The St. Louis Cardinals have a challenging mission ahead as they attempt to add at least three quality starters to the roster ahead of Opening Day.
Given the Cardinals' middling spending habits, it's likely that they explore the trade market to find at least one of the three hurlers.
While a few teams would be logical trade partners for St. Louis, the Miami Marlins appear to be a perfect offseason pairing.
St. Louis has young, controllable position players on the trade block and the Marlins ranked No. 26 in runs scored last season. Miami has young, controllable starting pitchers and the Cardinals have an aforementioned need to bolster the rotation.
Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter compiled a list of the top 30 trade candidates this offseason and listed Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera as the No. 13 player on the list. He certainly would make a lot of sense for St. Louis.
"Edward Cabrera has some of the best pure stuff of any young pitcher in baseball with an upper 90s fastball, swing-and-miss changeup and hard-breaking curveball that has helped him generate 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings during his time in the majors," Reuter wrote Monday.
"The 25-year-old only allowed 78 hits in 99.2 innings this season with a .215 opponents' batting average, but an untenable 15.2 percent walk rate undermined his elite stuff and left him with roughly league-average production.
"His age, remaining club control and obvious upside thanks to his repertoire makes him an extremely appealing buy-low target for other teams if the Marlins decide to flip a controllable arm for offensive help."
The young fireballer posted a 7-7 record with a 4.24 ERA, 118-to-66 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.44 WHIP in 99 2/3 innings this season.
He posted a 3.01 ERA in 71 2/3 innings across 14 starts in 2022 and could become a legitimate ace if he can control his walk rate.
The Cardinals would be wise to deal for Cabrera and could offer up some mix of outfielders Dylan Carlson, Alec Burleson, Juan Yepez and first baseman Luken Baker -- all of which reportedly could be made available.
St. Louis tried to trade outfielder Tyler O'Neill to the Marlins last winter and could attempt to do so again in this potential move.
However the Cardinals potentially attempt to get this done, adding Cabrera to the rotation alongside a couple of free-agent acquisitions could jumpstart this team and get them back in postseason contention.
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