Surging Cardinals could aim high at the MLB trade deadline with two Twins stars

Thanks to a comfortable lead in the Wild Card standings and a return to relevancy, the St. Louis Cardinals have positioned themselves in the "buyers" category with six weeks to go before Major League Baseball's annual trade deadline. A position they haven't been in for three seasons, being buyers has given intrigue to the Cardinals' season, and the club has been mentioned with some of baseball's biggest players who may be available.

Jeff Passan of ESPN recently updated his top-100 trade candidates list. While the Cardinals do have Dustin May, Riley O'Brien, JoJo Romero, George Soriano, and Justin Bruihl listed as potentially tradeable players, Passan has them primarily as sellers. He linked the club to nine different players if the Cardinals go the buyer route.

While the Cardinals aren't likely to plunge into the deep end, they may still dip their toes in the buyers pool. Should Chaim Bloom get bold, there are ample big-name players who could fill key holes for the Cardinals.

Jeff Passan links the St. Louis Cardinals to two key players in Joe Ryan and Byron Buxton at the MLB trade deadline.

The Cardinals could use a better outfielder than Nathan Church. They could also use a starting pitcher at or above the level of Dustin May to head a postseason rotation. Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan fit the bill quite nicely.

Buxton is slashing .275/.226/.601 this year with 23 home runs and a 156 OPS+. After a career of injury woes, Buxton has found plenty of success in his 30's. He has also played 46 of his 63 games in center field this year with the remaining outings at designated hitter. The lefty slugger has found his stride on both sides of the game, and he has two more years of control on a very team-friendly seven-year, $100 million contract.

Joe Ryan has a 3.17 ERA and a 2.98 FIP with 92 strikeouts in 82.1 innings. As Jeff Passan noted in his story, "Here are the pitchers with better K-BB% this year: Jacob Misiorowski, Paul Skenes, Jacob deGrom and Cristopher Sanchez." Joe Ryan is one of the best pitchers in the majors, and he and Dustin May would create a formidable duo at the top of a postseason rotation for the Cardinals.

A singular deal of this magnitude for both Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan would cost the Cardinals a hefty prospect package. It would have to be comparable for what the Los Angeles Dodgers paid in 2021 to acquire RHP Max Scherzer and SS Trea Turner. The Dodgers traded C Keibert Ruiz (Dodgers' No. 1 prospect), RHP Josiah Gray (#2), RHP Gerardo Carrillo (#17), and OF Donovan Casey (unranked).

Cumulatively, that package of players has accumulated 3.8 bWAR since the trade. That's a trade the Dodgers would do ten times over.

There are concerns with trading for Buxton and Ryan. Byron Buxton has, in the past, been adamant about remaining a Twin. His no-trade clause allows him to do so. Additionally, Byron Buxton has only exceeded 100 games in a season three times. While he's shown better health these last two years, there's still concern that the 32-year-old could be shelved at any given moment. He's been, by and large, a plus defender in center with stellar speed. He should be able to stay at the position for a while.

Joe Ryan, meanwhile, is essentially a rental pitcher. He has a $13 million mutual option for next year. While the Twins would likely accept their end of the deal, there's a virtual guarantee that Ryan will test the open market. Paying premium prospects for two months of Ryan would hurt the farm system. There's also the likelihood that these two All Stars are dealt separately to maximize the return the Twins could get from both.

The Cardinals would have to create a package that features at least two of their top-10 prospects, a mid-level prospect, and a throw-in lottery ticket guy to entice the Twins. St. Louis has the farm system to do so, and with six picks in the first 86 selections in this year's draft, reinforcements are coming.

Will Chaim Bloom pull the trigger on starting the club's competitive window early?

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow