Thoughts On Getting Jason Heyward

Today, the St. Louis Cardinals made a trade for Jason Heyward and Jordan Walden from the Atlanta Braves for Shelby Miller and the 22 year old prospect Tyrell Jenkins. I will be talking about the pros and cons of this trade from my perspective, and what I think will result now because of the trade. To start off, the Cardinals obviously had to make a move after the tragic loss of Oscar Taveras. It is hard to do so from a personal level, but from a business perspective it had to be done. There were not many big free agents on the market this year. A few I can remember are Melky Cabrera and Corey Hart that  I thought the Cardinals at least had a chance to sign this offseason. I truly myself am pleased with the pickup of Heyward.

             Jason Heyward is twenty five years old and came into the league in 2010, finishing as the runner up to the rookie of the year. Heyward is a two time gold glove winner with a cannon of an arm. Heyward is a very solid hitter and has proven he can hit for power when he hit twenty seven home runs 2012. Heyward has a combination of power, speed, and fielding that any opposing team that is smart will not take lightly. Those are all pros of Heyward being selected for the trade.

            Now the cons of the trade.  Jason Heyward a few years back got hit in the face by a pitch which broke his jaw and it appears he has not been the same since the injury. His home runs and runs batted in have decreased by a pretty decent amount last season looking back at his three healthy seasons. Heyward also has a terrible time hitting against lefties and that is a big contributor to his decreased numbers this year. Heyward has one year on his contract left and the Cardinals will have the chance to sign him if they would like after the season. 

            Now I will be speaking on my behalf on what I think about the trade. The trade has opened up my eyes for various reasons. The Cardinals obviously needed another bat in the lineup due to the inconsistencies that we saw all throughout the 2014 season and more importantly after the loss of Oscar Taveras. Jason Heyward in my opinion is a rental for the 2015 season. If you think the Cardinals will sign Heyward after this upcoming season you need to start thinking about it harder. It is a losing situation for the Cardinals except if we win the world series with him. Jason Heyward would not sign a contract right now due to the fact that he has had the worst season of his career, which would mean less money for him. Say Heyward has an amazing season and helps lead the Cardinals to the playoffs, that would mean next offseason he will want around 15-18 million a year and the Cardinals will not do that. If Heyward has a bad season that would be even worse because then we would have no shot at a title and we will  not sign him. Overall, like I said, I think he is a rental for the season and it was very much needed. My only comments on Jordan Walden is that I am glad to have him in our bullpen to make this bullpen even better. To end my blog I would like to say I am okay with Miller getting traded. I was getting sick of his five inning games with 100 plus pitches. Shelby Miller is a very stubborn guy who is just now reaching his prime that needs to still develop his pitches. Thank you for reading and if you have comments mention my main Twitter @A__Mahmood.