Cardinals Rumors: Could St. Louis pursue David Peralta?

The St. Louis Cardinals desperately need to upgrade the outfield and could look to a familiar organization to address it.

The St. Louis Cardinals have “talked about” acquiring outfielder David Peralta from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the past, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who adds that it would be logical for the franchise to pursue a trade once again.

Peralta, 33, started his career with the Cardinals in 2004 before being released in 2009. Ever since, he has emerged as a quality outfielder in Arizona, spending the last seven seasons with the Diamondbacks as they have become a team consistently over .500. He has been a large part of that turnaround and after a down season, it is possible that they look to shed payroll.

However, there are reports that the Diamondbacks will keep much of their major-league roster intact, with the team believing their struggles in 2020 were an anomaly. Even then, Peralta is likely not a player the team will try to trade. While he has dealt with injuries in previous seasons, he is under contract at a team-friendly rate ($7.5 million in 2021 and 2022) and still a productive player (.300/.339/.433 with five home runs and 34 RBI in 54 games this season).

It is why he makes so much sense for the Cardinals, and with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak reportedly pursuing cash-neutral trades, this presents an opportunity for them to do that. It may prove difficult to move Carlos Martinez and his large salary in this deal, especially considering no team seems to want Martinez, so Mozeliak may have to get creative in either 1) dumping a large salary in this trade or 2) finding room on the payroll for Peralta.

The odds of a trade seem slim, but that could change with one phone call. It should be noted that these front offices have a history of making trades together – significant ones, in fact – as they completed the deal that sent Paul Goldschmidt to St. Louis.

And it’s possible they could do another.