Any trade for Juan Soto would be borderline astronomical in baseball terms, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan referred to any potential deal as ‘Herschel Walker-like’. Could the Cardinals pull it off?
The St. Louis Cardinals need pitching at this season’s trade deadline, That, first and foremost, should be their top priority. Jack Flaherty is out long-term, as St. Louis placed him on the 60-day injured list. The likes of Frankie Montas and Luis Castillo have been mentioned, and for good reason.
But does Soto alter those plans, even a little bit? Very rarely does a player of his caliber become available. Even with St. Louis’ perceived depth in the outfield, Soto is one of the best young players in all of baseball, if not the future face of the league.
Let’s say Mike Girsch were interested — and this is all hypothetical, of course — what would it take?
Juan Soto rumors: What a Cardinals trade would look like
Any trade for Soto would require prospect galore. So, for the sake of the Cards’ farm system, we’ll have them take on Patrick Corbin’s contract since they need pitching anyway. Surely, Washington and Mike Rizzo would appreciate that, and it would help decrease the overall price for Soto from absurd to merely insane.
If you think that looks like a lot, that’s because it is. The ‘3 more’ would likely include three more top-30 prospects in St. Louis system. Overall, it’s a solid haul for Washington.
Carlson is a 23-year-old former top prospect who is just a year removed from coming in third place in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Gorman is a former top prospect himself, and the Cards would rather not trade him given he’s shown promise at the MLB-level. However, with Jordan Walker in the fold, St. Louis will have to choose between the two as both play third base.
We’ll consider it a win that the Cardinals can keep Ivan Herrera in this trade, but dealing Liberatore, their top pitching prospect, to go along with Yepez is a major hit.
As I mentioned, taking on Corbin actually would HELP the Cardinals in this aspect. Can you imagine if they traded for Soto alone? That’s the kind of compensation we’re talking about. And I’m not alone.
A trade for Soto remains unlikely at this juncture, if only because Rizzo shouldn’t give up on a contract just yet. The likely trade return being immense and system-crippling doesn’t help, either.