4 reasons why the Cardinals would be insane to trade Paul Goldschmidt

Reason #1 - The team's lone strength, their offense, would be significantly weakened

I know the Cardinals' offense has cooled off recently, but even with the recent cold streak, they still rank top 10 in all of baseball in OPS, SLG, wRC+, and position player WAR. Paul Goldschmidt is a huge part of that.

On the season so far, Goldschmidt is .286/.385/.491 with 10 HR and 27 RBI. I know many have felt like his ability with runners in scoring position has been a huge weakness this year, but that's not even close to being a good reason to move him. He's still slashing .260/.397/.380 with runners in scoring position, and I doubt he doesn't improve that slash line as the season goes on.

I have also seen that people believe trading Goldschmidt would be an opportunity to improve the Cardinals pitching staff, and I just don't see how the return would outweigh the loss you're experiencing (more on that later). Trading your best player and thinking it will make you better in the near future is not the case. Goldschmidt makes the Cardinals a dangerous offense, and without him, the lineup is much weaker.

Just look at a potential lineup if the Cardinals sent Goldschmidt elsewhere...

1. LF Lars Nootbaar
2. RF Jordan Walker
3. DH Nolan Gorman
4. 3B Nolan Arenado
5. C Willson Contreras
6. SS Paul DeJong
7. 1B Juan Yepez/Luken Baker
8. 2B Brendan Donovan
9. CF Tommy Edman

I mean, are we really serious that we think that is the lineup you want to roll with right now? It's still a quality lineup, but you're removing one of the best bats in our game today, I just do not see how that is the best thing for this team.

Let's look at the package they could get back and why I don't see that as a fit either...