Cardinals: 3 trade deadline targets to avoid

St. Louis Cardinals trade target to avoid: Xander Bogaerts

Early in the season, there was much talk about the Cardinals needing a shortstop. Bogaerts was one of the names mentioned for the Cardinals after the Red Sox start and the emergence of Trevor Story.

Now, Paul DeJong is getting right in the Cardinals’ minor league system while the team has gotten some good production at shortstop from Tommy Edman after they brought up top-prospect Nolan Gorman at second base. They have also had good production from Brendan Donovan and Edmundo Sosa.

While Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak is never one to overreact, the urge to just go ahead and add a bat at a position that’s proven frustrating at times this season could just be an easy way out for the team. It would be easy to think just trading for a player like Bogaerts would just be the easy way out.

But, the price tag on Bogaerts is quite possibly higher now than it was at the start of the season.

The price tag could be too high for the Cardinals given how the team is doing now. The Cards should definitely stay put with their young options in regards to this position. They will get good production from Edman and Gorman. Once DeJong returns from the Memphis Redbirds, he will be better able to produce for the Cardinals. Donovan and Sosa have been good back-ups at multiple positions.

Making a trade that could disrupt the chemistry of this team could be detrimental. Trading for Bogaerts would be just that – detrimental to a pretty good team with lots of young talent.