11:53am: It seems St. Louis is still not fully zeroed in on Ozuna — or, at least, not just Ozuna. In addition to some pitchers to whom the club has been tied previously, the Cards still seem to have some possible interest in Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, Rosenthal tweets.
And Bob Nightengale tweets the team is “optimistic” of scoring at least one significant hitter with the possibility of another. He also cites Longoria and adds Blue Jays Josh Donaldson as a player who is “in play” for St. Louis, though certainly most indications to date have been that Toronto has little interest in trading him.
11:22am: The Cardinals and Marlins are “making progress” on a deal that would send outfielder Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). These organizations have been tied in chatter of one kind or another for much of the offseason.
We heard yesterday that the Cards were the favorites to land Ozuna. As of that time, though, there were multiple other suitors reportedly still involved and the Cardinals were also eyeing fellow Miami outfielder Christian Yelich.
It is still unclear just how things might come together, but there are quite a number of possible ways the sides could line up. The Cardinals have a host of young outfielders, potentially offering Miami a direct replacement with greater future contract control, along with the sort of youthful pitching that the Marlins covet.
As for Ozuna, he’d be the major stick the Cardinals have sought all winter. While he’s not at the level of former teammate Giancarlo Stanton, he did post an excellent .312/.376/.548 slash with 37 long balls in 2017. And Ozuna is also much friendlier to the checkbook, as he’s projected to earn $10.9MM in his second-to-last season of arbitration eligibility. That relatively light payroll hit might leave the Cards with capacity to make some other impact additions via free agency.
Wish Marlins the best that they get best value for their assets and turn this franchise around sooner than later.
Not while Jeter is attending Monday Night Football games instead of being at the Winter Meetings.
Let’s get the deal finished so we can move on to our other needs!
I’m hoping Mo doesn’t consider the offense fixed with Ozuna, would like to see a corner infield upgrade as well.
Have a lot of trouble seeing it happen, but hoping for a monster Archer-Longo-Colome trade. Just not the way Mo operates, but would significantly improve the Cardinals.
Longo isn’t much of an upgrade at this point
He’s not much more than Carp. Definately not enough of an upgrade to warrant the prospect haul.
I also like Gyorko better than Longoria at 3B. If your going to pay a lot for a 3B man than I would choose mike moustakas. Probably similar salaries and also a younger player with giving up a draft pick rather than prospects
Doesn’t seem like Abreu is going to be on the table, so what else are the options? Donaldson, Cozart or Longoria? They could get Machado but won’t extend him, so that’s a non-starter.
After listening to Shapiro talk on MLB Network last night, he seems to want to compete and said Donaldson won’t be traded unless it makes the 2018 team better. He’s not moving most likely until they start losing and trade off short term assets.
Well we don’t KNOW they wouldn’t be able to extend him. They could have a 72 hour window to try and if not, no deal. 10 year 350, opt out after 5, although unlikely, it’s not out-of-this-world crazy. Scary that the yanks are circling the waters already.
Here’s to hoping Mozeliak pull off several unusually drastic (for Mo anyway) moves to right the ship. Can’t keep signing and trading for “has potential, washed-up” type players like in years past.
What would be next? Colome and maybe Archer? A Donaldson trade if he is available? Or even a Mike Moustakas signing to play 3B?
I would like to see them sign Moustakas, and trade for Colome, but I don’t want them to give up to many prospects
Better be names better than Bader and Alcantra being discussed! Ozuna for Reyes or Flaherty and Gomber should be minimal request from Miami, along with the old OF Martinez.
Reyes isnt going anywhere. I thought I heard that it was Sandy Alacantra and Jack Flaherty for Ozuna.
Can’t imagine they’re going to move both pitchers for Ozuna. Save one for Colome. Plus, gotta move those OF pieces.
Reyes isn’t going anywhere.
Homer alert
I didn’t know there were Marlins homers.
for the cardinals sake I hope they take Chen off the marlins hands to give up less in prospects. Not to mention him bouncing back gives them a solid arm in their rotation
Even if Chen pitched descent, I don’t think he is worth his contract. If they want to take on money from Miami I would rather take Ziegler
Take both and save the prospects for another move. They’re going to need all the arms they can get. That rotation has big upside but it’s going to be fragile.
how can they give less in prospects than already being mentioned?
Progress???? President of Cardinals Baseball operation, John Mozeliak’s favorite word. That means he can’t get any top elite trades or acquisitions from any teams with elite players! Nothing seems to have changed. Still more time. But…….. Mozeliak’s poor track record in upgrading the Cardinals over the past 4-5 years is extremely frustrating to all Cardinal fans. Please let Michael Girsch have full control. Mozeliakcan go dive in the dumpsters with all of his low hanging fruit as for as I’m concerned. All talk….Then a barrage of excuses why the Cardinals couldn’t get a top tiered player. News Flash! It’s not that the Cardinals couldn’t get them Mozeliak. It’s you!!!!!
It sucks that your gm won’t mortgage your teams future away
Your definition of sense is different than mine.
These Redbirds fans thinks money grows on trees
nobody wants to play for matheny either. some of the team quit on matheny last year. hopefully the rest of them will this year
You can’t go around giving away money and trading your entire farm, the Cardinals usually make smart moves and do not overpay. They also did try to spend big with heyward and price
it was just an appeasement by the front office. the smart moves came with jocketty
No
It’s not smart when you blow your entire budget and farm on washed up players when the Angels did in 2011
This honestly doesn’t make sense without another deal ready to go. We have 12 corner outfielders at the moment. If anything it might give us less trade value out of Grichuk and Piscotty as now other teams know we have to move them.
I feel bad for Marlins fans right about now
Why? Only one team wins the WS. The rest just entertain. I got sick and tired of watching Stanton whiff in every crucial situation – Ozuna is the better player.
My hemorrhoid is making progress too but doesn’t mean it’s going anywhere.
Lmao, hemi not going anywhere
Go Mo go!
Looks like the Cardinals absolutely robbed the Marlins. Ozuna for Alcantara and some FV45s? W-O’-W!!! So the Cardinals can now turn their attention to Colome/Longo right? You won’t rob the Rays like you did the Marlins though. How about Colome/Longo for Kelly/O’Neill/Grichuk (plus or minus some back-end pieces)?
If smart cards will not trade Kelly