MLB writer suggests St. Louis Cardinals trade Paul DeJong to Yankees

MLB writer Mike Axisa suggests the St. Louis Cardinals trade Paul DeJong to the New York Yankees, but I don’t see a deal happening.

Recently, MLB insider Jim Bowden suggested that the St. Louis Cardinals trade Paul DeJong to the Minnesota Twins in a deal that I concluded would ultimately not happen.

But Bowden’s thinking – putting DeJong on the trade market – has spurred ideas among baseball writers. Now, Mike Axisa of CBS Sports is suggesting that the Cardinals ship the struggling shortstop to the New York Yankees.

Axisa did not list a price, however, though it’s highly likely that the Cardinals would want pitching depth in any trade. Last season provided a stark reminder for the organization that you can never stockpile too much pitching depth – injuries happen – and the team’s internal depth behind Matthew Liberatore in the minors is not considered strong throughout the league.

Do the Yankees make sense as a trade partner? Absolutely. They still need a shortstop and have been connected to numerous names, including Andrelton Simmons and Isaih Kiner-Falifa, and were not an active participant in the high-end free-agent shortstop market before the lockout.

But will the Cardinals trade DeJong? The answer, at least for now, is a very likely no. While DeJong struggled, hitting less than .200 last season, he has hit at least 19 homers in each of his first four full seasons. His contract is cheap and he is controllable through at least 2025 with multiple club options, which could entice the Yankees and allow them to spend significant resources on other ends of their roster.

I put the odds of a deal happening below five percent. I just don’t see the Cardinals actively entertaining any offers for DeJong, especially since they have talked him up as their Opening Day shortstop all offseason. But he fits the Yankees, so I won’t completely discard this possibility.