Cardinals Insider Predicts Top Prospect Could Be Traded at Deadline

Updated: Sep 10, 5:00pm UTC

The St. Louis Cardinals have a lot to be proud of in the first half of the 2022 MLB season. A 43-35 record has them trailing the Milwaukee Brewers by only 1.5 games for the NL Central lead, opening up the door for the Cardinals to be buyers ahead of this year's trade deadline.

Being buyers means that the Cardinals might have to part with one of their top prospects if it means landing a bigger name. As per The Athletic, team insider Katie Woo thinks that outfielder Alec Burleson is the prospect that the Cardinals are most likely to part ways with.

Cardinals Trade Rumors

Though Woo sees Burleson as being close to MLB-ready, she says that an "outfield populated by Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader and Dylan Carlson" makes it tough for the prospect to crack the lineup. The best thing for St. Louis to do is to capitalize on Burleson's value instead of wasting him away.

The 23-year-old has done his best to prove that he's too good for Triple-A this season. Through 64 games with the Memphis Redbirds, Burleson has already racked up 16 home runs and 58 RBIs while slashing .341/.387/.584. Those stats alone are enough to get other teams interested.

The power-hitter has spent most of his season in leftfield, where he has a .978 fielding percentage with two errors. He's also played some innings in rightfield and at first base in previous seasons. That sort of versatility only adds to his value.

It's understandable if some Cardinals fans don't want to see a top prospect like Burleson leave. However, it's the price to pay if the club wants to solidify itself as a potential World Series contender.

Cardinals World Series Odds

The type of return that the Cardinals could get for Burleson might be enough to put them on the path to championship success. St. Louis currently has +2800 odds (No. 9) to win the 2022 World Series, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.