What Does the Dodgers and Red Sox Trade Mean for the Cardinals?

The Cardinals are in a Wild Card race and their lead seems to be dwindling quickly at this point, and recently there has been a new team that has joined in the race, the Los Angeles Dodgers.  After acquiring Hanley Ramirez earlier in the season, they have put together a lineup that includes names like Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez, and Andre Ethier along with a rotation that now includes Clayton Kershaw and Josh Beckett.  This is a team that if nothing else, has more than enough names and star power to make one hell of a splash down the stretch and into October.  For the Cardinals who are already barely clinging to whatever lead they have after the Pirates series, another, super powered foe in the Wild Card race is nothing to ignore.  The Dodgers and the Cardinals will play four more games this season against each other in Los Angeles, and it will be a perfect opportunity for one of these teams to separate themselves from the other teams in the race.  

For this trade, there is a bigger situation to monitor as well.  The new situation where there are two different wild card spots means that there will be even more competition between the divisions for a playoff berth.  Another powerhouse in the National League will only mean more competition for the Cardinals, and the Dodgers will have a scary lineup with Carl Crawford in addition to the names listed above.  With this kind of lineup and what seems to be a bottomless pit of money, the Dodgers just became a team that will contend for the playoffs and a wild card spot at least for the foreseeable future.

For every trade, there are also two sides, and this is where the bigger issue could come into play for the Cardinals.  While the monster that is the Dodgers seems to be satiated for the moment, there is now an awakening of the sleeping giant that was the Boston Red Sox.  Next to the Yankees, the Red Sox are a team that has shown it is willing to outspend any team out there whether that be in free agency, with trades for other teams’ stars, or whatever other means they can use to assemble talent.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals, this means that the prices for free agents and locking up their own talent will increase at an even steeper rate than it is already.

There is one situation in particular that I will be particularly interested in watching.  The one area where the Red Sox have been most deficient in this season has been their starting pitching.  They traded Josh Beckett away and will be looking for a proven pitcher who could headline their rotation as they make the next run towards the playoffs.  That is where the Cardinals come in.  After next season, Adam Wainwright will become a free agent.  Although the beginning of the season was a little rough for the right hander right only a year or so after Tommy John surgery, but he has shown again and again lately that he belongs in the discussion of the top pitchers in the National League.  He would be the perfect pitcher for the Red Sox to target, and therein lays the issue for the Cardinals.  What would they have to pay to keep Wainwright in their rotation in the future?  Could it cost them 20 million a year like pitchers such as Hamels or Cain have gotten this season?  Would the Cardinals even be able or willing to pay this price, or will they move forward hoping that Shelby Miller could be the ace of the future and be willing to roll the dice on the present?  It is going to be interesting to see what comes of this offseason and beyond and that is after the Cardinals try to work through the Dodgers for a playoff spot.