St. Louis Cardinals: Argument for and Against Acquiring Juan Soto

The St. Louis Cardinals are heavily linked to a trade for Juan Soto – but what are the reasons for and against a trade for the Nationals superstar?

The St. Louis Cardinals have shown in recent years the prowess to go out and acquire superstar level players like Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. There is buzz around the league that St. Louis is a top destination for Nationals outfielder Juan Soto.

This topic is hot among both national media and local St. Louis coverage, and opinions go all over the place as to whether it is worth giving up the kind of prospect haul that will be necessary to acquire Juan Soto. The Athletics Jim Bowden broke down the potential package the Nationals will want in return, and to say its a historic haul would be an understatement.

Could the Cardinals do this kind of deal? Yes. Keith Law has speculated that the Cardinals have the assets to acquire any player in baseball, including Juan Soto. If the Cardinals want to make a deal for a superstar, they are positioned perhaps better than any other team in baseball.

The two questions that ultimately face the Cardinals in this situation are the following…

1. Will the Cardinals be willing to trade what is necessary to acquire Juan Soto?
2. Should the Cardinals be willing to trade whatever is necessary to acquire Soto?

These two questions are what plague Cardinal fans at the moment, and surely the front office of St. Louis. I got the opportunity to chat with John Mozeliak at at writer’s Q/A last week, and Mozeliak indicated that the front office would be open to trading for any player, the question is what is the cost? Competing with markets like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago is difficult enough, let along the prospect haul that would be facing the club.

Here is the argument for and against St. Louis acquiring Juan Soto at the trade deadline.

The argument against acquiring Juan Soto

Although the Cardinals have acquired superstars in recent years via trade, they have done so at a bargain rate. Any trade for Juan Soto would require trading away a historic level of assets.

The Cardinals front office does not have the kind of track record that would suggest a trade of this magnitude, and honestly, it may be a good thing they would not bite on this.

Giving away any combination of Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Maysn Winn, and Matthew Liberatore along with Dylan Carlson or Tyler O’Neill, as well as other prospects, would be one of the largest gambles in baseball history. The likelihood of any of these players being Juan Soto is slim, but the odds that the 5-7 players it would take to acquire Soto being worth more than him is pretty high.

Jordan Walker looks like the next young star in baseball, Gorman and Winn could be All-Star level players for years to come, Carlson and O’Neill are proven big leaguers with immense promise, and other pieces would deplete the prospect depth this club has so brilliantly begun to build.

Placing Soto’s bat in the lineup would for sure make the Cardinals World Series contenders, but there is a good shot that the club will be a contender for years to come with the current and upcoming core of players. Would making a run for three years be worth giving up a decade of success? Soto could easily walk away after 2024 and sign a mega deal with a different team.

St. Louis does not have the financial resources to have a payroll like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets, and the club becomes dangerously close to capping out their finances with an extension for Soto. As awesome of a player he is, fans would probably be much happier in 2024 and 2025 with the level of talent this club can field, rather than cashing all of the chips in now.