The St. Louis Cardinals have emerged as favorites to land Washington Nationals star Juan Soto ahead of Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline.
St. Louis joins two NL West squads in that of the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres as finalists for Soto’s services with less than 24 hours to go before the deadline.
Previously, reports broke that these Cardinals had offered up the most Major League talent for Soto while San Diego was willing to give up more of a prospect-centric package.
According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network, the Cards’ current offer for Soto does not include both young infielder Dylan Carlson and their top prospects. Rather, St. Louis is looking to center different packages around either the infielder or its top prospects.
Talks involving the Cardinals and Nationals have surrounded Carlson to a great extent. As for the top prospects, names such as Jordan Walker (infielder), Matthew Liberatore (pitcher), Ivan Herrera (catcher) and Masyn Winn (shortstop) had been discussed.
It seems as if St. Louis Cardinals president John Mozeliak is either willing to package Carlson with lower-level prospects or complete a trade involving high-level farmhands while avoiding moving off the former top prospect.
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St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres could be bidding for Juan Soto
San Diego’s acquisition of All-Star closer Josh Hader from the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday doesn’t necessarily change the dynamics too much here. None of the prospects San Diego gave up in that deal were going to head a package for Soto.
The Padres have reportedly made star young shortstop C.J. Abrams and young pitcher Adrián Morejón as well as top prospect Robert Hassell III available in trade talks. With Washington looking for a combination of young Major League talent and prospects, San Diego’s offer might be better at this point.
“We’re in conversations with several teams that have real interest in him. We’re going to have to get the deal that we want that gets us an opportunity to become a championship organization faster than not trading him.”
Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo on necessary return for Juan Soto
As for the St. Louis Cardinals, it’s possible that they could be going all in for a Soto trade with mere hours to go before the deadline.
Related: St. Louis Cardinals standing in our most-recent MLB power rankings
In need of pitching, St. Louis missed out on Oakland Athletics ace Frankie Montas. The team was in on Montas before he was dealt to the New York Yankees on Monday.
The Cardinals entered Monday’s action at 54-48 and three games behind Milwaukee in the National League Central. It is currently in wild card standing. However, a lack of moves ahead of Tuesday’s deadline could change the dynamics big time.