With the trade deadline approaching, I thought I’d steal John Sickels’ schtick (Sickelschtick…is that a candy?) a little bit and have a little mid-day conversation starter. You’re the Cardinal GM. You have the Brewers who have built a strong core from within and the Cubs who are willing to spend, spend, spend to contend with. You have an owner who is wanting to stay competitive yet thrifty and a veteran team that has imploded. What moves do you make? What prospects in other systems of potential trade partners are you interested in?
And try to be realistic! This isn’t fantasy baseball!
Future Redbirds 
I’ll recycle this one… Reyes to the M’s for the Balentien kid. Maybe throw in Maroth to guarantee that the M’s at least get a warm body.
Izzy to the Dodgers for Hu and a marginal prospect. Or maybe JuanEnc (to platoon with the oft injured Garrett Anderson) to the Angels for maybe Sean Rodriguez or Rich Thompson. Thompson is a 23 year old Aussie right hander with really good stuff. I would really like Aybar over either of these 2, but you have to be realistic. Russ Springer to the Tigers for Jordan Tata. I wonder if the Phillies would give up an Adrian Cardenas for a package of Izzy and Springer. With Utley and Rollins, the Phillies are set up the middle for years to come. If a team is looking for some right handed pop off the bench, Ludwick might look decent.
Would I be asking to much? With what the Padres got for a marginal reliever in Linebrink, maybe not.
http://www.whiteyball.com
Juan Enc won’t bring in any prospect whose name you’ve heard off. He just doesn’t have any trade value given his contract and skillset.
The other trades seem realistic.
Yeah, but Juan Enc. has been hot of late, so maybe?
http://www.whiteyball.com
Eckstein and/or Encarnacion to NYM for Jon Niese and Fernando Tatis.
How about Izzy to CLE (assuming the no-trade is waived) for Asdrubal Cabrera?
http://firstinning.com/players/Asdrubal-Cabrera-a/
If they don’t want Izzy and Walt/Tony/Dave are staying, then I would consider Reyes for Cabrera as well as I don’t think he’ll ever get a fair shake with the current crew in charge.
Also, Kevin Goldstein over at BP gives Hoffpauir a little love today, ranking him the #9 2B prospect in baseball:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6500
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9. Jarrett Hoffpauir, Cardinals
Age: 24.1
Hitting: .345/.420/.527 at Double-A (61 G); .333/.420/.533 at Triple-A (18 G)
This is the biggest breakout of the bunch. Hoffpauir was a sixth-round pick in 2004, and he always put up impressive numbers in college, but an Eckstein-esque frame and lack of tools prevented him from being seen as an elite pick. His numbers this year are nothing short of fantastic, and all of the peripherals indicate that it just might be for real, including more walks (35) than strikeouts (25) in 263 at-bats. Scouts are impressed with Hoffpauir’s feel for contact, but he’s not just a slap hitter, as he can punish mistakes by driving them into the gaps. Defensively, he’s made just five errors on the season, though his first step is a little slow, and he’s not especially rangy. If the Cardinals go into a full rebuilding mode, the player who was on the verge of oblivion going into the year is suddenly looking like he just might get a chance.
See if Rolen will waive his NTC, and package him with Izzy to L.A. for Betemit, Kemp and Dewitt.
I know nothing about other teams farm systems, but I’ll give it a go.
Izzy – OUT for a blue-chip middle infield prospect (for example Hu) and two young pitchers.
Enc – OUT I have finally been warming up to him, but he’s gone for a low-A to mid-A hurler.
Springer – STAYS I’m a softy and he’s got a great reason to stay in St. Louis.
Eck – OUT He’s a free agent after the season, and if we can get a pitcher with any sort of promise for him, (I would) pull the trigger.
Rolen, Franklin, Edmonds, Reyes – STAY.
Pretty unrealistic but oh well, here we go:
Jason Isringhausen for Carlos Carrasco (hey Linebrink-Inman happened).
Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer for some young Tigers.
Troy Percival for Tyler Clippard or Horne.
Juan Encarnacion for anything, I don’t know who would take him though.
David Eckstein to the Red Sox or Cubs for some decent top 300 prospect.
I don’t really get the Izzy to Dodgers thing, mostly because the Dodgers already have the most dominant 8th and 9th inning combo in the game.
This is what I posted on CT in terms of what I would target using Izzy, who is the only valuable trade chip the Cards have.
I call each team and ask for one of these guys…if they say no…you keep Izzy
My player list…reasonable demands.
Cleveland…Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Dodgers…..Chin-Lung Hu SS
Tigers…….Gorkys Hernandez CF
Yanks……….Austin Jackson OF
Redsox…..Michael Bowden RHP.
Now none of those names I would have thought were realistic and maybe still arent, but I never thought Inman would be traded for a setup guy either.
Whoa…Hoffpauir gettin’ some love? How much you wanna bet they leave him at Memphis next season?
Shhh
Saito has a shoulder thing going on, unsure of the extent and Broxton has struggled in the closer’s role.
http://www.whiteyball.com
Saito is suppose to be ready again by tonight. Broxton has struggled? Well small sample size thing is pretty crazy. In his one blown save since Saito went down he allowed 1 hit, and it wasn’t even an ER for him, while striking out 2 and walking none.
Saito has put up a 2.58 xFIP, while Broxton a 2.86 xFIP this year, which I believe is the best combo xFIP wise in the game.
Pujols, Rolen, Juan Enc, and Adam Kennedy to NYY for Alex Rodriguez, Phillip Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Jose Tabata, & Austin Jackson.
Haha. Just kidding.
Encarnacion to Angels for Erick Aybar.
Carlos, I’m pretty sure the Angels would ban Jocketty’s # if he tried to call and offer that.
Also, just for my 2 unrealistic trades that have no shot at happening (come on I had to do it):
Albert Pujols for Felix Hernandez, Adam Jones, and Jeff Clement
or
Albert Pujols for Justin Upton and Brandon Webb.