Cardinals Will 'Listen To Offers' For These Four Homegrown Sluggers

The Cardinals need to clear up the outfield mess

Scott Neville | May 8, 2023

Cardinals Will 'Listen To Offers' For These Four Homegrown Sluggers /

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals need to improve their pitching staff in order to turn around their season after one of the worst starts in franchise history.

While the recent move to get Willson Contreras away from pitching calling duties will help, it's clear that St. Louis will need to look at external options to improve the group.

The Cardinals reportedly have a few trade chips in mind as they seek a deal for starting pitching.

"The Cardinals will listen to offers for outfielders Tyler O’Neill (injured list), Dylan Carlson, Alec Burleson and Juan Yepez (recalled last week and is hitting .294 with one homer in 17 at-bats), but so far no team has knocked down the door with a starting pitcher deal that moved the needle," The Athletic's Jim Bowden wrote Monday.

With the deadline months away, the Cardinals might have to wait for one of these sluggers to heat up in order to attract a trade partner. Yepez is swinging a hot bat but only has played in five games this season. The other three are underperforming and one of them -- O'Neill -- isn't even healthy.

Teams could be attracted to the potential of some of the aforementioned sluggers -- especially since all have multiple years of team control remaining. But, a combination of this grouping will not be traded for a frontline starter.

The Cardinals likely would have to package whomever they choose on the big league side from this grouping and add some enticing prospects to swing a trade for an impactful pitcher.

St. Louis being willing to part ways with these players to make changes to the pitching staff makes sense but you need to give up good players to get them and none of the four mentioned are worth much at the moment.

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Published May 8, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu