Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay

[mattmitchl44]

That's interesting. I agree we need to move Gray, Arenado and Contreras but the problem with "MLB ready prospects" is if they were MLB ready they would already be in MLB. Caglianone is an example of that. 6th pick in the first round. Tearing up minor league pitching. If pitchers were allowed to bat they would have hit better than he did when they called him up. If we trade Donovan for prospects is had better be for more than one because we aren't going to get a prospect who can fill Donovan's shoes in 2026. If we are abandoning all hope of competing in 2026 then trade Donovan but get multiple good prospects in return.

Donovan might be the only one of those who could a significant return.

Not necessarily.

Wetherholt is a "ML-ready" prospect. He's going to go to ST with every expectation that he'll be ready to break camp with the ML team on Opening Day.

Doyle may be an "ML-ready" prospect for ST 2027.

Now it is up to Bloom and Co. to do their homework and figure out which Doyle-like or Wetherholt-like prospect from some other team has a high ceiling that they will ready and is ML-ready, and then get them for Donovan.

Would you trade Wetherholt for Arenado? Gray? Contreras?

Donovan is the asset you trade for a "Liam Doyle-like" prospect, high ceiling and maybe in the majors at the end of 2026 ST 2027. Add pieces like Romero if you have to.

[ScotchMIrish]

That's interesting. I agree we need to move Gray, Arenado and Contreras but the problem with "MLB ready prospects" is if they were MLB ready they would already be in MLB. Caglianone is an example of that. 6th pick in the first round. Tearing up minor league pitching. If pitchers were allowed to bat they would have hit better than he did when they called him up. If we trade Donovan for prospects is had better be for more than one because we aren't going to get a prospect who can fill Donovan's shoes in 2026. If we are abandoning all hope of competing in 2026 then trade Donovan but get multiple good prospects in return.

Donovan might be the only one of those who could a significant return.

Not necessarily.

Wetherholt is a "ML-ready" prospect. He's going to go to ST with every expectation that he'll be ready to break camp with the ML team on Opening Day.

Doyle may be an "ML-ready" prospect for ST 2027.

Now it is up to Bloom and Co. to do their homework and figure out which Doyle-like or Wetherholt-like prospect from some other team has a high ceiling that they will ready and is ML-ready, and then get them for Donovan.

Would you trade Wetherholt for Arenado? Gray? Contreras?

Donovan is the asset you trade for a "Liam Doyle-like" prospect, high ceiling and maybe in the majors at the end of 2026 ST 2027. Add pieces like Romero if you have to.

We shall see. What we won't get is an immediate replacement at Donovan level at his position.

[Melville]

That's interesting. I agree we need to move Gray, Arenado and Contreras but the problem with "MLB ready prospects" is if they were MLB ready they would already be in MLB. Caglianone is an example of that. 6th pick in the first round. Tearing up minor league pitching. If pitchers were allowed to bat they would have hit better than he did when they called him up. If we trade Donovan for prospects is had better be for more than one because we aren't going to get a prospect who can fill Donovan's shoes in 2026. If we are abandoning all hope of competing in 2026 then trade Donovan but get multiple good prospects in return.

Donovan might be the only one of those who could a significant return.

Not necessarily.

Wetherholt is a "ML-ready" prospect. He's going to go to ST with every expectation that he'll be ready to break camp with the ML team on Opening Day.

Doyle may be an "ML-ready" prospect for ST 2027.

Now it is up to Bloom and Co. to do their homework and figure out which Doyle-like or Wetherholt-like prospect from some other team has a high ceiling that they will ready and is ML-ready, and then get them for Donovan.

Would you trade Wetherholt for Arenado? Gray? Contreras?

Donovan is the asset you trade for a "Liam Doyle-like" prospect, high ceiling and maybe in the majors at the end of 2026 ST 2027. Add pieces like Romero if you have to.

We shall see. What we won't get is an immediate replacement at Donovan level at his position.

That would be Wetherholt.
At least, that will be Bloom's calculation if he does move Donovan.

