Each MLB team’s most important offseason decision
By Nick Villano
St. Louis Cardinals - Who is for sale?
It’s never fun to go into an offseason already knowing that a fire sale is coming. It’s especially not fun for a team as legendary as the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are expected to sell sell sell this offseason. They’ve invested in the present for a while, but it hasn’t worked. Last season, the Cardinals finished four games above .500, but they were 10 games out of the NL Central lead. The team has two directions it can go: invest in a youth movement or continue to trot out expensive veterans hoping for a better result.
It seems pretty clear what’s best for the Cardinals is to reassess the value of its veterans, put them on the market, then see what they can get for them. They have Paul Goldschmidt heading to free agency. Nolan Arenado is still valuable enough to garner interest on the market, especially with a pretty poor free agency for corner infield. Wilson Contreras still has good value. Sonny Gray is an interesting name, but that contract definitely hurts. Ryan Helsley could get the Cardinals a decent return.
The Cardinals have been open about the fact that they want to go younger. This team needs to bring in quality talent. They have a few decent prospects like JJ Wetherholt, Tink Hence, and Quinn Matthews, but most aren’t ready to make the majors yet. The Cardinals need to take a few chances with these trades and see if they can get cheap talent looking for a new place to call home.