7 bats the Cardinals could trade for to unlock their stagnant offense

Kevin Pillar

Kevin Pillar has had himself quite the year. After spending 2023 with the Atlanta Braves, he wanted to return to the club but was not resigned. After latching on with the Chicago White Sox, they designated Pillar for an assignment after just a few games with the club, and it looked like Pillar may be at the end of the road for his career.

Well, luckily for Pillar, the Los Angeles Angels came calling, and he's been having a career year so far for the Halos.

In 57 games so far, Pillar has a .284/.352/.500 slash line with 7 home runs while mostly playing center field for the Angels. He has already been worth 1.1 WAR this season and would make an excellent platoon partner with Siani for the rest of the season.

While Pillar should not come all that expensive due to the reasons I listed at the beginning, he's been hitting like a Hall of Famer against lefties this year, so there'll be a lot of teams interested in his services. In 64 plate appearances thus far against left-handed pitchers, Pillar is slashing .373/.422/.611, good for a 1.083 OPS and 202 wRC+. While he is due for a lot of regression, it is hard to deny the results thus far.

His incredible production against lefties this year is backed up by an elite LA Sweet-Spot% of 40.2% thus far, and both his Whiff% and K% have been top-tier as well. Pillar has always been an above-league-average hitter against lefties (boasting a career 108 wRC+ against them), so the Cardinals can rest easy knowing that he should produce, even if things crater a bit.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Braves make an aggressive push to bring Pillar back with how much he enjoyed playing there, but I do think he should be on the Cardinals' radar, especially if they want to swing bigger with a starting pitcher acquisition or bullpen help.