Arizona Trades Paul Goldschmidt to Cardinals

The biggest trade so far in the Major League Baseball off-season took place between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the St. Louis Cardinals. Arizona agreed to send superstar first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to St. Louis in exchange for a group of prospects. The general consensus among baseball experts is that the Cardinals got the better of the deal. Only time will tell if that is indeed the case. The prospects will need time to develop. Goldschmidt has made the All-Star team six times in his brilliant career. He has also won four Silver Slugger awards for being the best hitting first baseman in the National League and three Gold Gloves for his defensive excellence.

Goldschmidt had been the face of the Arizona franchise for many years. He was their best and most popular player. It was not a surprise that Arizona traded him away. The team is going into a full rebuild mode. They are doing anything they can to shed payroll. They did try to retain Goldschmidt with a long-term contract at a price that made sense to the team. However, they were unable to come to terms. Therefore, the only alternative was to trade him now and get something in return instead of only getting a draft pick when he leaves. Goldschmidt can become a free agent after the 2019 season.

According to a report Arizonasports.com, the Cardinals had not made the playoffs in the past three years. This did not sit well with the team because they believe they should be contenders every year. They are hungry to be in the playoffs again. This trade gets them one step closer to accomplishing that goal. The Milwaukee Brewers won the National League Central division this year. The Chicago Cubs finished second and will still have a good team going into 2019. Needless to say, the Cardinals have some very stiff competition that they will need to overcome in order to qualify for the playoffs.

Arizona is also shopping around starting pitcher Zack Grienke. However, he is going to be a lot harder to trade than Goldschmidt. Grienke has a limited no-trade clause with 15 teams on it. He is also owed more than $95 million over the next three years. The biggest issue is that many of the teams that could afford his hefty contract are on his list of teams that he cannot be traded to. These include the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Phillies.