MLB St Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals Should Consider Trading Shelby Miller

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By @DrewJenkins77

Shelby Miller St. Louis Cardinals

Jeff Curry- USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Cardinals pride themselves on building a team filled with pitching, and it has been what keeps them consistently competitive. A solid rotation with great depth and a good bullpen helped them advance to the NLCS this season. Once again, heading into 2015, the Cardinals have great pitching depth, but this time is so abundant that the Cardinals have ability to trade a starter and acquire a bat.

Of all their starters, Shelby Miller is the most logical trade candidate, and the Cardinals should strongly consider dealing him this offseason.

After a 2013 rookie season in which he posted a 3.06 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9, Miller seemed like one of baseball’s up-and-coming pitchers. But in 2014, he regressed, posting a 3.74 ERA, 6.2 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9. ERA estimators like his 4.54 FIP, 4.47 xFIP and 4.60 SIERA were even more skeptical of his work, and Miller’s .256 BABIP against indicates he had some good luck. Miller is not a totally lost cause, but he now has more questions than he did a year ago because of his 2014 season.

The good news is that Miller is still young, and he is just one year removed from being a great pitcher. Miller is a bit of an unknown entity now, but he still has upside and is cheap and controllable. Thus, he would still be desirable in a trade, and the Cardinals should take advantage of that.

Trading him now could be trading him at his peak value if he can never recreate his 2013 success. Admittedly, it could also be trading him at his lowest value if he can rebound, but that is a risk the Cardinals can afford to take given their pitching depth, and they will still get a solid return for Miller in a trade.

The Cardinals’ rotation has three locks in Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn and John Lackey, and Michael Wacha seems to be close to a lock for the fourth spot. The fifth spot will then become a competition between Miller, Carlos Martinez, Marco Gonzales and Tim Cooney. You can make cases for any of the four earning this spot (though Cooney does seem like a longshot), and that’s the point. Martinez may be a work in progress, but he could be a top-flight pitcher in short order, and Gonzales seems like a safe bet to be a middle to back-of-the-rotation starter soon.

Miller is not distinguished among this group, and thus the Cardinals should not hesitate to deal him.

The Cardinals certainly do not need to deal Miller, but it makes plenty of sense to consider doing so this offseason if the right deal comes along. Miller comes with some risk after his disappointing 2014 season, but he still has upside and should be desirable in a trade. Plus, the Cardinals have plenty of pitching depth, and dealing Miller will not do much to hurt that.

The Cardinals will look to upgrade their team this offseason to get back to the World Series in 2015, and trading Miller to add to a position of need could be one way they could do that.

Drew Jenkins is an MLB writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DrewJenkins77, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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