If Fernando Tatis Jr. is truly available in trade, the Cardinals should be calling

The St. Louis Cardinals have brought in a whole bunch of stars to take their organization to the next level over the decades; those external additions almost always come through trades. Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, Willie McGee, Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Matt Holliday, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado...need I go on? What if Fernando Tatis Jr. could be the next in Cardinals star in that vein?

With the San Diego Padres under new ownership and staring at major financial uncertainty moving forward, the industry is staring at AJ Preller to see how he will get creative and aggressive, as he always does. Tatis is still one of the best players in baseball, but unfortunately for San Diego, they have a number of bad contracts on their books that won't be easy to move. That's why USA Today's Bob Nightengale is already writing about whether or not Tatis Jr. or Mason Miller could be on the trade block.

Oh, and I want to give credit to Jeff Jones, who over on Words About Birds this morning posted a similar thought regarding the Cardinals fit with Tatis Jr. His subscription-based writing is 100% worth your time and dollars.

There are already strong Cardinals connections in Tatis Jr.'s life. His father, Fernando Tatis, played for the Cardinals many years ago, and the Cardinals actually had every opportunity to sign Tatis as an amateur free agent before the Chicago White Sox swooped in with a better offer. That was obviously a big mistake, but it doesn't mean Chaim Bloom can't make him a Cardinal in the prime of his career.

Fernando Tatis Jr. could supplement the Cardinals core with a young, established star

Tatis won't turn 28 until January and has been one of the most consistently productive stars in our game since he debuted in 2019. Tatis has never posted an fWAR lower than 3.0 in a season and is coming off three straight seasons where his wRC+ is north of 130 while playing elite defense.

I do get a bit worried about the Busch Stadium effect here though, much like what happened to Nolan Arenado in St. Louis. In 2026, Petco Park saw the third-most home runs for right-handed hitters and was 15th in park factor for righties. Busch, on the other hand, was 24th in park factor for righties and allowed the second-fewest homers to right-handed bats. Now, some of that is frankly the Cardinals not having much right-handed power in their lineup, but it's something to think about.

Still, Tatis is also one of the most versatile defenders among star-level players. He began his MLB career at shortstop, moved to the outfield, and then, in 2026, split time between second base and right field. I have no doubt he could play third base as well, or at least give the Cardinals the ability to move him around based on how their team shakes out.

There is certainly still risk involved with a player who still has eight years, $266 million left on his contract, with the final six years of that deal (ages 30-36) being at $36 million a year. And there is one obvious wrinkle in this hypothetical world: Tatis Jr.'s ability to block a trade. He has a full no-trade clause through the 2028 season and then is able to have a list of 10-13 teams annually for the rest of his contract that he would not want to go to.

But here's another thing to consider: Can the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, and other organizations in that vein really make a big commitment to Tatis Jr. right now? We may be entering a new salary cap era, and those clubs need to shed payroll, not add to it while also giving up major prospect capital. I've said for quite some time that the new CBA may position the Cardinals to jump on unique opportunities, and this could be one of them.

That doesn't mean the Cardinals can't take a big swing if, and that's a big if, they believe that Tatis Jr. could be one of the centerpieces of their club moving forward.

First, let's be honest: the Cardinals only have JJ Wetherholt under a long-term deal on their roster right now. This is about as much financial flexibility as they'll really ever have right now. That's also a reason not to do something irrational, but I'm not sure Tatis Jr. qualifies as that.

Second, the Cardinals, more than any other team in baseball, have the assets to not only put the best offer on the table for Tatis, but also to still have a loaded young core and farm system afterward. They could even overwhelm the Padres with cost-controlled young players and prospects to the point that San Diego pays down some of the contract, if that would be helpful to St. Louis.

Want young Major League talent? The Cardinals could dangle any of Masyn Winn, Ivan Herrera, Joshua Baez, Jimmy Crooks, or even Jordan Walker in an offer. On the pitching side of things, Kyle Leahy and Michael McGreevy would surely help keep costs down in San Diego.

Prospects-wise, want an outfielder? Look no further than Tai Peete, Josiah Ragsdale, Alexander Frias, Trevor Condon, Emmanuel Luna, Won-Bin Cho, and more. Need a catcher? How about Sammy Hernandez or the aforementioned Crooks? Infield help? There's Jesus Baez, Rocco Maniscalco, Yairo Padilla, Sebastian Dos Santos, Miguel Hernandez, Jack Gurevitch, and more there as well.

And don't even get me started on the pitching. Okay, I'll bite - Tanner Franklin, Liam Doyle, Brandon Clarke, Tegan Kuhns, Daniel Eagen, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Yhoiker Fajardo, Quinn Mathews, Tekoah Roby, Cooper Hjerpe, Jacob Odle, Mason Molina, Sandro Santana, Brian Curley, and more there as well.

The Cardinals could take a big swing on Tatis Jr., or any other big player that, once again, I'll preface, fits their timeline, and still have so much young talent to turn to.

Should the Cardinals actually pull off a deal like this? That's a far more complicated question. But this is 100% the type of opportunity they should be looking into this offseason. They have the prospects and payroll flexibility to get a big swing done, and if they believe it will make them a better team from 2028 to 2032, then there are a lot of reasons to strongly consider this.

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