrocious defense. He’s also not a free agent until 2023. So, the White Sox would be getting a slightly lesser hitter (141 OPS+ for Abreu in 2018 compared to 133 for JMart) but more years of control.

It would also require one of our pitching prospects. If we could make it happen with one of our lesser prospects (not Reyes, Weaver, Flaherty, Hudson), then I say pull the trigger.