Blue Jays: NL teams most likely to call about trade talks

St. Louis Cardinals

The Blue Jays have made quite a few trades in the last 12 months, and several of them have been with the Cardinals. The Blue Jays acquired Randal Grichuk and Aledmys Diaz in separate trades this past offseason, and the Jays brought in another minor league arm in reliever Preston Guilmet just recently as well.

The Cardinals currently sit 4.0 games back of the Brewers in the Central, and sat 1.5 games back of the second Wild Card spot entering play on Friday night. They have a lot of talent on the roster, and they’re starting to get healthier in the rotation as well.

It’s hard to say who might interest the Cardinals the most, and that could obviously change a lot in the next six weeks depending on if their roster can stay healthy. Taking a look at the current roster, they’re hurting a bit by missing Paul DeJong at shortstop, but he should be back sooner than later.

Chances are if the Cardinals are calling, it’ll be for the same reason it was in the offseason, about the availability of Josh Donaldson. They had heavy interest over the winter in upgrading their lineup with the “Bringer of Rain” and his mighty bat, and the price should be considerably smaller given that he would be a rental player, that he’s struggled to produce, and also to stay healthy in 2018.

It would be rather shocking if the Blue Jays didn’t try to trade Donaldson before the non-waiver deadline, and despite being told “no” repeatedly this past offseason, I fully expect the Cardinals to ask again.