Cardinals would be forced to trade this top prospect for Juan Soto

The St. Louis Cardinals are reportedly among the frontrunners to land Juan Soto from the Washington Nationals, but they’d have to part with Nolan Gorman.

Gorman is just the beginning, but he was also the Cards’ top-rated prospect for a reason. Discussions should start with him.

Per MLB insider Jon Heyman, St. Louis is among the early favorites for Soto: “A few suitors have been told the Nats are focusing on one or two teams at the moment, and some believe the Cardinals are in the group getting early attention.”

Our own Robert Murray has backed up that assertion based on Heyman’s reporting in a recent piece on Redbird Rants:

"“Do I expect the Cardinals to be involved in Soto? Yes. I wasn’t convinced that they would be serious players, however, but my thinking has changed in the last 48 hours. They have the farm system to pull off such a deal – Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore, Masyn Winn, among others – and a front office that hasn’t been afraid to make big moves in the past, evidenced by the Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt deals.”"

MLB insiders: Juan Soto makes sense for Cardinals, but at what price?

Soto is a guaranteed commodity, while prospects are just that — prospects. At just 23 years old, Soto has been advertised as the next Ted Williams. Even with one of the best young outfields in baseball, Soto would undoubtedly be an upgrade for the Cardinals.

He’d be considered that for just about any team outside of the Bronx.

To acquire Soto, however, St. Louis must trade the likes of Gorman and many, many others.

With Jordan Walker sitting squarely behind him in the minors, theoretically the Cardinals can afford to trade Gorman and still have a backup plan in place. That is, of course, if the Nationals don’t demand Walker in a Soto trade as well.