Rival executives view the St. Louis Cardinals as the favorites to land Oakland Athletics Frankie Montas on the trade deadline.
Montas has been available since the season ended, but the A’s held out hoping for a bigger prospect package on deadline. This was a wise move by Oakland, especially with the number of novice shooters injured around baseball.
Look no further than the Cardinals, who have no Jack Flaherty and lack the depth needed to fill that void in the long run.
ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney reports that “competing executives” believe the Montas-Cards bond is very real, and heading in the right direction.
Olney made a good point, as it would be very difficult for the Cardinals to land the likes of Luis Castillo or Tyler Mahley of the Reds given that they are in the same class. However, the old-school way of thinking could go too far if the St. Louis show was strong enough.
Cardinals Rumors: St. Louis Favorite for Frankie Montas?
Now, it’s important to note that “competing CEOs” can have their own bias, and there may be an ax to grind.
for every FanSided MLB Insider Robert Murrayit will still be difficult for St. Louis to get Montas due to a possible return the other way:
Interestingly, however, executive competitors think so. Do they hear anything? Are they just guesswork? we do not know. But I still think that getting Montas is unlikely for the Cardinal because 1) the absorbent asking price and 2) that the Montas market would be very active and the front office usually avoids getting into bidding wars.”
St. Louis made a number of small deals to boost the rotation at Deadline last year, acquiring the likes of John Lester and JA Hub. However, it is easy to see that the needs are more urgent at the moment, especially with Flaherty out for some time.
Montas will fill that need, at least for a moment, but is it worth the prospect?
[ad_2]
