How Can We Match Up?

[Talkin' Baseball]

Hopefully the winter meetings will yield some helpful players for the Cardinals. How can we match up to get the most help possible?

Donovan- teams interested; Mariners, Dodgers, Yankees, Royals, Guardians, Tigers, Giants, Phillies?, Astros, Red Sox?, Pirates
Arenado- teams interested; Angels, Diamondbacks, Mariners?, Phillies?, Tigers, Athletics
Contreras- teams interested; Rangers, Padres, Mets, Guardians, Red Sox
Pages- teams interested; Rangers, Rays, Padres
Burleson- teams interested; Rays, Guardians, Red Sox, Padres, Rangers, Royals, Pirates
Nootbaar- teams interested; Royals, Dodgers, Philliies, Guardians, Rays, Pirates
Gorman- teams interested; Athletics?, Angels?, Pirates
Pallante- teams interested; Orioles?, Angels?, Athletics?, Tigers?
Romero- Any contender?
Others who could be included to finish out a deal; Chase Davis, Pete Hansen, Cesar Prieto, Matt Koperniak, and maybe even Ixan Henderson in the right deal.

What you can get, of course, will depend on who you are willing to give up from the list above. These are players that are interesting targets to me from other teams.

Athletics- Cobly Thomas OF, Ken Waldichuck LHP, Round B Comp
Blue Jays- Ricky Tiedemann LHP, Round B Comp
Diamondbacks- Hunter Cantron RHP, Jordan Lawler IF, Round A Comp
Dodgers- River Ryan RHP, Mike Sirota OF, Alex Freeland IF, Bobby Miller RHP
Guardians- Khal Stephen RHP, Patrick Messick LHP, Daniel Espino RHP. Round A Comp
Mariners- Ryan Sloan RHP, Lazaro Montes OF, Round B Comp
Mets- Jonah Tong RHP, Carson Benge OF
Orioles- Colby Mayo, Round A Comp
Padres- Humberto Cruz RHP, Kash Mayfield LHP
Pirates- Jared Jones RHP, Hunter Barco LHP, Round A Comp
Rangers- Alejandro Rosario RHP, Abimelec Ortiz 1B/OF, Yolfran Castillo SS/3B, AJ Russell RHP
Rays- Ty Johnson, TJ Nichols, Round B Comp
Red Sox- Luis Perales RHP, Franklin Arias IF
Royals- Kendry Chourio RHP, Ben Kudrna RHP, Round A Comp
Tigers- Josue Briceno 1B/C, Franyerber Montilla IF, Kelvis Salcedo RHP, Round B Comp
Yankees- Carlos Lagrange RHP, Spencer Jones OF, Ben Hess RHP

Where do you see a match?

[craviduce]

Hopefully the winter meetings will yield some helpful players for the Cardinals. How can we match up to get the most help possible?

Donovan- teams interested; Mariners, Dodgers, Yankees, Royals, Guardians, Tigers, Giants, Phillies?, Astros, Red Sox?, Pirates
Arenado- teams interested; Angels, Diamondbacks, Mariners?, Phillies?, Tigers, Athletics
Contreras- teams interested; Rangers, Padres, Mets, Guardians, Red Sox
Pages- teams interested; Rangers, Rays, Padres
Burleson- teams interested; Rays, Guardians, Red Sox, Padres, Rangers, Royals, Pirates
Nootbaar- teams interested; Royals, Dodgers, Philliies, Guardians, Rays, Pirates
Gorman- teams interested; Athletics?, Angels?, Pirates
Pallante- teams interested; Orioles?, Angels?, Athletics?, Tigers?
Romero- Any contender?
Others who could be included to finish out a deal; Chase Davis, Pete Hansen, Cesar Prieto, Matt Koperniak, and maybe even Ixan Henderson in the right deal.

What you can get, of course, will depend on who you are willing to give up from the list above. These are players that are interesting targets to me from other teams.

