This fan favorite Cardinals prospect could be a sneaky trade chip for Chaim Bloom

The St. Louis Cardinals talent accumulation mission began with trading multiple veterans and key contributors from their Major League roster over the last year, but what if they explore some ways to maximize the value of prospects in their organization in ways that also help them build for the future?

Forgive me for a more speculative piece, but consider this more of a thought exercise than me trying to truly advocate for this. But as Blaze Jordan continues to rake at the Triple-A level and there is still no clear path for him to break through with St. Louis, could Chaim Bloom consider flipping the productive primary first baseman for something that could be of more value to them?

While this is a smaller example of such a move, Bloom did make a similar exchange back in spring training, even if others and I were skeptical of it at the time. The Cardinals flipped Andre Granillo, who had not yet turned 26 and still had multiple option years remaining, to the Washington Nationals for George Soriano, who was about to turn 27 and was out of options. Clearly, the Cardinals saw something in Soriano that they thought they could fix, and he's since turned into a weapon out of their bullpen that has five more years of team control.

In this case, Bloom flipped the roster flexibility Granillo brought them for the upside that Soriano possessed, and it has worked out beautifully. Maybe there is a similar deal out there for the Cardinals where they can flip Jordan and what he does well for something that would be more useful to the Cardinals in the long term.

The Cardinals could turn Blaze Jordan into help for a different area of their roster or organization

The Cardinals have no pressure on them to make moves. This is about them being opportunistic in terms of the moves they consider.

In a recent event with bloggers and podcasters at Busch Stadium, Bloom was asked about how the Cardinals see their future needs right now, even in a season of talent accumulation, and Bloom spoke to how you have to balance getting the most back in return while also building a team, and how the closer talent is to St. Louis, the more you have to consider their fit both in the short-term and long-term.

"It's an interesting question," Bloom said. "We do have to think about that. We're not just trying to amass the most player value, right? We're trying to build teams. At the same time, this past winter, it wasn't like we necessarily set out to say, 'Man, we just got to get a whole bunch of pitching,"....Now, that said, having done that, you still want to make sure all the puzzle pieces fit. The further away they are, the less you have to think about that. We have room for a lot of players, as long as they're not actually blocking off opportunities for somebody in the system, we can accommodate talent. We just want to get as much talent as we can...And then when you think about guys getting closer and closer to the big leagues, now we do think about, 'We feel pretty good about this position for the next X number of years. We feel pretty good about that position. This guy has versatility and maybe can do different things. What do we want to go out and get?"

How does this apply to this situation? Well, Jordan is someone who has already been Rule 5 eligible and will be once again next year. It's pretty rare for first base profiles to be selected in that, but if there are other teams that believe Jordan could be an impactful bat for their lineup, they'll take a swing at him.

The Cardinals are likely to see even more roster turnover between now and next spring, so if they want to fit Jordan onto their 40-man roster, they certainly can. By my count, there are about 19 players on the 40-man roster that seem pretty certain to be back in 2027, with another eight who are likely but not quite a guarantee. That's only 27 players, leaving 13 spots of flexibility.

But the Cardinals do have up to nine players who are Rule 5 eligible this offseason, including Jordan, who they may want to protect from the draft, including Quinn Mathews, Ixan Henderson, Luis Gastelum, Max Rajcic, and even names like Jacob Odle, Chen-Wei Lin, and Won-Bin Cho.

Between all of those names, players the Cardinals acquire via trade at the deadline or in the offseason, and potential free agent signings, the Cardinals do have to consider the long-term fit of players like Jordan when weighing if he is more valuable to them or in a trade.

Jordan is just 23 years old and has a lot of baseball ahead of him, but with him pushing so close to the big leagues at positions already filled by seemingly core pieces in Alec Burleson (1B) and Ivan Herrera (DH), his fit gets a lot less clean outside of a more platoon and reserve role. That could be his long-term outlook anyway, but if there's a team that values him more than that, he could be a sneaky trade chip.

Maybe the Cardinals will end up deciding that maximizing Burleson and/or Herrera's trade value is in their best interest, and that makes keeping Jordan around longer make sense. Perhaps he develops more as a defender at third base, and they think he can contribute there. Or they could end up deciding they like the idea of having him be a right-handed bench bat who can occasionally start at first base or DH.

Or, the Cardinals could probe the trade market and see what kind of offers are out there. Maybe there is a pitching prospect they like that may fit their needs better. Perhaps there is a right-handed hitting center fielder to be had. Maybe there's a reliever with control that they are high on. Maybe Jordan is a part of a bigger trade they make in a splashier move, or maybe he helps recoup prospect capital after they deal other pieces for something else they want.

These are the kinds of questions the Cardinals are going to ask themselves, not just about Jordan, but about almost every player in the organization. Jordan is just in that awkward spot right now of close to the Majors but not really having a clear path toward contribution, making him someone that the Cardinals may flip into value they can better utilize.

It's June 5th. I know. No decisions need to be made today, tomorrow, or at least for the next month or so. But as many within the fan base find themselves caught in the "Blaze Jordan hype-train", perhaps the Cardinals may end up having different plans for him. Or not! Who knows?

But I do trust that the Cardinals front office will leave no stone unturned here, and if they sense a better way to maximize his value, they won't hesitate to do so.

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