The Cardinals may be headed into sell mode at the trade deadline, but not every name on the roster carries the same kind of weight.
After St. Louis rallied past the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, the bigger picture still points toward a club that will listen on plenty of players.
Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Riley O'Brien and Ryne Stanek are among the obvious possibilities, and Lars Nootbaar has even been mentioned as a potential trade chip. But one of the more surprising names to surface is Alec Burleson.
Will Leitch of MLB.com listed the first baseman and Silver Slugger as someone who could be moved, and there are real reasons the Cardinals might at least hear teams out. Burleson could bring back a strong return after earning Silver Slugger honors last season, and St.
Louis does have a surplus of left-handed bats. Moving one or two of them could also create room at first base for someone else.
There’s another layer to that roster puzzle, too. If first base ends up being Ivan Herrera’s long-term home, the Cardinals could also ease the congestion behind the plate and open a path for Leonardo Bernal to get a look on the big league roster.
Still, the case against trading Burleson is just as strong. He’s popular in the clubhouse, has grown into a leader for the younger players and remains an important part of the lineup.
Taking him out of the offense would hurt St. Louis in the short term.
Burleson also fits the idea of a Cardinals rebuild better than most. He looks like a true building block, someone the organization can lean on as part of the future instead of turning into another movable piece. Even if the return could be sizable, it may not be the kind of deal that helps the club in the long run.
That’s why the safer path might be the simplest one: treat Burleson like one of the core pieces going forward. He’s become a fan favorite, and moving him would almost certainly not go over well with the fanbase.
As things stand, he looks like part of the long-term plan, and St. Louis may be better off keeping it that way.
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