Still very early days though.lingness to at least listen to offers for superstar first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Goldy is entering the final year of his current contract Jay Bruce Jersey , and even at the highest salary of his career ($14.5 million for next season), would still represent excellent value for money.When Jack looked at Goldy’s trade value, he concluded even just one year was worth “a hitting prospect in the 51-75 range or a pitching prospect in the 26-50 range.” And that estimate did not include an additional piece of value: if the team trades him before Opening Day, his new team will get to extend a Qualifying Offer to Goldschmidt at season end, likely netting them an additional draft pick for 2020. But now, we have the first tangible and specific reports of possible trade partners, rather than vague and generic “We’ll listen to anything” comments. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Atlantic last night:The Cardinals may initially seem a little bit of a surprise, as at firt glance they have a perfectly serviceable first baseman under control, in the shape of Jose Martinez. He batted .305 last year, with an OPS+ of 124, and is not even arbitration-eligible until next year. However, he was defensively poor, even at first, to such an extent that the Cardinals ended up largely moving Martinez to the outfield in the second half. An interesting quote from veteran infield instructor with St. Louis, Jose Oquendo in that piece: “I always say that it’s my belief that when you have Gold Glove-caliber infielders, you have to have a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman.” Paging Mr. Goldschmidt...In Houston, the incumbent is Yuli Gurriel, and much like Martinez http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-tim-tebow-jersey , he was serviceable with the bat, and less so with the glove. Despite being 34, he has similar service time too, mostly because Gurriel did not make his major-league debut until the age of 32. He was overall worth 2.2. bWAR last season, so a likely five-win season from Goldschmidt would represent a nice uptick for the Astros. Not that he has any say in the matter, but I suspect that Goldy might not mind a return to the Lone Star state, having gone to high-school in the Houston area (and being an unsigned draftee for the Dodgers at that point - we dodged a bullet there!), then on to college at Texas State. Both teams are in a contention window. The Astros reached the ALCS this year, before being beaten by the Red Sox. The Cardinals didn’t make the post-season, but posted their 11th consecutive winning season, and at 88 wins, weren’t far out in a very competitive NL Central, so Paul would help them over that. Somewhat related, last week David Schoenfeld of ESPN came up with this trade involving Goldschmidt and the Cardinals: Paul Goldschmidt and Zack Greinke for Luke Weaver, Dakota Hudson and Jose Martinez. “Two potential starting pitchers plus a replacement for Goldschmidt -- and it would allow them some financial flexibility after dumping the $104.5 million left on Greinke’s contract.”So, what do we think? Feel free to brainstom potential trades involving either team. What would be looking for? What seems like a fair exchange? And do we look to tie Greinke into the deal, for that sweet payroll flexibility? John Mozeliak watched how the St. Louis Cardinals were galvanized following a managerial change midway through last season, then made a spirited run toward the playoffs that came up just short.He decided a couple of pieces were all it would take to push the Cardinals over the top.Welcome to St. Louis David Wright Jersey , Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew MillerThe longtime Diamondbacks slugger arrived in one of the marquee trades of the offseason, and one of the top relievers in baseball arrived as a free agent. Together with a returning core that made huge strides under skipper Mike Shildt, the Cardinals believe they have the pieces to contend with the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers in what should be a stacked National League Central.“In the offseason, we feel like we did the things we needed to put a successful club out on the field,” said Mozeliak, the team’s president. “We knew we just couldn’t have a stagnant offseason. We knew we had to make some changes to our club because even though we felt we had a good team last year, we still weren’t good enough.”Goldschmidt got off to a slow start last season but went on a tear in June, and he wound up with the same kind of consistently stellar numbers that he put up with the Diamondbacks.He joins a lineup that includes Marcell Ozuna, Dexter Fowler, Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong, who combined for 76 homers last season. Throw in third baseman Matt Carpenter and the Cardinals have the ability to score plenty of runs with very few swings of the bat.“I’m ready to go. Let’s do this,” said Carpenter, who is moving from first base to clear space for Goldschmidt. “I mean, I’ll play wherever to accommodate that.”The starting rotation took a hit this spring when Carlos Martinez experienced shoulder trouble that could keep him out well into the season. But with Miles Mikolas coming off a breakout year, Jack Flaherty posting huge strikeout numbers and veterans in Michael Wacha and Adam Wainwright, there is enough depth in the starting rotation to keep the Cardinals in games.Miller and the bullpen are expected to take it from there.There are plenty of questions, of course. Will outfielder Dexter Fowler bounce back, especially after a less-than-inspiring spring? Can the young arms live up to the hype? Will the Cardinals continue to respond to Shildt now that he’s in charge for a full season?The season opener is March 28 at Milwaukee.MORE ON DEXFowler is expected to start in right field http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-tim-tebow-jersey , but he might be on a short leash after hitting .180 last season. He dealt with injuries and is finally healthy, but his Grapefruit League numbers hardly reflected it.“We’re clearly committed to Dex,” Shildt said. “He’s in a real good spot.”OTHER REBOUNDSOzuna arrived in St Louis on the heels of back-to-back All-Star selections, but he produced a solid if unspectacular season. He hit .280 with 23 homers and 88 RBIs, but they weren’t near the 37 homers and 124 RBIs he produced in his final season in Miami.FLAHERTY’S ARMOne of the unsung heroes of last year’s run was Flaherty, who struck out 29 percent of opposing batters during his rookie year. The only other rookies to log those kinds of numbers have been Dwight Gooden (1984), Hideo Nomo (1995) and Kerry Wood (1998). Now, can the 23-year-old Flaherty translate those numbers into wins? He was 8-9 with a 3.34 ERA in 28 starts last season.NEW FACESGoldschmidt and Miller are a pretty good place to start. Both will shoulder huge expectations, a byproduct of their track records of success. The 34-year-old Miller was an All-Star two years ago in Cleveland, and he had a 4.24 ERA in 37 appearances last season.“I think with the additions of Paul and Andrew and really thinking about the health of the club as well and the depth we have on the pitching side and our everyday club, we feel like we’re going to be competitive team,” Mozeliak said.ROOKIES TO WATCHKeep an eye on right-hander Dakota Hudson, who was solid in relief last season. The injury to Martinez coupled with Wainwright’s age could give him an opening in the rotation. Otherwise, his solid ability to induce groundballs will continue to play well out of the bullpen.
