St. Louis Cardinals: Four players likely to be traded this offseason

Jose Martinez

This is one player that would draw a lot of fan backlash if he was moved, but I believe he should be. Ever since Martinez came up to the bigs, it was clear he was a DH in the making. With a total of -22 DRS over his four years in the field, there’s no easy way to hide him out in the field without there being at least some drawbacks.

The fact of the matter is that Martinez routinely forces his way into the lineup with his hitting making a team sacrifice defense for his bat. That sounds exactly why DH’s were made.

Martinez was in conversations of trades last offseason but in the end, his affordability and production kept him around. The production fell in 2019 though. After posting a .300+ batting average his first three years, Martinez’s average fell to .269 with an OPS of .751, 70 points below his career average.

The down offensive year means he won’t have as much trade value, but coming off of his worst offensive and defensive year, it might be time for the Cardinals to move on from the cost-controlled 30-year-old. On an AL team, Martinez could still produce great and bounce back while not having to worry about his defensive downfalls.