Athletics- Cobly Thomas OF, Ken Waldichuck LHP, Round B Comp
Blue Jays- Ricky Tiedemann LHP, Round B Comp
Diamondbacks- Hunter Cantron RHP, Jordan Lawler IF, Round A Comp
Dodgers- River Ryan RHP, Mike Sirota OF, Alex Freeland IF, Bobby Miller RHP
Guardians- Khal Stephen RHP, Patrick Messick LHP, Daniel Espino RHP. Round A Comp
Mariners- Ryan Sloan RHP, Lazaro Montes OF, Round B Comp
Mets- Jonah Tong RHP, Carson Benge OF
Orioles- Colby Mayo, Round A Comp
Padres- Humberto Cruz RHP, Kash Mayfield LHP
Pirates- Jared Jones RHP, Hunter Barco LHP, Round A Comp
Rangers- Alejandro Rosario RHP, Abimelec Ortiz 1B/OF, Yolfran Castillo SS/3B, AJ Russell RHP
Rays- Ty Johnson, TJ Nichols, Round B Comp
Red Sox- Luis Perales RHP, Franklin Arias IF
Royals- Kendry Chourio RHP, Ben Kudrna RHP, Round A Comp
Tigers- Josue Briceno 1B/C, Franyerber Montilla IF, Kelvis Salcedo RHP, Round B Comp
Yankees- Carlos Lagrange RHP, Spencer Jones OF, Ben Hess RHP

Where do you see a match?

I'd forego Tong for Benge....I'm salivating at the prospects of 6 years of Benge and Wetherholt in the same lineup.

Pipe Dream...I know. I would kick in something a little extra with Donovan for Benge....maybe a Peoria LHP, lord knows we have 90 of them. I wouldn't miss any of them...not 1 bit. Maybe a little regret with Davis, but that's if he can get the PC down each inning.

[rockondlouie]

If any of those teams really are interested in Pallante, then please ship him off ASAP C. Bloom!

And all signs keep pointing to the M's being the best match for Donny (and JoJo too).

[craviduce]

If any of those teams really are interested in Pallante, then please ship him off ASAP C. Bloom!

someone has to pitch in 2026. He'll give you near 150 innings, Rock. You'll have to put the playoff hopes on hold for 1 more season.

[TraveledLessRoad]

I'd add in Noah Cameron from the Royals. He seems attainable. I think i'm higher on him than most. I don't think he misses a ton of bats. I'd defer to Duce on all of that, though

[Ace]

Pretty good list here overall, I'll give you a pass on the 4 player misspellings I see so far.

Players here I don't think will be attainable: Ricky Tiedemann, Jared Jones, Spencer Jones, Josue Briceno.
Players unlikely to be traded but possible: Lazaro Montes, Hunter Barco, Khal Stephen, Colby Thomas, Ryan Sloan, Coby Mayo

We need pitching primarily, secondary target is OFs. These are the listed teams I'd be most interested in deals with:

Athletics - Colby Thomas, Gage Jump, Henry Bolte, Mason Barnett.
Guardians - Khal Stephen, Jace LaViolette, Braylon Doughty, Parker Messick
Mariners - Montes & Sloan are probably the only two that would make sense.
Padres - Cruz/Mayfield would be good targets.
Pirates - Hunter Barco could be in play in the right deal.
Rays - Johnson and Nichols are both names Cardinals would be interested in, Rays aren't quick to trade these types though. Santiago Suarez too.
Yankees - Lagrange or Hess

Don't see as much of a fit for Dodgers, D backs, Blue Jays, Tigers, Orioles, Royals or Red Sox.


Proposals:

1) Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar & Jojo Romero to Seattle for Montes and Sloan.
This would give Seattle 3 win now players at a reasonable price for their payroll. They have an excellent 1-5 SPs and have Kade Anderson next man up, they can afford to offer up Sloan.

2) Jimmy Crooks, Nathan Church & Pete Hansen to Rays for Suarez & Nichols.
Rays have no catching.

3) Nolan Gorman & Chen Wei Lin to Pirates for Hunter Barco.


Updated top 20 prospects:

Wetherholt
Montes
Doyle
Sloan
Rodriguez
Barco
Josh Baez
Bernal
Mathews
Clarke
Suarez
Hence
Padilla
Nichols
Roby
Hjerpe
Franklin
Jesus Baez
Henderson
Mitchell

Loaded. It's fun to dream right?

[craviduce]

Pretty good list here overall, I'll give you a pass on the 4 player misspellings I see so far.

