In response to my post about trade options for shortstop, I learned from league insiders that asking prices are sky high for the players I mentioned, which is why the Cardinals abandoned ship and went the free-agent route.
“We certainly explored the trade market at many levels, trying to see what we could do there,” Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said, when announcing his deal with Jhonny Peralta. “But the acquisition costs seemed very preventative for us to move forward with that.”
Mozeliak has an arsenal of affordable, impressive, young big-league talent, and he eventually turned away from talks with the Rockies about Troy Tulowitzki and Baltimore about J.J. Hardy. This doesn’t mean Sandy Alderson will do the same, but it’s a glimpse into the asking prices and how opposing GMs may be viewing the overall market.
“Offense is at an all-time premium, and shortstop is always a premium position, so you do the math,” one person familiar with the market told me.
