Cardinals at a crossroads: 2 reasons to buy, 2 reasons to sell

Second reason to buy: Adding Power to the Lineup

The current lineup is left-handed-bat heavy and loaded with guys who get hits but not for much power. Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar have been more than impressive so far in 2025 with a 139 OPS+ and 111 OPS+, which the lineup needed. Nootbaar has been below his career average for SLG, but he's been more effective getting on base. Meanwhile, Donovan is out slugging his career average, has only produced 4 HR, and 24 RBI. While he is a doubles merchant with 18, he is not generating enough runs with his bat and needs more support behind him.

Willson Contreras and Ivan Herrera are providing the power from the right side, with Nolan Arenado and Jordan Walker failing to provide additional support. Arenado will most certainly be the talk of the trade deadline given the off-season drama, so his time on the roster might be limited. Nolan Gorman would presumably take his place at third base, where he is another left-handed bat in the starting lineup. With the rest of the lineup being predominantly left-handed bats, the team can use an additional right-handed bat to balance out the lineup vs left-handed pitching.

The best fit would be an outfielder to platoon with Nootbaar and Walker or come off the bench in critical at-bats. Walker is currently on the IL with a wrist injury, so now the team is down a RH bat that has been generating a recent power surge. Luken Baker has failed time and time again to be a reliable bench producer at the major league level. So this leaves the Cardinals with remaining depth pieces that are not power threats at the plate. With Ryan Vilade called up to replace Walker on the roster, this is the true testament that it is time to upgrade the depth.

But what price will the team pay for this, given that they want to play struggling players like Walker every day? If the team is truly wanting to make a push as a contender, they need to look at adding a starting-quality player to play every day. A player like Taylor Ward could hit the market, which would be a great fit in RF for the Cardinals. But this would be a pricey move for a front office that is currently in a transition phase. The team led by John Mozeliak could make a Mozeliak move, which is taking a flyer on someone, hoping to buy low and gamble on high production. Newly DFA player Hunter Renfroe could be the affordable flier choice, which fits the current front office's normal roster move.