7 players facing their last stand with the Cardinals heading out of All-Star break

Lars Nootbaar

There have been rumblings lately that the Cardinals could consider a "baseball trade" at this deadline, an industry phrase simply meaning swapping big league talent for big league talent, and Lars Nootbaar may fit that mold for the club.

Nootbaar has had a down year at the plate, but still remains a valuable player and someone teams around the league would love to get their hands on. Nootbaar's 104 wRC+ is well below his career norm, but the same underlying metrics that make him a Statcast darling remain.

While some are convinced that Nootbaar is not good enough to be an everyday starter for the Cardinals, I think they'll be surprised when teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, or other contenders come calling wanting to have Nootbaar fill a void in their lineup.

For the Cardinals, they already have an abundance of left-handed bats, and with JJ Wetherholt seemingly months, if not weeks, away from his MLB debut, that is only going to grow. Fitting all of Nootbaar, Ivan Herrera, Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan, JJ Wetherholt, Nolan Gorman, and Jordan Walker into their lineup with just four positions available is not feasible, so the Cardinals are going to have to trade from that logjam soon, whether that is at this deadline or the offseason.

Nootbaar, out of that camp, feels like the right player to part with due to the kind of value he'd bring back while not being too big of a loss to bear. If the Cardinals flip Walker or Gorman, I'm not sure what they get in return, but it is probably not all that valuable. If they trade Herrera or Donovan, they could get a great return, but it's not worth losing those players. Nootbaar is the guy; they have other players with similar profiles who can replace his production, and he could net them the pitching that they need.

Do they call up a team like the Tampa Bay Rays or Seattle Mariners and see if they can swap Nootbaar and a bit more for a Taj Bradley or Bryce Miller? Can they get one of the young arms the Dodgers have? If so, it's hard not to consider making that move here soon.

Even if Nootbaar is not moved at this deadline, the second half of this season is potentially his last stand with the club. He's really going to have to turn things up a few notches to change the narrative here, and even then, the Cardinals may just see that as him upping his trade value even further.