Cardinals Paul Goldschmidt linked to the evil empire ahead of MLB trade deadline

The St. Louis Cardinals were nine games below .500 in the month of May before they fought their way back into contention in the Wild Card race.

St. Louis is playing a lot better than they were in May, but have been unable to break .500, and as such, many are still considering them sellers at the trade deadline. They were sellers at last year's trade deadline after falling out of contention earlier in the season.

This year is a slightly different story, but they remain a middling team.

In fact, slugger Paul Goldschmidt may be on the move if the Cards decide to sell, and the New York Yankees could be a fit. Yankees insiders Chris Kirschner and Brendan Kuty mentioned that Goldschmidt could be a target for the Bronx Bombers.

Paul Goldschmidt linked to Yankees

Goldschmidt would likely be nothing more than a rental for the Yankees. His performance this season has been far below what was expected of him.

Though Goldschmidt has been hitting much better in recent weeks, he still owns a .225 average with seven home runs and 25 RBI. His OPS sits at just .644.

However, the Yankees were recently forced to bench Anthony Rizzo, who is hitting just .221 and has an OPS of .611. Perhaps Goldschmidt could be a slight offensive upgrade over Rizzo.

A trade for Goldschmidt would likely not cost the Yankees too much, as he is in the final year of his contract. Still, it might make sense for them to pursue an upgrade at first base if Rizzo continues to struggle.

Should the Cardinals remain in contention, a trade involving Goldschmidt would become less likely as the Cardinals will need their cornerstone at first base to make a run at one of the Wild Card spots in the National League. St. Louis is 32-34 and just a half-game back of the final Wild Card spot.

But if they can't break .500, it might make sense for them to sell and see what they can get for guys like Goldschmidt instead of simply allowing the slugger to walk in free agency. The best the Cardinals would be able to get for him then would be nothing more than a compensation draft pick.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the Cardinals in the weeks leading up to the deadline. How they play in their current stretch against teams below .500 should dictate what they decide to do.