Grading reader submitted trade proposals for the Cardinals

Let’s grade some reader submitted trade proposals for the Cardinals

With the off-season upon us, St. Louis Cardinals fans will have to go a few months without seeing their favorite team play. To keep ourselves busy, this time of year tends to churn up a variety of trade ideas and proposals that we would love to see the Cardinals make. Maybe it’s targeting a superstar player, adding a piece to the edges to round out the roster, or just shipping out that player that has given you so much frustration.

I asked on Twitter the other day for readers to submit their trade proposals for the Cardinals this off-season, and that I would grade their ideas in this article. As you can imagine, the replies to this tweet ranged from GM level ideas to the good ole “trade Paul DeJong for any superstar straight up”. Gotta love Cardinals Twitter.

I’ll be grading each idea based on if the idea makes sense for the Cardinals and if the trade package matches the compensation I believe it would take to get the deal done. Obviously trading a guy like DeJong for Shohei Ohtani would be an A+ for St. Louis, but its not happening.

If you end up liking this idea and want to see more reader ideas on the site, comment below and submit your own ideas, and we can do this again in the coming weeks. Here are my grades for some of the trades submitted on Twitter.

Two proposals for Sean Murphy

Trade #1

Submitted by @caden_schro

Cardinals receive: C Sean Murphy

Athletics receive:  RHP Tink Hence, RHP Dakota Hudson, C Andrew Knizner 

Grade: C-

This deal is on the right track, but based on how competitive of a trade market it is going to be for Sean Murphy this off-season, this deal just would not get the job done.

In order to get Murphy off of Oakland’s hands, it will likely take a centerpiece like Nolan Gorman or Maysn Winn, and then 2-3 more prospects on top of that. Cardinal fans have not seen much of the Athletics’ catcher, but Murphy is an elite talent in the game today. There are very few catcher that can hit like Murphy can while also playing Gold Glove defense behind the plate.

The 28-year old posted a 122 wRC+ in 2022, 4th among all catchers. Two of the catchers that finished in front of him, Alejandro Kirk and Will Smith, do not catch the majority of their team’s games like Murphy and are not anywhere close to Murphy as a defender. The only catcher who can truly compare to Murphy with his all-around game is J.T. Realmuto.

Again, love the idea, but take out Hudson and Knizner, and add in a guy like Gorman and one other prospect, and that deal may get done.

Trade #2

Submitted by @RITyson

Cardinals receive: C Sean Murphy

Athletics receive: 2B/3B Nolan Gorman, LHP Matthew Liberatore, and RHP Jake Woodford

Grade: B+

Using the same reasoning from above, the centerpiece of Gorman here is a much better starting place for a deal with Oakland, and both Matthew Liberatore and Jake Woodford should be intriguing arms for them. Love the value for the Cardinals here, but I think it would take one more prospect to get the deal done. @RITyson also suggested the Cardinals sign Josh Bell to bat 5th in the order, making their off-season really interesting.