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

#2 - Tommy Edman

Now this is a difficult one to gauge, but I thought it was worth mentioning, even with the lingering injury.

Remember the 2022 Trade Deadline? The Cardinals traded an injured Harrison Bader for Jordan Montgomery, and Bader did not even play for the Yankees until late September. Tommy Edman is a more valuable player, and assuming he gets some games in before the deadline this year, the Cardinals could dangle him as a trade chip.

Edman provides defensive versatility all over the field, showing Gold Glove-like defense in center field and at second base, along with really good defense at shortstop, third base, and the corner outfield spots. Teams love that kind of flexibility if they can find it, and the Cardinals' current roster construction seems to make Edman a bit more expendable.

Masyn Winn is the club's shortstop now and will be for a long time. Victor Scott II appears to be their long-term center fielder, but even with him in Memphis right now, Michael Siani has been really impressive in center field. Apparently both Winn and manager Oli Marmol like Brandon Crawford on the roster, so I'm not sure the Cardinals are in a rush to move him off the roster either.

Obviously, they value Edman over Siani and Crawford, but if the team is functioning well without him, they can use his value to go out and upgrade at a position of weakness if the market allows them to. Tommy Edman is an awesome Cardinal, but I've felt for a little while now that he may become the odd man out, and that's seemed to happen in his absence.