MLB St Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals Should Make Trade Offer For Carlos Gonzalez

Ron Chenoy - USA Today Sports

Ron Chenoy – USA Today Sports

With the untimely death of top prospect Oscar Taveras, the St. Louis Cardinals will need to find outfield depth for the 2015 season. If indeed the Colorado Rockies are open to discussing moving All-Star position players Carlos Gonzalez and/or Troy Tulowitzki with intentions of improving their pitching staff, the Cards should pick up the phone.

The Rockies had the worst team ERA in the league by a long shot at 4.84. It’s tough to pitch in the thin air of Denver, where many routine fly balls in other parks would otherwise find the leather of an outfielder’s mitt but instead mockingly sail over the fences at Coors Field. Rockies starting pitchers posted a combined ERA of 4.89 in 2014. Their rotation will need a lot of help next year.

The Cardinals are somewhat thin in the outfield right now, but they have a robust selection of highly-touted pitching prospects who have wet their feet in the show over recent seasons. That should make someone like CarGo tempting to inquire about.

Matt Holliday, 34, is a staple in the Cards’ outfield. His power numbers have dwindled some since he departed Colorado seven years ago. He will never again approach the incredible line of  .340-120-36-137-11 he put up in 2007, but he’s almost guaranteed to be the Cardinals’ starting left fielder on Opening Day.

Jon Jay provides superb defense in center field. He’s probably a strong enough hitter to be an everyday starter moving forward.

Randal Grichuk in right field is the ambiguous one. At 23, he’s a career .279/.321/.497 hitter in the minors. It should go without saying, though, that Taveras was the future of the club’s outfield in every way.

Starting pitchers Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller and Lance Lynn, as well as the versatile Carlos Martinez, could all be used as leverage to some degree if the Cardinals were open to moving them for the talented outfielder. All, save for Lynn, are under 25 years in age.

Wacha is still playing on his initial entry level contract after being drafted as a polished former NCAA player in the first round of the 2012 amateur draft. The same goes for Miller, who is arbitration eligible in 2016. Lynn is eligible for arbitration this offseason and Martinez in 2017. All could be made available to the Rockies for a relatively reasonable 2015 salary in a variety of package deals, with discussions to follow thereafter about long-term contracts.

A huge bargain for the Cardinals was being able to exercise the 2015 league minimum club option on veteran starter John Lackey, the remnant of a stipulation in his $82.5 million contract with the Boston Red Sox in 2009. This gives the front office some flexibility this winter.

Prospect Marco Gonzales is also another tantalizing option for St Louis. He started five games for the Cardinals in this past season. MLB.com ranks him the third best prospect in their organization. He moved up quickly through the minors, posting a 2.48 ERA along the way over two years of service.

The oft-injured Gonzalez is a gamble. Only twice in his career has he recorded more than 500 ABs in a season. When he is healthy, he has the tools to be special. His current contract expires before the 2018 season. With no designated hitter in the National league, finding a way to get premium bats in the lineup can be a tough juggling act at times for NL managers. If the finances work out, Mike Matheny would rest better at night knowing he has a trio of reliable starters come Opening Day to roam the pitch at Busch Stadium.

Jordan Wevers is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JordanWevers, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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