Cardinals' rebuild gives SF Giants great chance to improve their roster

The SF Giants have a number of roster holes they will need to address this offseason. They will likely address these holes through a combination of free agent signing and trades, with the St. Louis Cardinals seeming like a likely trade partner.

Recent reports suggest that St. Louis is looking to rebuild this offseason. Ownership and new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom seem to be aligned on this and are open to paying down the salary of players they trade.

SF Giants have good chance to pluck from Cardinals' roster

Of course, this could mean St. Louis would try to extract more, or better, prospects in exchange for paying down the salary of some of their better trade chips. But president of baseball operations Buster Posey may decide that is worth it especially as the team looks to win now as reflected by his dismissal of manager Bob Melvin after a .500 season.

The Giants have already been connected to starting pitcher Sonny Gray. The veteran starter recently said he would be open to waiving his no-trade clause, so it seems he wants to be dealt somewhere else and San Francisco would make sense as a landing spot given their need for starting pitching.

Gray is set to make $35 million next season which is a little steep for a 36-year-old pitcher coming off a year in which he had a 4.28 ERA. However, if the Cardinals agree to pay some of that down that could be advantageous for the Giants so they have money to make other moves.

There are other players on the Cardinals who would make sense for the Giants, too. Lars Nootbaar is a solid outfielder somewhat in the mold of Mike Yastrzemski who would give the team a better option in right field and would not cost a ton of money.

Maybe the Giants could put together a trade package that would include Carson Whisenhunt and Luis Matos in exchange for Gray and Nootbaar with the stipulation that St. Louis pay some of Gray's salary. This could be a beneficial move for both teams given where they are currently at.

The Giants need to make some moves to shore up the roster this offseason. They often strike out on big free agents so maybe trading with a rebuilding team like the Cardinals is the right route to take in order to improve the roster.

More from Around the Foghorn: