The Cardinals and Rays made a yuge trade with the Cardinals dealing from a surplus of OF's to land one of the top pitching prospects in the country and the Rays going into complete win now mode. Here's the breakdown:
Cardinals get:
LHP Matthew Liberatore. Liberatore is one of my favorite pitching prospects who I was really high on in the 2018 draft cycle. He did nothing to diminish my enthusiasm with his performance in Low A last year: 6-2, 3.10, 78.1 IP, 31 BB, 76 K. It's a bit of an odd trade for the Cardinals who also appear to be in win now mode, but there are rumors out there they may be planning to flip Liberatore in another trade, possibly for Nolan Arenado.
C Edgardo Rodriguez. The Cardinals are loaded with catching prospects, but you can never have too many, especially when Yadier Molina is nearing the end of his career. Scouts are impressed y ERod's bat, but there is some question if he'll stay behind the plate.
Draft Pick, Competitive Balance Round B. Cards get a pick back, but give up 30 spots for the Uber-prospect, Liberatore.
Rays get:
OF/1B/DH Jose Martinez. Martinez can mash from the right side of the plate, but doesn't really have a position. Rays play in DH league, so that helps, but already have several LH DH options, so is Martinez going to be the short side of a DH platoon?
OF Randy Arozarena. Promising OF prospect, but the Rays already have 3 staring OF's in Austin Meadows, Kevin Kiermeier and Hunter Renfroe.
Draft Pick, Competitive Balance Round A. Rays move up 30 spots in what is looking like a deep draft.
The trade leaves the Cardinals a bit thin in the OF, but they have a MLB ready prospect in Dylan Carlson who could be ready as soon as Opening Day. Otherwise, they unloaded some extra players for one of the top pitching prospects in the country who they can either keep or flip in another trade. From the Rays side, it looks like they got a 4'th OF and the short end of a DH platoon. That seems like a thin return for one of the top pitching prospects in the country. The Rays are loaded with pitching prospects though as they still have LHP Brendan McKay, RHP Brent Honeywell, RHP Shane Baz and LHP Shane McClanahan and the Rays are clearly going for it now.
Winner: Cardinals.
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Cards likely to resign Ozuna which gives them the same OF as last year with the touted prospect replacing Martinez.
ReplyDeleteRox fans won't like losing Arenado even for a haul of prospects, but what else can StL give for a valuable piece they sorely need.
Cardinals seem to be the winner here but it doesn't help the 91-win team in 2020 – there must be more to it. Losing the low-priced Martinez buys them little to spend big in Arenado: they need to shed Fowler and Carpenter also but they'll have to sweeten those deals a whole lot.