3 teams Cardinals should trade with at the Winter Meetings
By Tim Boyle
2) Cardinals can find more by making a trade with the Blue Jays at the Winter Meetings
The Athletics can only offer the Cardinals relief behind the plate. The Toronto Blue Jays are actually a match in a few more ways.
The Blue Jays have a growing need to trade Gabriel Moreno or Alejandro Kirk. The latter, an All-Star last season, would be a fine addition to the Cardinals roster. He would come at a huge cost. One of the MLB outfielders already on the Cardinals roster would make sense. What about Dylan Carlson? He’s a switch-hitting youngster capable of playing center field. The Blue Jays can acquire him and maybe someone like lefty Alec Burleson from the Cardinals. They suddenly have more outfield help. The Cardinals snag a young catcher.
As if this wasn’t enough of a blockbuster, what if the Blue Jays traded Bo Bichette to the Redbirds? St. Louis can wait on Masyn Winn. They can also speed up production at the position by signing a free agent like Xander Bogaerts or cutting a deal with the Blue Jays for their shortstop.
Bichette landing in St. Louis is far less likely than Kirk going there for some outfield help. Nonetheless, it does seem like the Cardinals and Blue Jays can help each other out.
In addition to these options, could we see the Blue Jays and Cardinals swap some bad contracts? Steven Matz doesn’t have much of a role with the Cardinals and they should be looking to upgrade the rotation. He was pretty good for the Blue Jays in 2021. Meanwhile, Yusei Kikuchi is in a similar situation up in Toronto. The contracts aren’t similar so we’d have to see money or players changing hands, too.
It’s not a perfect plan but two other considerations to toss into some sort of mega-deal between these two bird teams.