San Francisco Giants: Building a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals

San Francisco Giants Trade Proposal #2

To Cardinals: LHP Will Smith
To Giants: OF Dylan Carlson, 3B Elehuris Montero

Alex Reyes could be the marquee piece of a Will Smith trade as well.

However, a package of Dylan Carlson and Elehuris Montero would also be an attractive offer.

St. Louis Cardinals fans might be suffering from some sticker shock looking at this offer, but go take a peek at Smith’s FanGraphs page. He will be the best reliever traded since Aroldis Chapman was sent to the Chicago Cubs in 2016.

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Remember, the Cubs gave up a top-40 prospect in Gleyber Torres on top of another organizational top prospect in Billy McKinney and another piece. It will likely take at least one top-75 prospect to land Smith, and the market for his services is going to be competitive.

Nolan Gorman is likely untouchable and with Yadier Molina heading down the homestretch of his career, presumptive replacement Andrew Knizner will be off-limits as well.

That leaves Dylan Carlson as the headliner in a Smith deal.

The switch-hitting corner outfielder has taken well to Double-A. At just 20 years old, he’s hitting .280/.363/.493 with 10 home runs. He profiles as a fringey right fielder at Oracle Park but has the skills to be very good defensively in left field.

While Carlson has pushed his way onto a number of Top 100 lists, other teams will likely have better top-billed prospects in their offers. If that’s the case, the Cardinals will have to dig another prospect out of their already thin system at the moderate (45/45+) prospect level.

Elehuris Montero is another 20-year-old who has already reached Double-A, but his season hasn’t gone quite as well. He is currently on the injured list, and when he was active, he only managed a .219/.265/.417 line.

Montero profiles as a bat-first corner infielder with potential to hit for both average and power. A poor approach at the plate has allowed more advanced pitchers to take advantage of him, and he will now need to make the necessary adjustments.

If the Cardinals choose to be aggressive at the deadline they are going to have to get creative. And if they are going to match up with the San Francisco Giants as trade partners, the ultimate deals could like something like what has been proposed here.