St. Louis Cardinals, Twins have talked trades

The St. Louis Cardinals need help before they fall out of the race for the NL Central. Talks with the Twins have already begun.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Minnesota Twins have had some level of trade discussions in recent weeks, as I reported in my weekly FanSided notes column, though one source described the talks as “a feeling out more than anything.”

It’s likely, though not confirmed, that the Cardinals were asking the Twins about their starting pitching surplus. The Twins have starters Jose Berrios and Michael Pineda, among others, who will draw interest at the deadline, with Berrios being the more coveted of the two. If the Cardinals hope to acquire Berrios, and there will be a long line of suitors, they will have to pay up since he’s still young (27), signed through 2023 and one of the best young pitchers in baseball.

And that’s what makes a deal unlikely. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that there are no plans to “take a real chunk out of our farm system,” saying that “if … we look for something outside the organization, we certainly will, but we’re not at a point where we’re only going to define ourselves by 2021.

In other words, you should not expect the Cardinals to acquire a significant asset unless a deal is too good to be true. They will add another arm — that seems to be a given at this point — but instead of a Berrios or Max Scherzer type, it’s highly possible they look at someone like Texas Rangers starter Kyle Gibson, who is having a strong season and signed for only $8 million next season.

It may not be what fans want to hear, especially after they entered the season with World Series aspirations. But with Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, and many of their other players signed for multiple seasons, these Cardinals are built to win long-term. And trading an impact prospect, such as Nolan Gorman, for as few as two to three months of a player does not fit into that vision.