St. Louis Cardinals: Why Jose Martinez should have been traded

The 30-year old first baseman has been one of the best and most consistent hitters for the St. Louis Cardinals this season, but it’s simply not enough for this year’s team.

If the St. Louis Cardinals are truly moving towards a multi-year rebuild as their recent moves indicate, it is ideal to get as much value as you can out of Jose Martinez.

I get that this move seems radical and cold-hearted, and that Jose has also become a fan favorite, this move would have been great for the St. Louis Cardinals for many reasons. Jose Martinez is great now, but the Cardinals have to look at more than just how great he is now. There’s the future to consider.

There are two reasons why Martinez’s value has already peaked. First off is his age, which eliminates any value added based on potential. While he has driven in more runs and gotten more hits overall compared to 2017, his average, OBP, and SLG have all dipped from last season. These facts make his 4 1/2 years of team control much less valuable as well.

While his performance might remain steady, these trade values will only continue to drop as Martinez gets older barring a improbable significant breakout. His present value is still good enough where the returns that you could find for him can be worthwhile, but there is no telling at what point that will no longer apply.

The second thing to think about is his fielding. There are many times where Martinez is subbed out late in games or is only used as a pinch hitter because of his fielding deficiencies, and this flaw is made even more glaring by the poor fielding in other positions. This obviously means that the St. Louis Cardinals, as a National League team, cannot fully utilize Jose Martinez without significant drawbacks.

However, in the American League, those drawbacks can be avoided by using him as a DH. Therefore, an AL team can get more overall value out of Martinez than an NL team, which would allow the St. Louis Cardinals to much more easily add more value than they lose.

For the direction that the team is going towards, acquiring more potential value in the long term is the more ideal option. As tough as it is to admit, it’s hard to imagine that this team will be ready to contend next year or the year after that. Jose Martinez would just be an older AL-style player on a rebuilding NL team. That isn’t good for either party.

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If you traded Jose Martinez now, he still has the ability to hit .300 with decent pop, making him an appealing piece for an American League team to compete over the next several seasons. In addition, a competing team would put a significantly lower value on all but the most elite prospects than teams like the St. Louis Cardinals.

This all culminates in getting more value for Martinez than he serves on the St. Louis Cardinals right now. On top of that, the potential value that you would get would be far greater for the future than Martinez could provide in his older age. While the present value will be more valuable to the competing team, the potential value will be much more suited for the Cardinals’ interest, making it a win-win situation.

While Martinez is also a great locker room presence, he isn’t a veteran of the league. Based on the move the front office made and the position of the team, the Cardinals are looking for young prospects or veterans to guide those prospects. As great of a hitter and a guy as Martinez is, he just doesn’t fit in either of those categories, and he doesn’t fit in the new plan of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The stars seemed to align this year for a Jose Martinez trade this season, but it’s not a terrible thing that it didn’t happen either. As long as he continues to produce at a similar level to what he has this season, Martinez can still be a productive member of the lineup. However, Martinez is not going to be a long term piece, and is someone the St. Louis Cardinals would have been better off trading while his value’s high.

What do you think about the Cardinals’ trades this season? Do you think Jose Martinez would be better served on an AL team than in St. Louis? What do you think we could have gotten out of him? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.