St. Louis Cardinals: Let’s put the Paul DeJong trade talk to bed

Let’s put the Paul DeJong trade talk to bed. Unless something drastically changes, the St. Louis Cardinals are not going to deal their shortstop.

For months, there has been buzz that Paul DeJong was a trade candidate for the St. Louis Cardinals. To be fair, I was among the people on board with such a move, thinking that upgrading at shortstop would maximize their World Series chances.

Then Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said that the team viewed DeJong as the heavy favorite to be the Opening Day shortstop. His words were matched by his actions, as the team did not actively engage in a free-agent shortstop market that is considered historically deep.

Does that sound like an executive who is about to trade DeJong? No. And it’s time to put the trade talk to rest.

Yes, I understand the logic in trading DeJong. It opens up room for Nolan Gorman and/or Juan Yepez, giving the Cardinals flexibility and depth along the middle infield with Tommy Edman. It would upgrade their biggest weakness and get Gorman’s bat in the lineup, with both team and outside executives believing he has star potential.

But Gorman has not taken a major-league at-bat and could struggle after he’s called up. If the Cardinals trade DeJong, they would be left scrambling for solutions, and could be forced to start Edmundo Sosa or overpay for another shortstop option, something Mozeliak has insisted on not doing in the past.

Besides, the Cardinals are optimistic that DeJong will be better in 2022. He told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’s working with a hitting instructor five days a week and is starting to see results now that he is doing something that he had been missing: getting into a routine.

It remains to be seen whether that translates to MLB game action, but the Cardinals are insistent that those at-bats will come in St. Louis. Which is why unless they give us reason to believe otherwise, it’s time to put the trade talk aside.