Wonky Trade Idea I've Seen Floated Out There

[Fountain City Blues]

Royals and Cardinals make a trade:

The Royals receive:

Dexter Fowler (-1.2 fWAR)
Tyler O'Neil

The Cardinals receive:

Alex Gordon (0.8 fWAR)

The St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are currently running out a 2B/RF combination that have an average OPS of 583.5. “Not great, Bob.” They could certainly use some help in the lineup as the Cardinals are growing restless from not making the playoffs in...two years. I wrote an article last weekend detailing how I thought the Cardinals could make sense for a trade with the Royals. While that trade is no longer possible, I still think there are pieces that could certainly help both sides. Whit Merrifield alone could command something along the lines of Ryan Helsley (RHS, Cardinals #4) and Oscar Mercado (OF, Cardinals #8), but there’s a caveat to a trade with the Cardinals that I think both teams should be listening to.

Alex Gordon is owed $20M next season. Dexter Fowler is owed $14.5M for the next three seasons. Fowler and his .555 OPS are killing the Cardinals. Since the Royals don’t figure to be competitive for the next 2-3 season anyway, they ought to try flipping Gordon for Fowler in return for Cardinals top position prospect, Tyler O’Neill. O’Neill is a 22-year old that is destroying AAA right now. With Tommy Pham and Marcell Ozuna (good players) blocking two outfield spots, and Dexter Fowler blocking the other with his awful contract, the Cardinals may actually be willing to move O’Neill to be rid of Fowler’s contract. The Royals would, essentially, be buying Tyler O’Neill from the Cardinals for $20M in payroll over three seasons, something they absolutely ought to consider doing.

Original Article:

A blueprint is already set for one of the Royals most valuable trade pieces


My take is that this looks kind of homerish on the O'Neil side of things, but the Gordon/Fowler swap idea is kind of interesting, though I disagree on the prospect return that would be netted. The basic idea is highly unlikely in reality, but just fun to think about.