[CorneliusWolfe]

That's interesting. I agree we need to move Gray, Arenado and Contreras but the problem with "MLB ready prospects" is if they were MLB ready they would already be in MLB. Caglianone is an example of that. 6th pick in the first round. Tearing up minor league pitching. If pitchers were allowed to bat they would have hit better than he did when they called him up. If we trade Donovan for prospects is had better be for more than one because we aren't going to get a prospect who can fill Donovan's shoes in 2026. If we are abandoning all hope of competing in 2026 then trade Donovan but get multiple good prospects in return.

Donovan might be the only one of those who could a significant return.

Not necessarily.

Wetherholt is a "ML-ready" prospect. He's going to go to ST with every expectation that he'll be ready to break camp with the ML team on Opening Day.

Doyle may be an "ML-ready" prospect for ST 2027.

Now it is up to Bloom and Co. to do their homework and figure out which Doyle-like or Wetherholt-like prospect from some other team has a high ceiling that they will ready and is ML-ready, and then get them for Donovan.

Would you trade Wetherholt for Arenado? Gray? Contreras?

Donovan is the asset you trade for a "Liam Doyle-like" prospect, high ceiling and maybe in the majors at the end of 2026 ST 2027. Add pieces like Romero if you have to.

Why is Brendan Donovan, a solid player, but not a perennial all-star, worth someone’s recent top 5 draft pick at this point? I could see if the prospect has shown to be injury prone or shown some other major red flags.

[CorneliusWolfe]

That’s an MLB executive’s job to figure out, not mine. All I can do is spitball and guess same as you because we do not know who is available, only GMs really know.

But I’ll play along - Donovan, another lesser roster player (Noot/Burleson?) and a mid level prospect for Noah Cameron - you don’t have to keep ALL prospects. Keep Sonny Gray and sign a reliable veteran on a short term deal and if Doyle shines, maybe flip the vet at the deadline and promote Doyle. We could easily have a solid rotation. Definitely better than the last several years. Of course someone will whine the Dodgers will have better so we should do nothing. But I don’t recall you being one of those guys.

Noah Cameron isn't some established, "transformational" player. He's basically a prospect, and not necessarily even a front-of-rotation SP prospect. He had a 2.99 ERA last year, but only a 4.18 FIP backed by a substandard 7.42 K/9. He basically had the same year in 2025 as Matt Liberatore (by the peripherals), and at the same age (Liberatore is actually a few months younger).

Cameron - 138.1 IP, 7.42 K/9, 2.80 BB/9, 1.17 HR/9, 4.18 FIP, 1.8 fWAR (topped out as an FV 50 prospect)
Liberatore - 151.2 IP, 7.24 K/9, 2.37 BB/9, 1.13 HR/9, 4.03 FIP, 1.8 fWAR (topped out as an FV 50 prospect)

If the Cardinals trade just Donovan for Cameron and don't get more with him, I'd be underwhelmed.

Outfield - Bader and/or Yastrzemski, as stopgaps IF no UNDER 30 player trades can be made, which I would find hard to believe there is absolutely no one available. If there is, trade anyone in the minors except JJW, Doyle, Baez and Raniel.

1 or 2 year contract patches.

And don’t rule out Tucker if teams back away from his initial asking price, which they might. He’s not too old to build around. Not all players fall apart at 30.

If everybody else is backing away, especially the teams with really deep pockets, the Cardinals should be too. And Tucker fell apart in the 2nd half of 2025 already. Buyer beware.

Again, I was spitballing for your exercise. You’re asking me to give you an answer knowing I’m not privy to the insider knowledge of an MLB executive.

And I, like many others, still don’t believe KC would even give us Cameron for Donovan straight up. You overvalue Donovan.

And you’re the one who suggested patches. What patches do you see? You don’t because you only have eyes for new toy prospects to dream about. You are BDW’s dream of sheep fans that embrace the cheap route and don’t care about winning.

[mattmitchl44]

That’s an MLB executive’s job to figure out, not mine. All I can do is spitball and guess same as you because we do not know who is available, only GMs really know.

