Cardinals: One move they don’t want to see each NL contender make

There are certain moves that the Cardinals cannot afford their rivals making this offseason.

The St. Louis Cardinals are focused on what moves they can make to improve their club for the 2023 season. But even so, no moves are made in a vacuum. While the Cardinals have plans to become better in 2023, so do their rival clubs in the National League.

Just like the Cardinals, the Mets, Braves, Dodgers, Padres, and Phillies all made the playoffs but fell short of the World Series title, and will be looking to make major moves to compete with one another next year. For as many moves as St. Louis is rumored to make, so are these other clubs.

Here is one move that St. Louis does not want to see each of these clubs make, as if they do, they’ll either surpass the Cardinals or widen the gap between them in 2023.

New York Mets: Aaron Judge

The bright side with the New York Mets is they have so many impending free agents that they may lose in Jacob deGrom, Brandon Nimmo, Chris Bassitt, Trevor May, Taijuan Walker, Michael Givens, among others. The club already resigned Edwin Diaz to a 5-year, $102 million contract, meaning some of their money has already been spent.

Even if the Mets end up losing a lot of their current free agents, the addition of Aaron Judge could vault the Mets lineup into a league of their own. Having Judge added to the mix of Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte, and Jeff McNeill would make the Mets almost impossible to pitch to. If they resign deGrom as well, then they can shut down your offense with two aces and mash against your pitching.

Judge will likely command a $300+ million deal, but the opportunity for Steve Cohen to steal the Yankees superstar may be too appealing not to go for. The Mets have money to burn, and this makes them a dangerous player in free agency.

Atlanta Braves: Jacob deGrom

Speaking of Jacob deGrom, the Atlanta Braves have been heavily linked to the 34-year old for months now, and would become the favorites in the National League if they are able to pry him away from the Mets.

The Braves already have one of the best rotations in baseball with Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Kyle Wright, and Charlie Morton, and could turn into a historic level rotation with the addition of deGrom. The club’s biggest free agent, Dansby Swanson, already has multiple internal replacements ready to go, and the Braves have the luxury of maintaining one of the best lineups in baseball, even without him. The opportunity to go from elite to historic with their starting pitching is one they will likely not pass on.

If Atlanta gets deGrom, its hard to imagine a world where the Cardinals beat the Braves in the playoffs. The Braves lineup is deeper than the Cardinals, rotation would be miles better, and bullpen has the swing and miss stuff St. Louis lacks.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani

This is cheating a little bit, as the Angels just came out and said they are not trading Shohei Ohtani this offseason. But barring a huge offseason or big turn around in early 2023, Ohtani will be a hot trade candidate by July. It feels like its only a matter of time before Ohtani is a Dodger.

The Dodgers have a ton of free agents this winter: Trea Turner, Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Anderson, Joey Gallo, Craig Kimbrel, Andrew Heaney, and others are names that may not be in Dodger blue next year. Its inevitable that the Dodgers go out and make a big signing or two, along with bringing back some of these names. It’s just what the Dodgers due.

The scariest proposition for the Cardinals and the rest of baseball is if they pool their assets together and grab Ohtani from the Angels. Ohtani would give the Dodgers yet another elite starter and middle of the order bat, all in the form of one player. Ohtani would become an even bigger star in today’s game and make the Dodgers the clear favorites in all of baseball.

The Dodgers are always among the favorites in baseball, but something about adding Ohtani to guys stars like Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Julio Urias, and Walker Buehler would make them a whole different animal. They’d have far and away the best player in baseball on their roster, all anyone could do would be cross their fingers that the Dodgers underachieve somehow.

San Diego Padres: Corbin Burnes

The San Diego Padres are already adding a superstar to their lineup with the return of Fernando Tatis Jr. early in the 2023 season. Their lineup already has an elite trio in Tatis, Juan Soto, and Manny Machado, and has the supplemental pieces needed in their lineup. Their pitching is deep and elite as well, but like the Braves, acquiring a guy like Corbin Burnes in a trade takes their rotation to a whole new level.

Burnes is already finding himself in trade rumors as his value is at its peak and the Brewers may be facing a rebuild. As scary as it is to have to face him within the NL Central, the Cardinals have their eyes set on playoff contenders, and Burnes presence on the Padres would elevate them to a World Series favorite.

The trio of Burnes, Joe Musgrove, and Yu Darvish at the top of the Padres rotation might be the best trio of starters in all of baseball. Their ability to shut down opposing offenses would be unmatched, and their lineup could put up runs against anyone.

Even after the historic Soto trade, the Padres have enough ammunition to make one more blockbuster move to go all-in with this team, and it would not be surprising to see them throw those assets at Burnes.