St. Louis Cardinals Trade Deadline Preview

Yadier Molina is the best catcher in the game of baseball. His brothers Jose and Bengie established the family craft of catching and Yadier has turned out to be the best in baseball. He has earned the last eight Gold Gloves at catcher in the National League. When he started out the season, with a .341/.426/.457 batting line, the Cardinals must have been thrilled that their catcher could provide so much production out of such a physically demanding position.

It would seem that the Cardinals are leaning a bit too heavily on Molina. Sunday night, he is starting for the 52nd time out of 57 games. Coming into Sunday, Molina was mired in a four for 55 slump. His May batting line plummeted to .212/.288/.293. Back-up Eric Fryer has just 27 at-bats on the season. The team has to start giving Molina more of a breather. He is 33 years old, catching at least 128 games in six of the past seven seasons.    It seems clear the physical demands of the position are taking their toll.

Who could  the Cardinals acquire to give them the confidence to give Molina more of a rest this summer?

One player they could acquire which likely wouldn’t cost much in terms of prospects would be A.J. Pierzynski, whom the Atlanta Braves would surely be willing to relinquish. Pierzynski played in St. Louis in 2014 after his release from the Boston Red Sox, seeing action down the stretch and in the 2014 National League Championship Series.  He is making $3M this season.

Minnesota Twins’ catcher  Kurt Suzuki might be another option to consider, though he is making $6M this season and has a vesting option for next season, that the Cardinals would not be too eager to pick up.   However, the vesting option would likely not happen since he has to attain 485 plate appearances for that to kick in.

What is more likely is that the Cardinals will seek to bolster their bullpen for the stretch run. Who might be an option to consider?

Next: Bullpen Help