Over the weekend, a VEBer had a bold suggestion: trade whatever is required for Chris Archer and Manny Machado (even if substantial overpays are required), be really good in 2018, use an ample free agent budget to patch holes as they arise in the near future, and trust in the Cardinals’ lauded player development system to rebuild the farm by the time a new generation of players was needed. After an initial knee-jerk “no way” reaction, I wondered if this was actually a decent idea. At the very least, I wanted to try to map out this path with some rigor instead of just dismissing it out of hand — it’s a great thought experiment if nothing else.
What if the Cardinals went all-in with trades?
