The Cardinals could trade an ace to the Dodgers to shed cash and begin rebuilding

The St. Louis Cardinals missed the playoffs after going 83-79 and will now look to begin a rebuild.

The nature of the rebuild is not yet known, but significant changes are expected and St. Louis will likely say goodbye to some key pieces.

One of those players could be right-hander Sonny Gray, who Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer listed as the Cardinals’ top trade chip this offseason.

Rymer listed the Los Angeles Dodgers as a team the Cardinals could work with to complete a trade.

“No speculation necessary here, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported in September that the Cardinals plan to trade Sonny Gray this winter,” Rymer wrote.

“The only question is what the Cardinals want to accomplish by trading Gray. Maybe they just want to terminate his contract. But if they want talent back too, they’ll probably have to eat up some of it.”

The Dodgers have a deep farm system full of young pitchers, some of whom could be sent back to St. Louis in a possible trade.

Los Angeles has Landon Knack, Kyle Hurt, Michael Grove, Emmet Sheehan and even Bobby Miller, although Miller is unlikely to be moved.

Still, there are options the Cardinals could consider if they want young pitchers to try and speed up the rebuilding process.

It’s obvious that the Cardinals plan to take a step back and focus solely on their young core as they prepare for the future.

But expanding that young core could at least give fans something to get excited about, even in the midst of a rebuild, and Los Angeles could give St. Louis some young pieces to build around.

It will be interesting to see if St. Louis and Los Angeles ultimately decide to make a deal with Gray as the centerpiece.

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