St. Louis Cardinals Acquire OF/1B Brandon Moss from Cleveland Indians for SP Rob Kaminsky

The St. Louis Cardinals made a bold move on Thursday morning, dealing a Top 100 prospect, 2013 first-round pick Rob Kaminsky for Cleveland Indians outfielder/first baseman Brandon Moss. The deal was first reported by SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo, then confirmed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Bernie Miklasz, and later the Cardinals, on Thursday.

Though Moss was an All-Star in 2014, it’s quite clear that regression has kicked in during 2015 for the 31-year-old, who didn’t really break out in the first place until his age 28 season with the Oakland Athletics. Through 337 at-bats, Moss is hitting .217 with a .695 OPS, 15 homers and 50 RBI. He also has 106 strikeouts, which is the 10th-highest total in the majors.

The Cardinals will have to hope that his raw power (three straight 20-plus home run seasons coming into 2015) plays well at Busch Stadium, and that he can give some life to an offense that is really struggling to put together runs at the moment. It’s difficult to know exactly where Moss slots into the Cardinals’ daily lineup, as he has some crazy reverse splits (.265/.336/.453 in 117 at-bats against lefthanders, .191/.262/.382 in 220 AB’s against righties) that will likely prevent him from being an effective platoon player.

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Moss could definitely see some time in left field in the absence of Matt Holliday, who is likely out for the season after sustaining another quad injury on Wednesday night, though with rookie Stephen Piscotty‘s initial performance and the organization’s endless expression of faith in him over the past few seasons, it would seem that the 24-year-old would at least get a chance to prove himself as a regular. If that ends up being the case, then Moss is basically a more expensive and high-profile replacement for Dan Johnson, who has been Mark Reynolds‘ occasional platoon partner at first base and the club’s top lefthanded hitter off the bench (a very ineffective one, as he’s gone 0-for-5 with no walks as a pinch-hitter).

Moss’s numbers (.217/.288/.407) make him a virtual wash with Reynolds (.227/.309/.390), so the Cardinals will have to play matchups as best as they can. Both players are hitting better against like-handed pitchers, so a straight platoon won’t be an option, and the Cardinals will have to try to go with batter/pitcher matchups. That may be difficult with Moss, however, as he’s spent the past four seasons in the American League.

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One positive with Moss for the Cardinals is that he’s under club control for another season, as he enters his final year of arbitration in 2016. If the Cardinals choose not to bring back Reynolds, Moss could give the Cards some pop off the bench and an insurance policy at first base in case Matt Adams has further trouble recovering from his torn quad.

Kaminsky is currently listed as the 88th-ranked prospect among MLB.com’s top 100, and is ranked as the 10th-best lefthanded pitching prospect in all of baseball. Despite his undersized 5-foot-11, 191-pound frame, Kaminsky has certainly backed up that ranking during 2015, posting a 2.09 ERA, .228 opponent batting average, and 1.16 WHIP in 17 starts for High-A Palm Beach.

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The trade of Kaminsky leaves 2014 fourth-rounder Austin Gomber, the number 23 prospect, as the only lefty in the lower minors among MLB’s Top 30 Cardinals prospects. Marco Gonzales (5th) and Tim Cooney (11th) are also listed but have already reached the big-league level. The deal obviously shows that the Cardinals have confidence in their young starters, including Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Gonzales, Cooney, and Alex Reyes, to thrive at the major-league level for the next three to five years. With the billion-dollar TV rights deal that the Cardinals announced with Fox Sports Midwest early Thursday, they’re not exactly strapped for cash, either, if they want to go out and add an arm through free agency, though in the recent past the Cardinals have almost exclusively developed their own starting pitchers.

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