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
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JUNE 08: Brian Dozier #2 of the Minnesota Twins reacts to striking out against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim during the fifth inning of the game on June 8, 2018 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Angels defeated the Twins 4-2. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/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 should have pulled the trigger on a rumored match with the Twins in the past but all is not lost. Time to relight that fire.

Brian Dozier

Another second baseman and another guy from the poor AL-Central. After having monster seasons in 2016 and 2017, .886 and .856 OPS’ respectively, he’s off to a bit of a slow start in 2018.

He’s only hitting .247 right now, albeit with nine home runs. He hit 42 home runs in 2016 and 34 in 2017. He also won a gold glove last season. He has 1 DRS this season, so he continues to play above average defense.

The problem – he is also a free agent after this season and he’s already 31 years old. While he might be a guy the St. Louis Cardinals could sign to a sensible deal after the season, the price in prospects to acquire an aging second baseman who might be declining offensively could be too great.

Again, it would depend on what prospects the Twins would be willing to take and if they even consider themselves sellers. While Cleveland should definitely win that division, Minnesota is only 4.5 game back right now.