STL Cardinals Rumors: Oscar Mercado should be a sell-high trade asset

The Tyler O'Neill injury taking a turn for the worse in terms of his recovery timeline certainly complicates things for the St. Louis Cardinals as they eye the trade market. There isn't an area in the organization where they are richer in talent than in terms of the outfield depth, but not having O'Neill in the fold for what appears to be an unknown amount of time makes that a little trickier.

Luckily, a sell-high candidate that the Cards could potentially take advantage of might end up being a nice trade chip for the club to work with.

Oscar Mercado, the 28-year-old outfielder who spent hist first four MLB seasons with Cleveland before playing one game with the Phillies last season, was called into action essentially when the realization came about that O'Neill could be out for longer than expected, even before the most recent update.

In the 12 games he's played, though, Mercado has looked quite good. He's posted a .333/.357/.444 slash line while playing solid defense, knocking three doubles and earning fie RBI while also stealing a pair of bases as well.

All of these numbers far exceed what Mercado has been throughout his still-young career. However, if he can even remotely maintain that, he could be a sell-high option for the Cardinals to potentially trade or include in a trade package to acquire a player at a position that is more of a need.

Or, on the flip side, if he keeps this up, perhaps the team would be more inclined to deal a higher-upside asset like Dylan Carlson or Alec Burleson in a deal because they have a replacement on the roster. In any case, though, Mercado seeming to break out does give the Cardinals more options than they seemingly had previously, especially in the wake of the O'Neill injury.

STL Cardinals Rumors: Matthew Liberatore could be hurt by rotation shakeup

In the midst of back-to-back off days for the STL Cardinals, the club is apparently going to use that time to get the starting rotation more so in order. But in doing so, it's going to involve one of the organization's top prospects, 23-year-old southpaw Matthew Liberatore.

Liberatore has appeared in three games this season for the Cardinals, making two starts. In the starts, he had one in which he gave up three hits, three walks and no runs over 5.0 innings against the Brewers but then gave up four runs on five hits and two walks over the same number of innings against the Guardians. He also made a one-inning relief appearance against the Dodgers four days after his first MLB start of the year, giving up two runs off of a walk and a hit.

Even still, the signs that Liberatore was able to shake off an unsightly first partial season in the majors last year are good. But Katie Woo of The Athletic is reporting that the shakeup of the rotation is largely about determining if Liberatore or veteran Steven Matz will be the fifth starter in the rotation.

Matz has struggled overall this season in a big way — and really, that's been the case since he joined the Cardinals — but he recently made a 2.2-inning bullpen appearance, allowing one run and looking much more comfortable. Given that and Liberatore's showings as a starter with an ERA under 4.00 when getting the nod, it should be an easy decision.

For whatever reason, though, Oli Marmol and the St. Louis coaching staff feel like this is a tough decision for them to make in regards to the fifth starter role. But making the wrong decision with Liberatore could be detrimental to the team's No. 4 overall prospect both in terms of confidence and possibly in his development.

The development is the biggest key, though. It's no secret the Cardinals don't have many sure long-term plans for the pitching staff beyond this season and the rotation will likely require some work. So having Liberatore at his most ready for 2024 and beyond should be a focal point. And if they botch this decision and hurt that, it could have effects that last well after the 2023 campaign in an unkind way.

STL Cardinals Rumors: Dylan Cease trade in play if White Sox take offers

Speaking of the long-term outlook for the Cardinals rotation, it's something that St. Louis could potentially — and most likely — address ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline.

Yes, if the Cards hope to continue erasing their early-season struggles and contend to win the NL Central, they will need to improve their starting pitching overall. However, with only Miles Mikolas, Matz and Liberatore with any kind of track record in the majors under contract beyond this season, they also need to try and find an asset that can help them after this year as well.

The good news for St. Louis is that they're already being connected to perhaps the best option on the trade market to do that by The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal: White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease.

At 12 games below .500, it's all but certain that Chicago is going to be selling majorly at the trade deadline. The big question is if they would be willing to part with last season's AL Cy Young runner-up or if that's an untouchable asset for them.

From the Cardinals' perspective, though, if there's an inkling of a chance that they could land the mustachioed hurler, they have to jump on it. Not only has Cease proven that he can pitch at a truly elite level at just 27 years old, but he still has two more club-controlled years of arbitration left before hitting free agency, which would give St. Louis far more flexibility with an ace moving forward.

If that weren't enough, the richness of the Cardinals farm system puts them in arguably as good of a position as any potential trade deadline buyer to have the ammunition to make a move for Dylan Cease. It really seems as if the dominoes are perfectly aligned for the club to make this type of blockbuster move.

Now we'll see if John Mozeliak has the guts to make it happen — assuming that the White Sox will budge on the righty.