Why the St. Louis Cardinals May Trade for Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani will requires a Soto like package, and maybe more

Any trade for Shohei Ohtani would cost a fortune for St. Louis, and the conversation would have to begin with top prospect Jordan Walker.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Walker is not included in any deal. The Angels will stress that the Cardinals are acquiring one of the best pitchers in all of baseball and one of the best hitters in the game. Getting both in the same package in the form of Ohtani will require the club’s best If St. Louis could somehow avoid giving up Walker, then the package would be even more loaded.

It’s hard to approximate Ohtani’s value, but when speculating a package, I would assume they would ask for the following. Jordan Walker, two of Nolan Gorman and Maysn Winn, and two or three of Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy, and Tink Hence. The Angels could potentially replace Walker with Carlson in such a deal, but again, Walker would be their preference.

Due to how thin their farm system is, the Angels would be interested in a package that includes a quantity of prospects we’ve never seen in a baseball trade before, that instead of being centered on Walker or Carlson, focuses on Winn and Gorman with 6-7 other prospects joining them. Our own Ben Remis just wrote about the insane amount of depth St. Louis has organizationally just in the outfield, and multiple other places on the diamond are now reflecting that as well.

Whether it is a top heavy deal with some of St. Louis’ greatest assets, a large package focused on replenishing the Angels farm system as a whole, or a little bit of both, St. Louis has the firepower to make that kind of deal, still be contenders, and have a bright future ahead of them.