The St. Louis Cardinals are notorious for trading away young guys that light up the league as soon as they arrive on their new team, making them look like fools. Quick examples of this in recent years include Sandy Alcántara, Randy Arozarena, Zac Gallen, and Adolis García.
All of those guys either weren’t given enough of a shot to show their true potential, or they weren’t given a chance at all. So, as we look at the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals and their roster, who are some of the guys we can look at and feel okay to give away, and who might we seriously regret getting rid of?
We will look at five players that the team would be okay with trading away and five that the team would regret.
CAN BE TRADED:
There was a time when Tyler O’Neill was projected to hit at least 30 home runs a season and be a vital asset in the future of the Cardinals’ outfield. Sadly, that time has passed. Injuries have plagued his career, as the highest number of games he’s played in a 162 game season is 138 games back in 2021. The second most in his career? Ninety-six games last season.
He is sidelined for a large chunk of the season almost every year, and he is too inconsistent to rely on at this point. There’s a good chance that he would be included in a trade for a starting pitcher to a team looking for an outfielder with the potential to be a power hitter while also being able to run well. O’Neill is also a gold glover, which helps his trade value.
CAN’T BE TRADED:
How long will the front office wait before offering this guy a serious contract? Gorman has a slash line of .295/.386/.629 and an OPS of 1.015. Did I forget to mention he’s only 23 years old?
Guys like this don’t come around too often. He leads the Cardinals in all offensive stats except for average and OBP (both belonging to Paul Goldschmidt). He’s arguably the hottest hitter on the team (although an argument can be made for Nolan Arenado), and he has no signs of slowing down. His 36 RBI in 40 games is already higher than his total from 89 games last season, where he had 35, and he only has two fewer home runs than he did all of last season.
He’s striking out less than last season, where he had a 36.3% strikeout rate, compared to this season, where he has a 28.0% strikeout rate. Gorman is also walking more, with a walk rate of 14.3%, compared to last season, where he had a 9.89% walk rate.
Trading Nolan Gorman would make no sense, but giving him a big contract to keep him in St. Louis would make a lot of sense.
CAN BE TRADED:
- Juan Yepez
Juan Yepez made his MLB debut in 2022 and had a fairly good season. However, coming into the 2023 season, he hasn’t been much more than a bench option.
His defense isn’t anything to get excited about, but his hitting is good enough to the point where you can throw him into the lineup and be okay with it. But it seems he doesn’t have a solidified place within this team, as he’s jumped from AAA to the majors a couple of times already.
Sending him off someplace else wouldn’t hurt the Cardinals, as their outfield already has plenty of options.
CAN’T BE TRADED:
It would be devastating if Nootbaar were to be traded, even just because of his personality. But this year, Nootbaar has proved that he is a force at the plate, not just with his bat but with his eye as well.
Nootbaar currently has an 18.8% walk rate, the highest of his career and the highest on the Cardinals. He isn’t hitting as many balls in the air as he would like, but he still has an OPS+ of 135 (league average is 100) and a wRC+ of 139.
Having a leadoff hitter of Nootbaar’s caliber is something the Cardinals have been lacking for several years now, so having Nootbaar be a guy that will give you good at-bats against both righties and lefties to start the game is a huge bonus.
His defense has also been excellent, especially with how strong of an arm he has shown, already having three outfield assists. At only 25 years old, the WBC Champion is a player that the Cardinals should hold on to as long as they can.
CAN BE TRADED:
It’s been an interesting career for Jordan Hicks. After making the major league roster in 2018 after never pitching past Single A, Jordan Hicks quite literally lit up the league when he threw the fastest pitch in MLB history at 105.1 mph, a record, he shares with Aroldis Chapman.
He finished the season with a respectable 3.59 ERA, and the future looked bright for the young flamethrower. In 2019 he did even better. However, since 2021, he has not been good. Despite only pitching in 10 games in 2021 due to injury, he had a 5.40 ERA; in 2022, he had a 4.84 ERA in 35 games.
This season saw Jordan Hicks get off to a terrible start, where he had a 12.71 ERA through six games. The Cardinals have stuck with him, and his ERA has gone down to 5.30, and he’s had a 2.25 ERA since April 15.
He’s been very impressive, but there’s still skepticism about whether he can stay healthy and continue his recent success. If he continues how he’s been, there will be no point in even thinking about trading him, which is why he is one big “if” right now.
