The Cardinals and Marlins are perfect partners for an Ivan Herrera trade

The St. Louis Cardinals season has been a failure to this point. At this rate, there will be a number of changes that will need to happen throughout the organization. But barring them falling completely off the tracks and joining the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals at the bottom of baseball, they will not be entering a rebuild this year.

It's not fair to ask anyone to be patient anymore with this team, but it is fair to say their position in the standings can change a lot between now and July. Their own performance and the performance of the division will have a lot to do with the moves they make at the deadline.

At this rate, I do think a retool seems very likely for this club, but retools don't just consist of "selling off your assets". The club will likely look at a variety of options to improve the future of the club. Capitalizing on the value of impending free agents like Jack Flaherty, Jordan Montgomery, Jordan Hicks, Chris Stratton, and Paul DeJong makes a lot of sense.

Even if the Cardinals get some "return on investment" on these players at the deadline, that should not stop them from also acquiring talent using their prospects or outfield glut as well. The organization can go ahead and look to improve their club for 2024 at the deadline, they do not just have to wait for the offseason.

The Cardinals and Marlins look like perfect trade partners for a St. Louis retool

According to Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald, the Marlins are currently monitoring the catching market as the trade deadline creeps up slowly. The club has outperformed expectations this year, and is currently in one of the NL Wild Card positions and very close to the Atlanta Braves for first place in the National League East.

The Cardinals and Marlins talked this past offseason about trades surrounding the Cardinals' outfielders, with Tyler O'Neill being named as a name discussed by Ken Rosenthal back in April. While a deal did not materialize then, one could soon now that another need the Cardinals can fill has arisen for the Marlins.

Ivan Herrera has been tearing it up in Triple-A Memphis this year and is primed to take over as a Major League catcher. The issue is, the Cardinals just locked up Willson Contreras long-term, and they don't seem all that interested yet in parting with Andrew Knizner. Now, I don't think they'd argue Knizner is a better option than Herrera long-term, but there are some interesting reasons why they could capitalize on his value now.

Let's look at why the Cardinals and Marlins would want to engage in a deal, and then what a deal could look like.