Bird Watch: Cardinals Potential Needs

Now this one is a little harder to write, though that's not because the needs for the Cardinals going towards the trade deadline are unclear, it's because they have the prospects to pretty much secure anyone they want. Anyhow the Cardinals are more than likely going to be in the market for positions that pretty much the same as the Orioles and the Jays oddly enough second base and starting pitching in addition to centre field, though that depends on whether they want to move forward with Oscar Taveras and if they are willing to trade him. Now it is also possible they add a few arms to the bullpen however they still have a fair few quality pitchers there and having Motte back means they have another effective pitcher with closer experience in case Rosenthal begins to falter. So basically the situation for their pitching is that both Wacha and Garcia are on the DL at this time leaving them with 2 major holes in their rotation, since both have been serious contributors, however they have filled one of those holes with a potentially permanent solution by having Carlos Martinez start. As well they have Joe Kelly coming back soon, which likely means that Martinez will get sent back to the bullpen. So depending on how the Cardinals approach this situation (ie. do they try to pull in more of their home grown prospects into their rotation) which will determine whether they go for a starting pitcher through the trade deadline. As for who they would get, like I said they have the prospects to get any of the players out on the market currently though given the quality evaluators the Cardinals have I would imagine they would only go after the best, meaning someone like David Price or Cloff Lee/Cole Hamels if they are made available. I don't take Samardzija into account t because I doubt the Cubs would trade him to a team that would be regular competition. On the second base front the Cardinals went into the offseason expecting to hand the job over to their prospect Kolten Wong, however they signed Mark Ellis from the Dodgers as a backup. Unfortunately neither one of them has really run away with the job, which is really why they could be looking for a second baseman going into the trade deadline. Again the Cardinals coule realistically get anyone who is put on the market but if they did they would go for maximum potential return so I would see someone like Ben Zobrist since he is affordable, a quality defender and can be cycled to all sorts of positions on the field. The outfield situation for the Cardinals is not necessarily an unstable one but again it depends in how dedicated they are to their top prospect Oscar Taveras, now given their history with these prospects I don't see them trading him or moving him back to AAA for the rest of the season, so expect to see him running centre field for the rest of the year. Last but not least is the bullpen, like I said there aren't that many holes there for the Cardinals but given that some of their pitchers have faltered here and there they would look for an upgrade. I would expect the Cardinals to likely go after a closer or set up man type in these trades like Joakim Soria of the Rangers or one of the many quality middle relievers from the Rays (ie. Jake McGee, Joel Peralta) or, of they are ok with taking on some extra salary maybe even Jonathon Papelbom. Overall out of these potential outcomes I expect them most likely to get bullpen and starting rotation help, while the idea of upgrading their second base position will be tempting we must remember that they have a highly touted prospect for that position and another signed regular so in the near future that prospect should be taking over. As for the outfield I don't believe thatch Cardinals will do anything negative towards Tavares that would warrant them going out to upgrade centre.