CAN’T BE TRADED:
Going into the 2023 season, it was evident that there was a good chance of Matthew Liberatore getting a shot at the rotation at some point. He had a really good Spring Training, which left a lot of fans devastated when he didn’t make the Opening Day roster.
Since then, Liberatore lit up AAA, being named the Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April. Liberatore had a 3-1 record, along with a 2.14 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP, and a .212 batting average against in the month of April. He also led the Minor Leagues with 45 strikeouts in April. Liberatore was able to have three of his April outings go at least 5.0 innings with no runs allowed and limit the opposing hitters to four hits or less in five of his six starts.
Simply put, Liberatore was electric in the month of April. His last two starts before being called up were less than ideal compared to his month of April, but he was given a crack at facing a major league lineup on May 17 against the Brewers, where he threw 5.0 shutout innings, striking out six batters and only allowing three hits.
He’s only 23 years old, meaning that he has a lot more time to get better, which is something he should experience while on the Cardinals. It would be a crime to trade him, as he has the potential to be their future ace.
CAN BE TRADED:
A guy that absolutely tore it up in the minors, Alec Burleson has not been able to find immediate success in the majors, which is okay. He hasn’t been impressive in both 2022 and 2023, although this season has shown some glimmers of the caliber of hitter he has proven he is capable of becoming.
The outfield is currently a bit of a logjam, with a lot of players who deserve at least a shot at playing every day. However, when looking toward the future, it seems that the best possible outcome for the future of the outfield would be Nootbaar, Carlson, and Jordan Walker. That trio, which features a left-handed bat, a right-handed bat, and a switch-hitting bat, can potentially become one of the best in the majors, should all three find consistency in their performance at the plate.
So, back to Burleson. He’s only 24 years old, and with his numbers in the minors being so impressive, a lot of teams would be happy to trade for him, and he could be a massive piece in a trade for a starting pitcher for the Cardinals, which they desperately need.
CAN’T BE TRADED:
There was talk during the offseason that the Cardinals were considering trading away 2022 All-Star Ryan Helsley to the Toronto Blue Jays for Danny Jansen. At the time, many Cardinals fans were baffled as to how the front office would even consider this move since Helsley was coming off of a season where he had a 1.25 ERA, a 0.74 WHIP, and a 13.1 K/9. He also placed 12th in Cy Young voting. However, Ryan Helsley has become one of the most dominant pitchers in the league, owning a fastball that has gotten up to 104 mph.
In his last seven games, he hasn’t allowed a single run and has only allowed two hits over 8.1 innings, with nine strikeouts. Ryan Helsley should be the closer for the Cardinals for the foreseeable future, especially since he is still just 28 years old.
CAN BE TRADED:
Did anybody else forget about Dakota Hudson? Having spent the entirety of the 2023 season in AAA, Hudson has been flat out terrible in Memphis. He currently has a 5.40 ERA through four games and a 1.96 WHIP.
But why would anybody want him if he’s doing this bad? Well, when you look at his previous seasons, other than 2022, he had excellent numbers every single season. Being a ground ball pitcher, he benefited from having fantastic defense behind him throughout his five seasons with the Cardinals. Take out his 2022 season, and he’s got a career ERA sitting around 2.70.
There would be plenty of teams looking for a starting pitcher with low value that has the potential to be a guy who gives you a solid season like he showed before 2022. You can’t just disregard his 2022 season entirely, as well as his abysmal 2023 Spring Training, but it would be easy to find a team that wants him, and it wouldn’t be a sad departure for most fans.
CAN’T BE TRADED:
This one may be obvious, but it’s true. Recently named the new number 1 prospect in baseball, Jordan Walker is the most exciting young player the Cardinals have had probably since Albert Pujols.
He’s got all the right stuff to be a superstar and has already gotten a bit of a taste of major-league action. Walker became one of the most talked about players during Spring Training, essentially hitting his way into the Opening Day lineup, which saw the start of his historic 12-game hitting streak.
However, after 20 games, he was sent back down to the minors, a move that confused most Cardinals fans, seeing that he was off to a pretty good start. While his defense was pretty poor, his offense was good enough to keep up with the rest of the lineup. However, the front office decided to give him his first taste of AAA, where he struggled. He carries a dismal slash line of .183/.298/.268, much worse than he did in the MLB.
Despite his struggles in Memphis, there’s absolutely no reason the Cardinals should even consider moving on from Jordan Walker, as he’s only 20 years old (turning 21 on May 22) and is the top prospect in all of baseball. Give him time, and the Cardinals might have their next big name in St. Louis, the biggest name since Albert Pujols.
