Ivan Herrera's bat has plenty to gain if Cardinals deal from catching depth

The St. Louis Cardinals have made Chaim Bloom's trade deadline strategy even more clear after tumbling down the NL Central standings since the All-Star break. Now with postseason dreams hardly hanging on by a thread, Bloom will likely deal multiple pitchers and has also been taking calls on some of his position players. If the Cardinals strike a trade from their catching depth, Ivan Herrera's role might change for the better.

The All-Star's name has started to circle the rumor mill but Bloom has put a high asking price on the 25-year-old from Panama. Despite a tough season behind the plate, Herrera has been the starting catcher over a third of the time. The mediocre results with the glove have caused some teams to worry about his long-term future as a catcher, and if Bloom thins out the catching situation at the deadline, it may be best for all parties involved if the catching experiment comes to a close.

A trade involving Cardinals catchers could open opportunity for Bernal with Herrera becoming full-time DH

Even with Herrera's name being brought up among rival GMs, the Cardinals are more likely to part with either Jimmy Crooks or Pedro Pages as they begin to sort through their catching depth. If that were to happen, I would love to see prospect Leonardo Bernal get his call to the bigs to get his feet wet and experience the major league game heading into the offseason. Whether he splits time with Pages or Crooks, the switch-hitting Bernal has proven his value in Memphis and is worthy of a call-up, even if it comes with expected bumps and bruises against MLB arms.

Bernal's opportunity would also come at a time when he would be catching the guys he has spent all season catching in Triple-A. With Dustin May and others likely on the way out, the Memphis shuttle could be busy bringing up multiple arms from the minors as the Cardinals look to see what they have in their prospects through the end of the season. Even as Bernal has been working out at first base on occasion, he won the Minor League Gold Glove as a catcher last season and is seen as the organization's most complete backstop.

A Bernal promotion would mean another mouth to feed behind the plate and with the season winding down, the Cardinals could opt to keep Herrera healthy and fresh with more time at DH. Even if this means Pedro Pages sticks around, a Pages-Bernal split behind the plate would be better for the development of the arms since they are both further along with their game-calling abilities. Since Herrera has thrown out one baserunner trying to steal in over a year (and it was a pickoff turned into a caught stealing), the sun may be setting on his time as a starting big league catcher.

In the season of learning things about the roster, it has become clear that Herrera's future behind the plate may not be much longer even with an offseason arm surgery hoping to bring back his strength. The Cardinals gave him every opportunity, with Herrera only seeing one day off so far this season, but it may be time to move him to designated hitter before addressing his next position. Last season, the organization flirted with him playing the outfield and, "since anyone can play first base", the cold corner has been an oft-mentioned spot for the righty Herrera.

Rather than learn a new position during the last two months of the season, keeping Herrera as the full-time DH will allow him to focus on his offense, which is where he brings his value. For his career, he is over 20% better than league average with the bat but he has taken a step back this year. Catching has been easy to blame, although the splits show he performs better when he is also playing defense. If the Cardinals take the game-planning and catching practice away from him, it is possible that his bat wakes up a bit with his offense as the only focus.

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