Hey Mozeliak!! Time to Shop, the Redbirds are Buyers

  The St. Louis Cardinals were supposed to flop.  Almost every sportswriter in America expected  my Redbirds to literally drop out of the sky two years removed from a World Series Championship.  Well, the Cards are still flying, although dangerously low to the ground. The finds of Todd Wellemeyer (SP), Kyle Lohse (SP), Kyle McClellan (RP), Ryan Ludwick (OF), and Rick Ankiel (CF) just aren't going to be enough to pull the Cardinals into October ahead of stocked Cub and Brewer teams.  The only real constant on the Cardinals is of course Albert Pujols (1B), and while his supporting cast has provided plenty of homers the team is lacking in two major places.  Pitching and lead-off consistency.  Skip Schumacher (OF) has developed a  knack of  suffering against southpaws and aside from Todd Wellemeyer and Kyle Lohse the rotation consists of former reliever Bredan Looper, reclamation project Joel Piniero, now useless Mark Mulder (he was injured again Tuesday maybe for the last time), and various minor leaguers (most recently top prospect Jaime Garcia).  No matter what happens it will be hard to compete with the Brewers and Cubs both trading for top-line starters.

    What the Cardinals really need for their offense is speed, and their lead-off spot would greatly benefit from a player like Willy Taveras (OF Colorado Rockies).  While Colorado's season isn't neccassarily lost in the weak NL West, they could really begin to retool for next season and free up some minimal cap space by dealing Taveras.  The Cardinals have a young, talented offensive catcher in Bryan Anderson (AAA Memphis) who has no path to the bigs with the Cardinals Yadier Molina, a.k.a. The Best Defensive Catcher in Baseball, blocking the plate.  Anderson (A Futures Game Veteran), paired with a young fireballer like Relief Pitcher Jason Motte (Memphis), would make a nice package for the Rockies and allow them to trade off Yorvit Torrealba to a team like Florida.  Thus in turn, the Cardinals could receive a true speed threat in Taveras that they haven't had since Tony Womack.  This wouldn't hurt either team financially since Taveras is making 1.975 million and the other two minor league money.

  To survive in the playoff race it is common knowledge that you have to have quality pitching.  Currently, the Cardinals starters are hanging on by a thread and the Bullpen has been nothing short of dreadful.  Jason Isringhausen and co. have turned into the team's weakest link coming out of the bullpen after being projected as a strength.  Injuries to lefty relievers have left the Cards vulnerable to big hitters in the NL Central and Kyle McClellan and Ryan Franklin are the only consistent righties.  Damaso Marte (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Brian Fuentes (Colorado Rockies) would make good lefty solutions while righties Joe Borowski (Cleveland Indians) or Huston Street(Oakland Athletics) could provide a temporary closer fix. But you can't completely blame your bullpen when a game is over before the 6th inning.  That's where starting pitching enters the picture.  The Cardinals rotation has lost two former all stars in Mulder and Chris Carpenter ('05 NL Cy Young) and is in desperate need of a #1 or #2 starter.  In a perfect world the Cards would make a run at Erik Bedard (Seattle Mariners) but his high salary could be a deciding factor.  Still, who knows, the Cards need to keep up with the acquisitions of Rich Harden (Chicago Cubs) and C.C. Sabathia (Milwaukee Brewers) to stay in the race.  Some more probable solutions would be lefties Oliver Perez (NY Mets) or Randy Wolf (San Diego Padres).  These guys could quickly shore up a lefty starved staff. Possible prospects in any of these trades could be versatile, power hitting outfielders Joe Mather or Nick Stavinoha of AAA Memphis.  Others could be Bryan Anderson and Jason Motte from earlier or young, raw but talented Starters Adam Ottavino (AA Springfield), Mike Parisi (AAA Memphis), or Mitchell Boggs (AAA Memphis) with the latter two already with MLB experience. 

  For the first time in years the NL Central appears to be the NL powerhouse division.  If the St. Louis Cardinals want to have a prayer they need to make some adjustments.  But just because adjustments are needed that doesn't mean they should compensate their top prospects.  Young players like Colby Rasmus (CF AAA Memphis), Jaime Garcia (SP AAA Memphis), or Chris Perez (RP Cardinals)shouldn't be moved no matter the deal.  In the long run these players will be much more important to the team's future.  Yet still, now is the time for the St. Louis Cardinals to be buyers at the trade deadline.