Might the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals link up on another trade?
By Cam Lewis
8 months agoDeath, taxes, and the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals making trades.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Dispatch reported that the Cardinals are planning to listen to trade offers on outfielder Dylan Carlson this winter and that the Blue Jays were among the teams who have already inquired.
The Cardinals are open to dealing from their outfielder and infielder depth to acquire pitching and streamline their major league roster. Trades could bring clarity to their outfield, for example. They are going to entertain offers for Gold Glove winner Tyler O’Neill, multiple sources said. A few teams, including Toronto, have asked about Dylan Carlson, according to another source. The Yankees are shopping for two outfielders and want to add some “left-handed balance” to the lineup, general manager Brian Cashman said. Multiple sources said the Yankees see the Cardinals as a fit for trade talks involving Alec Burleson or Brendan Donovan.Mozeliak declined to discuss any specific trade talks. “If we have the ability to address some other need, it’s worth considering,” he said.
The Blue Jays and Cardinals made three trades together during the 2023 season, with Jordan Hicks, Genesis Cabrera, and Paul DeJong getting moved to Toronto and prospects Adam Kloffenstein, Sem Robberse, Matt Svanson, and Sammy Hernandez heading back in return.
While DeJong was a flop and got released a few weeks into his Blue Jays tenure, both Cabrera and Hicks were additions that helped solidify a very strong bullpen for the Blue Jays down the stretch. Meanwhile, St. Louis netted themselves a handful of young pitchers who will likely all be in the mix to pitch at the big-league level as soon as next season.
Carlson finished third in Rookie of the Year voting following a stellar debut during the 2021 season but has seen his production dip considerably over two seasons since. The switch-hitting outfielder slashed a .266/.343/.437 line as a rookie and has posted a .230/.316/.364 line over 743 plate appearances since. He’s a solid defender, with seven defensive runs saved between centre and left field, according to FanGraphs.
If the Blue Jays are inquiring about a struggling young player, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Cardinals asked for the same in return. St. Louis is known to want pitching and they might believe they can turn Alek Manoah back into the workhorse starter that he was in 2021 and 2022. Ross Atkins spoke highly about Manoah being part of the team’s rotation in 2024 but it’s difficult to say if that’s nothing more than a standard public relations answer.
Trading for Carlson would be a reclamation project move for the Blue Jays, which feels risky for a team that just watched Daulton Varsho and George Springer go through very disappointing seasons at the plate. That said, given the lack of quality and depth on the free agent market when it comes to outfielders, the best path to improvement for the Blue Jays might involve swapping one reclamation project for another and adding a veteran back-end starter.
Manoah to St. Louis makes sense from their perspective, but what about Toronto’s? Is adding Carlson worth moving on from a pitcher who you named your Opening Day starter just a few months ago? Can they do better?
ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO
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