But I’ll play along - Donovan, another lesser roster player (Noot/Burleson?) and a mid level prospect for Noah Cameron - you don’t have to keep ALL prospects. Keep Sonny Gray and sign a reliable veteran on a short term deal and if Doyle shines, maybe flip the vet at the deadline and promote Doyle. We could easily have a solid rotation. Definitely better than the last several years. Of course someone will whine the Dodgers will have better so we should do nothing. But I don’t recall you being one of those guys.

Noah Cameron isn't some established, "transformational" player. He's basically a prospect, and not necessarily even a front-of-rotation SP prospect. He had a 2.99 ERA last year, but only a 4.18 FIP backed by a substandard 7.42 K/9. He basically had the same year in 2025 as Matt Liberatore (by the peripherals), and at the same age (Liberatore is actually a few months younger).

Cameron - 138.1 IP, 7.42 K/9, 2.80 BB/9, 1.17 HR/9, 4.18 FIP, 1.8 fWAR (topped out as an FV 50 prospect)
Liberatore - 151.2 IP, 7.24 K/9, 2.37 BB/9, 1.13 HR/9, 4.03 FIP, 1.8 fWAR (topped out as an FV 50 prospect)

If the Cardinals trade just Donovan for Cameron and don't get more with him, I'd be underwhelmed.

Outfield - Bader and/or Yastrzemski, as stopgaps IF no UNDER 30 player trades can be made, which I would find hard to believe there is absolutely no one available. If there is, trade anyone in the minors except JJW, Doyle, Baez and Raniel.

1 or 2 year contract patches.

And don’t rule out Tucker if teams back away from his initial asking price, which they might. He’s not too old to build around. Not all players fall apart at 30.

If everybody else is backing away, especially the teams with really deep pockets, the Cardinals should be too. And Tucker fell apart in the 2nd half of 2025 already. Buyer beware.

Again, I was spitballing for your exercise. You’re asking me to give you an answer knowing I’m not privy to the insider knowledge of an MLB executive.

And I, like many others, still don’t believe KC would even give us Cameron for Donovan straight up. You overvalue Donovan.

And you’re the one who suggested patches. What patches do you see? You don’t because you only have eyes for new toy prospects to dream about. You are BDW’s dream of sheep fans that embrace the cheap route and don’t care about winning.

Maybe, but if multiple teams are interested in Donovan, I'm looking for a SP prospect with at least #2 SP upside that should get the majors by 2027.

Bader and/or Yaztrzemski are short term patches. But that's fine, that fits with the kind of short term signings I'd expect for now.

[Goldfan]

The St. Louis Cardinals….Most WS wins in NL

Hope they can become the TB Rays

Stop with this madness

If the idiots who were running the Cardinals hadn’t destroyed a once great organization and fan base the Cardinals would still be on top of MLB
The team could be competitive at 180mil payroll
So stop with the “hopes” of becoming the RAYS. Be the St. Louis Cardinals…..the blueprint should be archived somewhere. Hire smart baseball men
And spend some money on the right players. This isn’t hard.

[mattmitchl44]

That's interesting. I agree we need to move Gray, Arenado and Contreras but the problem with "MLB ready prospects" is if they were MLB ready they would already be in MLB. Caglianone is an example of that. 6th pick in the first round. Tearing up minor league pitching. If pitchers were allowed to bat they would have hit better than he did when they called him up. If we trade Donovan for prospects is had better be for more than one because we aren't going to get a prospect who can fill Donovan's shoes in 2026. If we are abandoning all hope of competing in 2026 then trade Donovan but get multiple good prospects in return.

Donovan might be the only one of those who could a significant return.

Not necessarily.

Wetherholt is a "ML-ready" prospect. He's going to go to ST with every expectation that he'll be ready to break camp with the ML team on Opening Day.

Doyle may be an "ML-ready" prospect for ST 2027.

Now it is up to Bloom and Co. to do their homework and figure out which Doyle-like or Wetherholt-like prospect from some other team has a high ceiling that they will ready and is ML-ready, and then get them for Donovan.

