Cardinals Depth At This 1 Position Might Help Provide Trade Deadline Leverage

The St. Louis Cardinals are 7-8 and playing better than critics predicted before the season started, which leads many to wonder how they'll approach this summer's trade deadline.

The Cardinals are supposed to be amid an organizational reset but with their red-hot offense among the league's best and St. Louis sitting only 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the National League Central, this year's team could shockingly make the playoffs.

It's too early to predict whether the Cardinals will buy or sell at the July 31st trade deadline. However, if they look like genuine postseason contenders as midsummer approaches, St. Louis might have the leverage to land significant upgrades derived from one particular position.

Three-time All-Star Willson Contreras was moved to first base this season in hopes of creating a lane for Iván Herrera and Pedro Pagés to become the Cardinals' franchise catcher. While both youngsters battle it out for the job, St. Louis has a plethora of minor league backstops to choose from as trade chips for this summer, such as No. 4, No. 7, No. 8 and No. 18 Cardinals top prospects Jimmy Crooks, Leonadro Bernal, Rainiel Rodriguez and Ryan Campos, as well as 2024 sixth-round draft pick Josh Kross.

Crooks has batted .290 with 86 extra-base hits including 28 home runs, 154 RBIs and a .846 OPS throughout his four-year career in the Cardinals' farm system -- this year being his first playing for Triple-A Memphis.

Between Crooks and Bernal, the Cardinals felt confident enough with their minor league catching depth to move Contreras to first base for 2025. Both young backstops have shown immense potential and could be used as trade leverage this summer if St. Louis looks to bolster its big-league roster.

Rodriguez (18 years old), Campos and Kross (both 22 years old) are amid their second professional seasons and have much left to prove. Given how challenging it is for teams to develop long-lasting franchise catchers and that the Cardinals already seem to have one in either Herrera or Pagés, it might be wise for St. Louis to trade from their long line of young backstops this summer.

If the Cardinals are positioned to make a run for the postseason shortly before the trade deadline, they could use a boost to their pitching staff -- plucking from their catcher's position depth could help provide St. Louis with leverage to land what they want/need.