Cardinals' series with the Yankees highlights two "near-miss" trades from their past

Tonight, the St. Louis Cardinals take on the New York Yankees in what will be the clash of two storied franchises who appear to be heading in the opposite directions.

The Yankees, whose fans hold them to a high standard much like Cardinals' fans do with their team, made a splash move this offseason to acquire Juan Soto from the Padres in order to push their chips in on a World Series run during the 2024 season. The Yankees are in the midst of a longer World Series drought than the Cardinals, having not won a title since 2009, which also happens to be their last World Series appearance.

Crazy enough, Juan Soto's career year isn't even the best season a Yankees player is having. Superstar outfielder and Yankees' captain Aaron Judge is slashing .333/.467/.731 with 51 HR and 123 RBI while acquiring 9.8 bWAR already this season. Judge is the clear favorite to win American League Most Valuable Player right now, with Soto looking like he should finish in the top five as well.

While Cardinals fans have lamented the missed opportunity of trading for Soto back at the 2022 MLB Trade Deadline, tonight's action also features another nexus moment in Cardinals' history, when the club tried to trade for a different young slugger in the form of Giancarlo Stanton.

Fans probably remember this, but if you don't, the Cardinals originally had a deal in place with the Miami Marlins to acquire Stanton for a package very similar to what they ended up giving to Miami for Marcell Ozuna later on. Stanton, despite his agent Joel Wolfe encouraging him to hear St. Louis out, vetoed the trade to St. Louis as well as a deal to the San Francisco Giants, instead directing the trade to one of his preferred destinations, the Yankees.

While it is safe to say the Cardinals likely dodged a bullet not acquiring the hefty contract Stanton had and inheriting the injury-riddled career he has had since then, it was encouraging to see the Cardinals' front office and ownership be so willing to go after someone with that large of a contract via trade in hopes of upgrading their roster. It's part of why fans had high hopes for the Cardinals to acquire Soto in 2022, especially as reports rose regarding their interest in the young superstar.

Instead, the Padres sent a grandfather offer to the Nationals for Soto's services, and two years later they flipped him to New York for pitching that is helping propel their own postseason push. While it's hard to know what it would have actually taken for the Cardinals to acquire Soto, it is clear that it would have taken the majority of their top young talent, especially since they did not have a young pitcher to offer like the Padres' had in Mackenzie Gore.

Even so, it is hard for at least some Cardinals fans not to wonder what life could have been like if they acquired Soto, even if it meant parting with most of Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Masyn Winn, Dylan Carlson, Matthew Liberatore, Tink Hence, and probably more. Most of those guys are not even contributing to the big league club at this moment. Would it have been worth seeing what a core of Soto, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Albert Pujols could have done in 2022? That's a fair argument to make.

Alas, the Cardinals walk into Yankee Stadium tonight as a team, no, as an organization that is falling apart at the seams, and their hesitation to make the "big splash" in recent years has left them with more of the same - little to no postseason success and now a team destined for some kind of rebuild or retool. The Yankees, on the other hand, may still face the music this offseason if they do not win the World Series (or at least make it there), but I am sure their fans much prefer the position they are in over the Cardinals.

It's not totally fair to compare their situations. I fully understand the market that the Yankees are in and that they can practically burn money if they want to. The Cardinals are not going to spend like that. The Yankees can afford to make a mistake on a massive deal (Stanton) and still have other mega-deals on their books (Judge, Soto, Gerrit Cole). The Cardinals cannot afford to have a $300+ million deal on their books that is a total bust.

I'll save the comparisons of these two organizations for later in this series, but for now, I just wanted to give you a glimpse into where my mind will be going during this series when Soto and Stanton step to the plate. How would Cardinals history have gone if they had acquired one or both of Stanton and Soto over the years? Better? Worse? More of the same?

I guess we'll never know, but it is fun (or actually, kind of depressing, honestly) to think about!