Ranking the 4 Cardinals' pieces that they should put on the table for young pitching

#1 - Nolan Gorman

Yeah, this list is really tough to make. Honestly, the idea of trading Nolan Gorman is kind of scary. He's the kind of guy who could go on to mash somewhere else, and you better hope your return for him works out.

I love Nolan Gorman. I would have zero issues with the Cardinals holding onto him. I'd much rather find a way to part with Dylan Carlson or Tommy Edman instead and still get that young arm with high upside. But I just don't know if that is really realistic for some of the top young arms. I think someone with the upside of Gorman changes that conversation.

Gorman is extremely valuable as a left-handed power bat with a good feel for the strike zone. His streakiness and strikeouts are scary, and he'll at best be a league-average defender at second base, but you take those concerns with a talent like Gorman.

Why would you give up Gorman if you're the Cardinals? Well again, I'm sure they'd prefer not to, and if they can get the deals done without him, great. Gorman fills the role of that left-handed power for St. Louis, but he's not a true middle-of-the-order bat right now, and he won't be unless he can really improve on the extended slumps he finds himself in.

Gorman is a very similar player to Kyle Schwarber, which is something the Cardinals have not had in a while. But if Nootbaar can bring some power from the left side, and bats like Goldschmidt, Arenado, Walker, and Contreras have it too, it's not as big of a loss then. Still hard to give up a bat with that much power.

Gorman is kind of the "goldilocks" player in this conversation, where he's not one of the most valuable Cardinals young assets (as I have Walker, Donovan, Winn, and Nootbaar ranked over him), but he also carries a lot more value than an Edman or Carlson, which is why he grabs this number one slot.

Walker is truly untradable. Trading Nootbaar really destabilizes your outfield. Donovan and Winn feel like the future of the Cardinals' middle infield. Edman and Carlson just don't have the same value as any of those guys.

In an ideal world, I would use Edman and Carlson to get good controllable pitching so that you can keep Winn and Donovan for the middle infield, Nootbaar and Walker in the corner outfield spots, and Gorman as your DH. I just have a hard time believing that will get the Cardinals the starter they really need.

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