Why The St. Louis Cardinals Should Consider Trading Harrison Bader

The St. Louis Cardinals season was one for the history books. After overwhelming odds, the Cardinals persevered and conquered. The Cardinals are hitting the off-season knowing this team is close- They just need to make a couple more moves.

The St. Louis Cardinals are coming off a season filled with pretty much every emotion possible. After an OK start to the season, then regressing in the heart of the season, to making an unreal run in September so they can play in October. It was a memorable season.

The Cardinals were unable to make much of a run for the World series after getting eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Wild Card game. It was a hard fought game, but the Cardinals came up short in the end after closer Alex Reyes gave up a walk-off home run to Chris Taylor.

While reading in between the lines of this past season, there is some clarity. Even though the Cardinals are close to making a run for the World series, there is one thing they should consider doing this offseason. What you may ask? They should consider trading Harrison Bader.

Now, I’m sure you are not in agreement with that statement, and that’s fine. You don’t have to agree with this take and I understand. However, my goal of this article is that you see my reasoning.

Why the St. Louis Cardinals Should Trade Harrison Bader

Harrison Bader this past year had one of his best statistical season’s he’s had in his four years of being in the pros.

Looking at the first three seasons of him being a Cardinals outfielder, he played in a total of 316 games. He had a slash line of .234/.326/.401 and hit 28 home runs, 87 RBI, but this is where it get’s ugly: 282 strikeouts and only 90 walks.

This past season, the Cardinals finally got to see what their former top prospect can do with his bat. So, with saying that, let’s take a look at his stats from this past season.

Bader played in 103 games for the Cardinals, slashing a career-high .267/.324/.460 along with 16 home runs and 50 RBI. He also dropped his strikeout percentage to 21.2, down from 32 percent in 2020, 28.8 in 2019 and 29.3 in 2018.

Now, I know that most of you guys will argue that he’s not here to hit, he brings elite defense. I mean he just won a Gold Glove and probably has one of the highest defensive WARs in baseball.  However, when it comes to competing for the World Series, you need hitting and defense and you may not always get both from Bader.

Although Bader figured it out this year, it’s not like he exactly tore it up offensively. So what if he never reaches his potential with the Cardinals? It’s best for them to trade him at his peak and offer the position to someone who could do both consistently for the St. Louis Cardinals.

So which teams could look into acquiring the center fielder?