Players here I don't think will be attainable: Ricky Tiedemann, Jared Jones, Spencer Jones, Josue Briceno.
Players unlikely to be traded but possible: Lazaro Montes, Hunter Barco, Khal Stephen, Colby Thomas, Ryan Sloan, Coby Mayo

We need pitching primarily, secondary target is OFs. These are the listed teams I'd be most interested in deals with:

Athletics - Colby Thomas, Gage Jump, Henry Bolte, Mason Barnett.
Guardians - Khal Stephen, Jace LaViolette, Braylon Doughty, Parker Messick
Mariners - Montes & Sloan are probably the only two that would make sense.
Padres - Cruz/Mayfield would be good targets.
Pirates - Hunter Barco could be in play in the right deal.
Rays - Johnson and Nichols are both names Cardinals would be interested in, Rays aren't quick to trade these types though. Santiago Suarez too.
Yankees - Lagrange or Hess

Don't see as much of a fit for Dodgers, D backs, Blue Jays, Tigers, Orioles, Royals or Red Sox.


Proposals:

1) Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar & Jojo Romero to Seattle for Montes and Sloan.
This would give Seattle 3 win now players at a reasonable price for their payroll. They have an excellent 1-5 SPs and have Kade Anderson next man up, they can afford to offer up Sloan.

2) Jimmy Crooks, Nathan Church & Pete Hansen to Rays for Suarez & Nichols.
Rays have no catching.

3) Nolan Gorman & Chen Wei Lin to Pirates for Hunter Barco.


Updated top 20 prospects:

Wetherholt
Montes
Doyle
Sloan
Rodriguez
Barco
Josh Baez
Bernal
Mathews
Clarke
Suarez
Hence
Padilla
Nichols
Roby
Hjerpe
Franklin
Jesus Baez
Henderson
Mitchell

Loaded. It's fun to dream right?

that's a #1 Farm System...with plenty of cartridges to reload. Very, Very healthy system. I dream that dream all the time. That's the type of system I want. A perpetual reload system.

We have get better at drafting top to bottom, though. Need a few more "hits" from 5th-20th round.

Edit ~ we might lose Hansen to R5 draft this week...so you may need a replacement in that trade, unless the trade happens tomorrow. If it must be a LHP, there's Molina, Davis, Findlay, etc....all about a year or two behind Hansen, but with better prospect status.

[rockondlouie]

If any of those teams really are interested in Pallante, then please ship him off ASAP C. Bloom!

someone has to pitch in 2026. He'll give you near 150 innings, Rock. You'll have to put the playoff hopes on hold for 1 more season.

Pass duce

I'm sick of Pallante.

[craviduce]

If any of those teams really are interested in Pallante, then please ship him off ASAP C. Bloom!

someone has to pitch in 2026. He'll give you near 150 innings, Rock. You'll have to put the playoff hopes on hold for 1 more season.

Pass duce

I'm sick of Pallante.

you know the consequences of having a rotation of too many under 100 innings starters, yes? You will ruin and injure many BP pieces. That's inexcusable. In a year where we're rebuilding...keep an extra bottle of maalox on the nightside table, Rock. It's only 1 year.

[mattmitchl44]

I'd add in Noah Cameron from the Royals. He seems attainable. I think i'm higher on him than most. I don't think he misses a ton of bats. I'd defer to Duce on all of that, though

Not for Donovan, but maybe for Contreras or some package.

[rockondlouie]

If any of those teams really are interested in Pallante, then please ship him off ASAP C. Bloom!

someone has to pitch in 2026. He'll give you near 150 innings, Rock. You'll have to put the playoff hopes on hold for 1 more season.

Pass duce

I'm sick of Pallante.

you know the consequences of having a rotation of too many under 100 innings starters, yes? You will ruin and injure many BP pieces. That's inexcusable. In a year where we're rebuilding...keep an extra bottle of maalox on the nightside table, Rock. It's only 1 year.

I think C. Bloom is going to bring in an innings eating #4/5 either via trade or free agency.

But you're likely right, we're stuck w/Pallante for one more year.

[Talkin' Baseball]

If any of those teams really are interested in Pallante, then please ship him off ASAP C. Bloom!

someone has to pitch in 2026. He'll give you near 150 innings, Rock. You'll have to put the playoff hopes on hold for 1 more season.

Pass duce

I'm sick of Pallante.

you know the consequences of having a rotation of too many under 100 innings starters, yes? You will ruin and injure many BP pieces. That's inexcusable. In a year where we're rebuilding...keep an extra bottle of maalox on the nightside table, Rock. It's only 1 year.

Hopefully if they can move Gray and Arenado, and Contreras they will bring in 2-3 veterans to fill out the rotation for the first part of the year to ease the innings crunch you are talking about. The problem with keeping Pallante is, they will want to use him. Ugh.

