St. Louis Cardinals trade packages for recently demoted players

Typically, when a former top prospect is demoted mid-season, it's because they didn't perform to an expected level in the majors. For whatever reason, the player wasn't seeing success. For hitters, perhaps they struggled with high fastballs or lifting the ball in the air (see Jordan Walker). For a pitcher, it could be control or his stuff not playing up at the highest level of baseball.

4 players who were once top prospects were recently demoted to their respective teams' Triple-A squads. Reid Detmers of the Los Angeles Angels, Spencer Torkelson of the Detroit Tigers, Edouard Julien of the Minnesota Twins, and Bryce Elder of the Atlanta Braves have all been sent down to work on their crafts.

Each of these players is struggling, and some have been struggling for their entire careers. The St. Louis Cardinals and President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak would be wise to explore trading for these players who have fallen from grace.

The Cardinals have been stagnant in trades for a few years now. Rarely, if ever, have they taken a flier on a player who was once a top-rated prospect outside of their organization. Instead, the Cardinals have dealt prospects of their own who couldn't quite cut it in the majors, and fans have had to witness these players (Lane Thomas, Sandy Alcantara, and Johan Oviedo most recently) be successful in other organizations.

Sometimes, a change of scenery is necessary for these former stud prospects. Jerred Kelenic is a wonderful example of this. Kelenic was once ranked a top-5 prospect in all of baseball according to multiple outlets in 2021. He did not see success in the majors with the Seattle Mariners. Instead, he experienced sky-high strikeout rates, and his power was sapped. This past offseason, Kelenic was traded to the Atlanta Braves, and he's performed much closer to the expectations that were once had of him.

The Cardinals have several players of their own who were once top prospects but haven't been able to cut it after multiple years in the majors. Perhaps a trade, a change of scenery, could benefit both parties. Dylan Carlson, Zack Thompson, and Matthew Liberatore -- though he's settled in quite nicely as a bullpen arm -- have all struggled to reach their once-projected ceilings.

Some of these players aren't full reclamation projects; they could just benefit from hearing from different voices. Others would need to be reset completely.

Here are 4 players who were recently demoted whom the Cardinals should trade for and packages for each.

1B Spencer Torkelson

Spencer Torkelson is now in his 3rd year in the majors. He was drafted first overall in the 2020 draft by the Detroit Tigers out of Arizona State. Torkelson, now 24, was once ranked as a top-5 prospect in all of baseball.

Throughout the first baseman's minor league career, he was known for his ridiculous power. Torkelson often had slugging percentages greater than .500, and his ISO was near .300 in his first year of professional baseball. Torkelson jumped up the minors very quickly, seeing all three levels in 2021.

He made his MLB debut in 2022, and things didn't come as easily for the right-handed power hitter. While his strikeout rate of 24.7% isn't exorbitant, it's greater than what he was accustomed to as a prospect. The major dropoff has been in the righty's ability to get on base, primarily with walks. He is walking at a rate well below league average.

While he has above-average speed, Torkelson's defense is nothing to write home about. He has been a negative defender each year according to Outs Above Average, primarily due to his inability to move to his right.

Spencer Torkelson is someone who may benefit from a change of scenery. He's well past his top prospect days, and his best season, 2023, featured him being a slightly above-average batter (107 wRC+) with terrible defense. His trade value is about as low as it'll get, especially considering the fact that he'll be arbitration-eligible next year, thus making him slightly more expensive.

It won't take much to pry Torkelson away from the Detroit Tigers. He is currently slashing .201/.266/.330 with a wRC+ of just 71; his .129 ISO is only marginally better than his worst year in 2022. The Cardinals could acquire him (though they may not even want to mess with him) for a low-end organizational prospect.

Cardinals trade: RHP Michael McGreevy
Tigers trade: 1B Spencer Torkelson

RHP Bryce Elder

Bryce Elder is probably the best player out of this bunch who was demoted. He was sent down on May 20th after being roughed up the day before. He threw just 3 innings and allowed 7 runs, 6 earned, on 9 hits. Elder struck out 3 and walked 3.

Last year, Bryce Elder was a key cog to the Atlanta Braves' success. He threw 174.2 innings with a 3.81 ERA, 4.42 FIP, and a 1.28 WHIP. Elder was selected to attend his first All-Star game as a result of his efforts. The underlying metrics, however, weren't as kind to the second-year pitcher. Elder had a K rate of just 17.5%, and batters hit .242 against him. He allowed a high percentage of line drives (20.4%), and the majority of hits against him went to the pull side, a recipe for disaster.

This year has been a struggle for Elder. He made 5 appearances prior to his demotion, and he had a 6.46 ERA, 5.38 FIP, and his K% minus BB% was just 7.1%. He was allowing home runs at nearly double the rate he was last year, and his 16.7% home run to fly ball ratio was much worse than league average.

Elder is a groundball pitcher, so he relies heavily on his breaking balls. Last year, batters hit just .210 against his slider and .280 against his sinker. The script has been flipped this year, and batters are hitting .381 and .365 against them, respectively. He is allowing hard contact at a much greater rate.

Elder is still just 25, and he's shown an ability to be a solid starting pitcher, albeit not one who can lead a staff. He won't strike out the side often, but he also won't hurt himself with walks and fly balls, hopefully. It will take a bit more to land Bryce Elder, especially considering the savvy that the Atlanta Braves organization has.

Cardinals trade: Lars Nootbaar
Braves trade: Bryce Elder & Spencer Schwellenbach

LHP Reid Detmers

Reid Detmers, along with Bryce Elder, is a very interesting player to me. Bryce Elder seems to be a bit out of the range of possibilities for the Cardinals, but Detmers may be the perfect consolation prize. He's always had the potential to be a good starting pitcher in the majors, but he hasn't been able to put it all together.

The left-handed starter has a no-hitter to his name, and he's just shy of his 25th birthday. Detmers is in his final year before arbitration next year, and he won't be a free agent until 2028 at the earliest. A trade for him would give assurance to the Cardinals' rotation that it doesn't necessarily have after this year.

Detmer's 2022 season was his best, as he threw 129 innings with a 3.77 ERA, 3.79 FIP, 1.209 WHIP, and 8.5 K's per 9 innings. He has gradually increased his strikeout rate, but he has also started walking more batters, allowing more hits, and giving up more home runs.

His breaking balls have plummeted in effectiveness these past two years, but he has managed to control his offspeed pitches better this year. He has a 6.14 ERA, 4.36 FIP, and 1.476 WHIP in 63 innings. He has given up the most amount of earned runs this year in all of baseball, primarily due to a sky-high home run rate. All of this has contributed to his demotion.

What's most interesting about Detmers is that he's been able to get batters to chase more this year and limit contact in the zone, but he's not hitting the edges of the strike zone as well. Batters are chasing on 30% of his pitches, but he's hitting the edges of the zone just 41.4% of the time. He's been in the zone less than 50% of the time.

The Angels are in full rebuild mode after losing Shohei Ohtani this offseason and Mike Trout this year to another injury. The Cardinals could skate by with trading a younger prospect with a wide range of potential outcomes who could have a high ceiling. The Angels could also ask for a current major leaguer.

Cardinals trade: OF Won-Bin Cho OR OF Dylan Carlson
Angels trade: LHP Reid Detmers