5 MLB teams that need to make a big trade offer for Francisco Lindor

5 teams that need to make a big trade offer for Francisco Lindor

CLEVELAND, OHIO - MAY 24: Francisco Lindor #12 of the Cleveland Indians celebrates after scoring on a single by Roberto Perez #55 during the eighth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field on May 24, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

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ANAHEIM, CA – SEPTEMBER 11: Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) hits a two run home run in the second inning of a game against the Los Angeles Angels played on September 11, 2019 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim in Anaheim, CA.(Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

3. St. Louis Cardinals

Two winters in a row the Cardinals have pulled off huge trades, landing Marcell Ozuna and Paul Goldschmidt in an attempt to build a lineup that can keep up with the offense-first rosters of their division rivals in Milwaukee and Chicago. The results have been mixed at best, with Ozuna struggling in his two years in St. Louis and Goldschmidt putting up his worst full season in the big leagues, hitting just .260/.346/.476 with 34 home runs and 97 RBI.

The Cardinals managed to win the NL Central in spite of their offense. St. Louis was 10th in the league in runs, 11th in OPS and 12th in home runs. That’s not going to cut it heading into a season where they’ll be attempting to defend their first division title since 2015.

Having traded most of their best prospects for Ozuna and Goldschmidt, you might think the Cardinals would be tapped out and forced to sit out the Lindor sweepstakes. The Cardinals, however, are never out of prospects. They still have Dylan Carlson and Nolan Gorman to serve as the primary piece in a trade and a handful of power arms already in the big leagues.

It’s hard to determine if the Cardinals will keep mortgaging their future every winter to trade for the hitter their lineup clearly lacks. There are also affordable free-agent options this winter like Nicholas Castellanos that could help upgrade the offense. Shortstop is also an area of need for St. Louis, where Paul DeJong has posted back-to-back disappointing years after finishing second in the NL Rookie of the Year in 2017.

If they can pull off a trade for Lindor, the Cardinals will have two years to work on convincing him to stay and Dexter Fowler and Yadier Molina’s big salaries coming off the books.

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