Playing "shop, listen to offers, or keep" on the St. Louis Cardinals' young bats

Shop: Tommy Edman

Tommy Edman is the kind of player you can only truly appreciate if he is on your team. He's never going to be as valuable in a trade as he will be to your club. Still, there appears to be interest in Edman around the league, and if St. Louis wants to upgrade their team, I think Edman is the first guy on this list I would want to deal.

Nolan Gorman is a difference maker offensively and has really improved defensively (more on that later). Brendan Donovan is not the defender Edman is, but he is a much better hitter, and has the same kind of versatility. Jordan Walker is Jordan Walker. Lars Nootbaar is an on-base machine who plays very good outfield defense. Dylan Carlson is another good outfield defender who's biggest offensive strength is hitting left-handed pitching, like Edman, but has room to grow as a player.

None of those things are knocks against Edman, they are just reasons to consider making him available, especially with Masyn Winn on the way. I think if Edman reamins with the club, he's going to end up falling into a utility player role rather than an every day player. Still very valuable, but not worth making "untouchable".

Now, I personally do not think he gets the Cardinals the kind of pitcher we all want them to acquire. If he does, awesome. If not, I still think it's still worth seeing what his value is around the league. I can't imagine it being any higher than it is now with still a lot of team control.