[Talkin' Baseball]

Hopefully the winter meetings will yield some helpful players for the Cardinals. How can we match up to get the most help possible?

Donovan- teams interested; Mariners, Dodgers, Yankees, Royals, Guardians, Tigers, Giants, Phillies?, Astros, Red Sox?, Pirates
Arenado- teams interested; Angels, Diamondbacks, Mariners?, Phillies?, Tigers, Athletics
Contreras- teams interested; Rangers, Padres, Mets, Guardians, Red Sox
Pages- teams interested; Rangers, Rays, Padres
Burleson- teams interested; Rays, Guardians, Red Sox, Padres, Rangers, Royals, Pirates
Nootbaar- teams interested; Royals, Dodgers, Philliies, Guardians, Rays, Pirates
Gorman- teams interested; Athletics?, Angels?, Pirates
Pallante- teams interested; Orioles?, Angels?, Athletics?, Tigers?
Romero- Any contender?
Others who could be included to finish out a deal; Chase Davis, Pete Hansen, Cesar Prieto, Matt Koperniak, and maybe even Ixan Henderson in the right deal.

What you can get, of course, will depend on who you are willing to give up from the list above. These are players that are interesting targets to me from other teams.

Athletics- Cobly Thomas OF, Ken Waldichuck LHP, Round B Comp
Blue Jays- Ricky Tiedemann LHP, Round B Comp
Diamondbacks- Hunter Cantron RHP, Jordan Lawler IF, Round A Comp
Dodgers- River Ryan RHP, Mike Sirota OF, Alex Freeland IF, Bobby Miller RHP
Guardians- Khal Stephen RHP, Patrick Messick LHP, Daniel Espino RHP. Round A Comp
Mariners- Ryan Sloan RHP, Lazaro Montes OF, Round B Comp
Mets- Jonah Tong RHP, Carson Benge OF
Orioles- Colby Mayo, Round A Comp
Padres- Humberto Cruz RHP, Kash Mayfield LHP
Pirates- Jared Jones RHP, Hunter Barco LHP, Round A Comp
Rangers- Alejandro Rosario RHP, Abimelec Ortiz 1B/OF, Yolfran Castillo SS/3B, AJ Russell RHP
Rays- Ty Johnson, TJ Nichols, Round B Comp
Red Sox- Luis Perales RHP, Franklin Arias IF
Royals- Kendry Chourio RHP, Ben Kudrna RHP, Round A Comp
Tigers- Josue Briceno 1B/C, Franyerber Montilla IF, Kelvis Salcedo RHP, Round B Comp
Yankees- Carlos Lagrange RHP, Spencer Jones OF, Ben Hess RHP

Where do you see a match?

I'd forego Tong for Benge....I'm salivating at the prospects of 6 years of Benge and Wetherholt in the same lineup.

Pipe Dream...I know. I would kick in something a little extra with Donovan for Benge....maybe a Peoria LHP, lord knows we have 90 of them. I wouldn't miss any of them...not 1 bit. Maybe a little regret with Davis, but that's if he can get the PC down each inning.

Benge watching?

[Talkin' Baseball]

Pretty good list here overall, I'll give you a pass on the 4 player misspellings I see so far.

Players here I don't think will be attainable: Ricky Tiedemann, Jared Jones, Spencer Jones, Josue Briceno.
Players unlikely to be traded but possible: Lazaro Montes, Hunter Barco, Khal Stephen, Colby Thomas, Ryan Sloan, Coby Mayo

We need pitching primarily, secondary target is OFs. These are the listed teams I'd be most interested in deals with:

Athletics - Colby Thomas, Gage Jump, Henry Bolte, Mason Barnett.
Guardians - Khal Stephen, Jace LaViolette, Braylon Doughty, Parker Messick
Mariners - Montes & Sloan are probably the only two that would make sense.
Padres - Cruz/Mayfield would be good targets.
Pirates - Hunter Barco could be in play in the right deal.
Rays - Johnson and Nichols are both names Cardinals would be interested in, Rays aren't quick to trade these types though. Santiago Suarez too.
Yankees - Lagrange or Hess

Don't see as much of a fit for Dodgers, D backs, Blue Jays, Tigers, Orioles, Royals or Red Sox.


