Cardinals top 5 trade chips if they want to aggressively add to their roster

#5 - Cesar Prieto

According to Goold, Cesar Prieto is someone who is viewed highly by other organizations right now, and with the Cardinals' depth of infield talent right now, they could trade from that abundance to make an upgrade.

Prieto came over to St. Louis from Baltimore in the Jack Flaherty trade at last year's deadline, and if we know anything about Baltimore right now, it's that they can identify bats like nobody else. Since coming to the Cardinals organization, Prieto has done nothing but hit, and that's really shined through during his 2024 campaign with Memphis.

The 25-year-old has posted an .866 OPS with 8 home runs in 179 at-bats so far this year, showing really impressive bat-to-ball skills while improving the quality of his contact as he has continued to develop. He still very well could be just a reserve infielder at the Major League level, but there is certainly intrigue around him that teams may want to pounce on.

Prieto is not known for his glove, but he's logged time at both second base and third base for Memphis this season. Either way, it's hard to find left-handed bats who hit like Prieto has so far, and if the Cardinals really want to hold onto all of their other infielders, it would make sense to dangle Prieto in a deal.