The St. Louis Cardinals are trying to make the best of a bad situation, and this may just be the perfect year to be a seller.
The St. Louis Cardinals have had a miserable year. We could go into great detail, but look no further than their record and spot in the NL Central: 46-60, last, 11.5 games back. Unsurprisingly, the Cardinals proclaimed themselves as sellers in the MLB trade market weeks ago.
As a reward for their failures, at least they will be able to cash in. And the way things are shaping up, this might be one of the best years to be a seller in recent memory. That's because there is significant parity in the standings this year, and with the extra Wild Card spots still in play, most teams can justify making a late-season push.
The Cardinals are one of the few sellers. With limited supply, prices rise. So Cardinals fans should be excited that this poor season should set them up for the future quite well.
Though the Cardinals have yet to make a trade, they are watching the price go up, and up, and up…
Cardinals buckling up for massive trade deadline haul
One executive remarked recently that most deals will go down on Monday as sellers wait for the highest bid. Seems the Cardinals are following that strategy exactly.
Here's what Bob Nightengale recently reported:
"[The Cardinals] already have teams like the Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies tripping all over themselves, with the Cardinals simply waiting for the high bidder, having their players on stand-by."
Teams are, "tripping all over themselves," trying to pry away the Cardinals assets. Sounds like John Mozeliak has things right where he wants them!
Further substantiating that report is Derrick Goold's latest for the St Louis Post-Dispatch (subscription required). He reported a flurry of teams are interested in various players. Here's the full list (an H/T in order for @MLBDeadlineNews on Twitter who has been all over aggregating these reports).
- Rays are interested in Cardinals pitchers
- Marlins are interested in Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery
- Yankees are interested in Jordan Hicks and Dylan Carlson
- Dodgers have discussed Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery
Add in the Rangers and Phillies as Nightengale reported, and that's at least six teams already rumored to be on the hook. More will jump in (if they haven't already), and the price will go up further.
The Cardinals don't want to be a losing team selling at the deadline, but if there was ever a year to be it, it appears this is the one.