Would you trade Wetherholt for Arenado? Gray? Contreras?

Donovan is the asset you trade for a "Liam Doyle-like" prospect, high ceiling and maybe in the majors at the end of 2026 ST 2027. Add pieces like Romero if you have to.

We shall see. What we won't get is an immediate replacement at Donovan level at his position.

And that's fine.

[mattmitchl44]

And I, like many others, still don’t believe KC would even give us Cameron for Donovan straight up. You overvalue Donovan.

FWIW - Baseball Trade Values has Donovan at 32.1 vs. Cameron at 19.7.

[CorneliusWolfe]

That’s an MLB executive’s job to figure out, not mine. All I can do is spitball and guess same as you because we do not know who is available, only GMs really know.

But I’ll play along - Donovan, another lesser roster player (Noot/Burleson?) and a mid level prospect for Noah Cameron - you don’t have to keep ALL prospects. Keep Sonny Gray and sign a reliable veteran on a short term deal and if Doyle shines, maybe flip the vet at the deadline and promote Doyle. We could easily have a solid rotation. Definitely better than the last several years. Of course someone will whine the Dodgers will have better so we should do nothing. But I don’t recall you being one of those guys.

Noah Cameron isn't some established, "transformational" player. He's basically a prospect, and not necessarily even a front-of-rotation SP prospect. He had a 2.99 ERA last year, but only a 4.18 FIP backed by a substandard 7.42 K/9. He basically had the same year in 2025 as Matt Liberatore (by the peripherals), and at the same age (Liberatore is actually a few months younger).

Cameron - 138.1 IP, 7.42 K/9, 2.80 BB/9, 1.17 HR/9, 4.18 FIP, 1.8 fWAR (topped out as an FV 50 prospect)
Liberatore - 151.2 IP, 7.24 K/9, 2.37 BB/9, 1.13 HR/9, 4.03 FIP, 1.8 fWAR (topped out as an FV 50 prospect)

If the Cardinals trade just Donovan for Cameron and don't get more with him, I'd be underwhelmed.

Outfield - Bader and/or Yastrzemski, as stopgaps IF no UNDER 30 player trades can be made, which I would find hard to believe there is absolutely no one available. If there is, trade anyone in the minors except JJW, Doyle, Baez and Raniel.

1 or 2 year contract patches.

And don’t rule out Tucker if teams back away from his initial asking price, which they might. He’s not too old to build around. Not all players fall apart at 30.

If everybody else is backing away, especially the teams with really deep pockets, the Cardinals should be too. And Tucker fell apart in the 2nd half of 2025 already. Buyer beware.

Again, I was spitballing for your exercise. You’re asking me to give you an answer knowing I’m not privy to the insider knowledge of an MLB executive.

And I, like many others, still don’t believe KC would even give us Cameron for Donovan straight up. You overvalue Donovan.

And you’re the one who suggested patches. What patches do you see? You don’t because you only have eyes for new toy prospects to dream about. You are BDW’s dream of sheep fans that embrace the cheap route and don’t care about winning.

Maybe, but if multiple teams are interested in Donovan, I'm looking for a SP prospect with at least #2 SP upside that should get the majors by 2027.

Bader and/or Yaztrzemski are short term patches. But that's fine, that fits with the kind of short term signings I'd expect for now.

I suspect there are deals to made for something better but at least those type of moves help if nothing materializes. Shouldn’t stop them from trying though.

We’re not asking for the moon or want to trade top end prospects, but having a payroll under a $100 million and selling hope in a bunch of minor leaguers is insulting and guarantees our graduates walk into a [shirt] show. It’s just unprofessional to not make an honest effort to win.

[CorneliusWolfe]

And I, like many others, still don’t believe KC would even give us Cameron for Donovan straight up. You overvalue Donovan.

FWIW - Baseball Trade Values has Donovan at 32.1 vs. Cameron at 19.7.

Interesting. And surprising considering he only has two years of control, but good to hear nonetheless. Maybe we should just keep the guy and extend him. Then we can trade JJW for Skenes LOL