Right here we go! The St. Louis Cardinals are 47-42, have a agency grasp of the second Wild Card, and are actually 32-18 of their final 50 video games, good for a .640% win share. You do not have to consider within the Cardinals as some form of World Collection contender, however they’re indubitably shopping for at this 12 months’s commerce deadline and seeking to make a run in October.
It has been nicely documented at this level the three areas the Cardinals could be inquisitive about upgrading in – discovering one other starter, fortifying their bullpen, and doubtlessly including a right-handed bat to their lineup (seemingly in a platoon position). All of that is sensible. The rotation has been encouraging this 12 months however nonetheless wants upgrades for October. The bullpen has been glorious, however the frequency the Cardinals go to it requires extra arms. And whereas the lineup is heating up once more, their incapability to hit left-handed pitching is a serious drawback.
We have put out lots of content material on this website about what sorts of gamers the Cardinals might goal to suit sure wants on their roster, however we actually have not put collectively a mock define of how the Cardinals can handle every of their wants in a manner that performs off of one another.
For instance, if the Cardinals exit and add an affect starter who is usually a true quantity two or quantity three within the postseason, it’s unlikely that make that large of a swing for a reliever or bat. The identical might be mentioned for every of these different wants. How the Cardinals select to deal with one want could have an affect on the others.
With simply over three weeks to go till the July thirtieth commerce deadline, I took my first stab at creating some commerce packages the Cardinals might doubtlessly put collectively in an effort to improve their roster and be an actual risk in October.