The St. Louis Cardinals are in Washington this weekend to face the Nationals, which is convenient for them given the trade talks surrounding outfielder Juan Soto.
To that point, I find this report to be mildly concerning:
The baseball ops part is, on its own, notable, since they don’t necessarily have to travel with the team during trade season. They can obviously conduct business from afar, so the primary reason to be there in Washington right now is in the hopes that some face-to-face discussions will be necessary.
And that’s the concerning part: Bill DeWitt Jr., the Cardinals owner is there with the team. That is definitely notable, and is not typical. There’s really only one conceivable reason he’d be there, and it’s in case there are financial discussions attached to the negotiations. But even then, why would he need to be physically present … unless there was a CHANCE there were going to be face-to-face meetings with the Nationals, Scott Boras, and maybe even Juan Soto at the highest levels?
That’s absolutely what it is. I have zero doubt.
Now, to be clear, that doesn’t mean a trade is going to happen. And it certainly doesn’t mean an extension is going to happen if a trade goes down. It just means the Cardinals are covering their bases in case it gets to that point. Which means they think it’s plausibly going to get to that point.
So.
Hustle up, Padres? Unless they’ve already pivoted to Shohei Ohtani …