Trading Lars Nootbaar is one of the St. Louis Cardinals' predicted moves at the trade deadline. According to Tim Britton of The Athletic, if it were not for the bilateral heel surgery in the offseason, Nootbaar would already have been traded elsewhere.
Over the offseason, Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom made a series of trades that sent away four veteran players in favor of rebuilding the farm. That philosophy is not lost as the trade deadline approaches, with the Cardinals sitting on the outside of the playoffs if the season ended today.
Nootbaar missed significant time to start the season and, since returning in early June, he has been an above-average hitter in the Cardinals lineup. He has one more season of arbitration remaining, and with Joshua Baez knocking on the door of a major league opportunity, Nootbaar’s time in St. Louis looks like it is slowly coming to a close.
Trading Nootbaar at the deadline might allow the Cardinals to maximize his value and prey on the desperation of contending teams looking for a left-handed outfield bat. Still, if Nootbaar is moved, ready or not, should Baez be the call?
Here is the issue with Baez: he is in the bottom 10% of minor league hitters in strikeout rate, whiff rate, chase rate, and strike-zone contact rate. The league-leading home run numbers are great and are promising for the future as the Cardinals go on a power outage. The contact rate in the zone and chase rate are worrisome; he's only 23 years old and has time to grow. But is throwing him into the everyday lineup at the big league level the best move for his development?
Do not get it twisted; the power would solve a major concern in the Cardinals lineup, but against minor league pitching, the whiff numbers are scary. If the Cardinals are serious about the development of their prospects and fixing mistakes of the past, holding on to Nootbaar or if trading him is the right call, making a different move rather than calling up Baez to the major leagues.
Baez has a whole lot of promise down the road, and if he can balance out the swing and miss, his power is already good enough for the majors. If trading Nootbaar is not a necessary move for the Cardinals at the deadline, then they could hold off until the winter, with the uncertainty of his replacement.