4 position players the Cardinals could trade for this offseason

2B Brandon Lowe

This deal only makes perfect sense if the Cardinals trade Nolan Gorman this offseason and use Thomas Saggese as a utility infielder. If St. Louis intends on keeping Gorman and not using Saggese fully, then acquiring Brandon Lowe feels like a foolish move.

Lowe, 30, bats from the left side of the plate, and he's been known to display a lot of power throughout his career. He has a career .238 ISO, and he hit 39 home runs as recently as 2021 for the Tampa Bay Rays. Health has always been an issue for Lowe; he's played more than 109 games just once in his seven-year career. But when he's been healthy, he's been an elite offensive player.

After a slow start to the year, Lowe has turned it around quite nicely. He has a .244/.321/.482 slash line with a .343 wOBA and 18 home runs in just 94 games. His strikeout rate has always floated around 25% for his career, but his walk rate this year has fallen marginally to just 8.9%. One would like to see a greater balance between these two figures even with his extreme power output.

Brandon Lowe has never been an extremely streaky hitter, as his OPS has never dropped below .731 in any given month for his career, and his slugging percentage has always remained above .400. This is a welcome change for a power-hitting second baseman, as Nolan Gorman, the team's usual power-hitting second baseman, can be prone to heavy slumps.

Lowe grades out as a neutral defender according to defensive runs saved, ultimate zone rating, and outs above average, so his work on that side of the game isn't a concern. He's nearing the end of a six-year, $24 million contract that he signed in 2019; there are two more years remaining, and they're both club options valued at $10.5 million and $11.5 million. Once again, we are talking about the Rays here, so the Cardinals' brass should operate carefully.