Proposals:

1) Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar & Jojo Romero to Seattle for Montes and Sloan.
This would give Seattle 3 win now players at a reasonable price for their payroll. They have an excellent 1-5 SPs and have Kade Anderson next man up, they can afford to offer up Sloan.

2) Jimmy Crooks, Nathan Church & Pete Hansen to Rays for Suarez & Nichols.
Rays have no catching.

3) Nolan Gorman & Chen Wei Lin to Pirates for Hunter Barco.


Updated top 20 prospects:

Wetherholt
Montes
Doyle
Sloan
Rodriguez
Barco
Josh Baez
Bernal
Mathews
Clarke
Suarez
Hence
Padilla
Nichols
Roby
Hjerpe
Franklin
Jesus Baez
Henderson
Mitchell

Loaded. It's fun to dream right?

I hear what you are saying about the Rays and their pitching prospects, but Johnson is ranked as their #19 prospect, Nichols #20. There are 4 pitching prospects ranked higher than them. I started off before the season liking Suarez best as a target, but he missed a good portion of the season with shoulder issues and shoulders scare me. I like Johnson better than Nichols because he has better strikeout stuff. He struck out 12.2 per nine innings last season. I would be willing to trade Crooks or Pages for Johnson and someone else.

[craviduce]

Looking at the Rays farm...a bunch of 40-45 FVs...more than the Cards, who I thought had a lot...I was wrong. Though, we do have more than we've had in a long time.

Anyways...the Rays draft philosophy...draft HS kids....coach/develop them up, raise their FVs to 45, plug them into the MLB roster.

I think I counted 4, maybe 5 college kids in their Top 30 prospect list . And honestly, I wouldn't want any of them. Maybe twist my arm for Summerhill or Morgan...but the lack of power from both....meh. I lost interest in Summerhill throughout the collegiate year in 2025, I don't think I can rekindle that interest now. He's too big to not hit for power, but he manages to not hit for power. His BB/K rate are GREAT, don't get me wrong...but we can do better there.

The pitchers and their proximity to the majors that Ace pointed out...I wouldn't mind those.

[zuck698]

Pretty good list here overall, I'll give you a pass on the 4 player misspellings I see so far.

Players here I don't think will be attainable: Ricky Tiedemann, Jared Jones, Spencer Jones, Josue Briceno.
Players unlikely to be traded but possible: Lazaro Montes, Hunter Barco, Khal Stephen, Colby Thomas, Ryan Sloan, Coby Mayo

We need pitching primarily, secondary target is OFs. These are the listed teams I'd be most interested in deals with:

Athletics - Colby Thomas, Gage Jump, Henry Bolte, Mason Barnett.
Guardians - Khal Stephen, Jace LaViolette, Braylon Doughty, Parker Messick
Mariners - Montes & Sloan are probably the only two that would make sense.
Padres - Cruz/Mayfield would be good targets.
Pirates - Hunter Barco could be in play in the right deal.
Rays - Johnson and Nichols are both names Cardinals would be interested in, Rays aren't quick to trade these types though. Santiago Suarez too.
Yankees - Lagrange or Hess

Don't see as much of a fit for Dodgers, D backs, Blue Jays, Tigers, Orioles, Royals or Red Sox.


Proposals:

1) Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar & Jojo Romero to Seattle for Montes and Sloan.
This would give Seattle 3 win now players at a reasonable price for their payroll. They have an excellent 1-5 SPs and have Kade Anderson next man up, they can afford to offer up Sloan.

2) Jimmy Crooks, Nathan Church & Pete Hansen to Rays for Suarez & Nichols.
Rays have no catching.

3) Nolan Gorman & Chen Wei Lin to Pirates for Hunter Barco.


Updated top 20 prospects:

Wetherholt
Montes
Doyle
Sloan
Rodriguez
Barco
Josh Baez
Bernal
Mathews
Clarke
Suarez
Hence
Padilla
Nichols
Roby
Hjerpe
Franklin
Jesus Baez
Henderson
Mitchell

Loaded. It's fun to dream right?

Give me number 3 Ace but with a caveat. Insert someone other than Lin. In my mind, while young, he is someone I would hate to give up on so early. I think he will have a chance to dominate with continued development. Barco has already had his TJ out of the way, so that is a plus. He responded great after the surgery. Let us corner the market on power throwing Lefty's. Love it. But try to sell them on Gorman's "unlimited power" and replace Lin with Mautz. Mautz is further along in his development and we are talking about Pirates management, so....