Two Ways to Look at the St. Louis Cardinals’ Pursuit of Juan Soto

The Cardinals played the sweepstakes too safe

There is great wisdom in being disciplined and calculated with every move you make. Having eyes on the future and not deviating from your long term plan for short term gain is what typically determines if an organization will survive or thrive in Major League Baseball.

The Cardinals are one of the best in baseball about getting great value in every trade they make. Every team makes a bad trade here or there, but St. Louis is often times on the winning end of a deal, meaning they maintain and collect talent without having to lose much. When it comes to acquiring a player like Soto though, that will not get a deal done.

We can all assume the Nationals wanted Walker badly, but reporting seems to indicate that the central pieces of the package toward the end were Carlson and Nolan Gorman. While both players are critical pieces to the club and its future, neither will come close to the level of player Soto already is, and at such a young age, may become even more special of a player.

St. Louis appeared willing to part with Gorman, but was reluctant to include Carlson in any package. We do not know all of the details of the deal yet, but Washington being open to Gorman and Carlson as the center pieces of the package leaves many questioning why Mozeliak was not willing to make that deal.

Parting with those two and other prospects would hurt a lot, but having a lineup with Soto, Paul Goldschmidt, and Nolan Arenado while holding onto Walker and their remaining big league talent/prospects would not only put St. Louis in World Series mode the next few seasons, but would keep their long term window open as their young guys come up and take the reigns in St. Louis.

The Padres, on the other hand, dealt away a package that could have been beaten by St. Louis with Gorman, Carlson, and co., and did so while also acquiring Bell in the deal. Padres’ GM AJ Preller did whatever it took to get Soto, and the Cardinals did not.

It is rare to see a player of Soto’s caliber dealt, especially at such a young age, and now Cardinal fans will be plagued with the question of “what if?” for seasons to come. There is immense pressure on management and their young players to be right about their future, or people will always point back to being able to get Soto at this deadline.