Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Pirates are making moves. Do the Cardinals need to make any?

In an effort to spark their team after a recent 6-11 stretch, the Pirates acquired John Buck and Marlon Byrd from the Mets

As if that wasn't enough, the Pirates have been checking in on Justin Morneau as well.

After 20 years without a winning record or playoff berth, the Pirates are definitely "all-in" in their pursuit of a division crown this year.

In the meantime, the Cardinals appear to be standing pat.  John Mozeliak told reporters recently that "trying to get help from the outside is going to be difficult for multiple reasons.  Right now this team is going to have to find a way to do it from within."

There are players out there that have cleared waivers, such as the Nationals Dan Haren, a former Cardinals, who might make sense for the Cards to pursue, but the price appears to be pretty steep.  Adam Kilgore quoted Nationals GM Mike Rizzo as saying it would take a "good package of players to consider moving him."

Considering that the Pirates gave up their #16 and #20 pre-season prospect (per Baseball America), Vic Black and Dilson Herrera, respectively, for Buck and Byrd, a couple of decent, but not great players, Rizzo is probably right to expect more for Haren.

Other than that, there's not much to look at.  Sure, the Nats may have Danny Espinosa on the block, but is he any better than Pete Kozma?

Thus, it appears that things will stay pretty quiet on the trade front for the Cardinals, the players available are either not much of an upgrade or too expensive to pursue and, with the recent strong play of the team (excusing tonight's game), its all the more reason to pass.

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