According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the St. Louis Cardinals have acquired left-handed pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore and minor league catcher Eduardo Rodriguez (per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic) from the Tampa Bay Rays for outfielders Jose Martinez and Randy Arozarena.
Both teams swapped compensatory picks in this year’s draft, as well. Tampa will receive a Compensation A pick (between first and second rounds) and St. Louis will receive a Compensation B pick (between second and third).
Liberatore, 20, was the Rays’ first-round draft pick (16th overall; Mountain Ridge High School, Glendale, AZ) in the 2018 MLB draft. Heading into 2019, Baseball America had the young southpaw pegged as their 58th-ranked prospect (MLB Pipeline had him at no. 55).
Following Liberatore’s solid campaign for Single-A Bowling Green last season (3.10 ERA, 76 strikeouts, 31 walks, 1.29 WHIP over 16 appearances; 15 starts, 78.1 innings), BA moved him up to no. 31 and MLB currently has him ranked as their 41st-ranked prospect.
The Arizona product’s fastball, curve, and changeup have all been ranked as MLB-caliber pitches (60-grades across the board, per Baseball America).
Martinez, 31, hit .269/.340/.410 with 10 homers and 42 RBIs over 128 games for St. Louis in 2019 (101 wRC+) with -9 defensive runs saved and -11.1 ultimate zone rating per 150 games in the outfield, per FanGraphs.
Arozarena, 24, made his MLB debut for the Cardinals last season, slashing .300/.391/.500 over 23 plate appearances late in the season (.358/.435/.593 over 283 plate appearances with Triple-A Louisville), playing capably in both center field and the corner spots.
Adding major-league reinforcements to their talented but thin outfield should help Tampa — winners of 96 games in 2019, losing the ALDS in five games to Houston — keep pace with the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Hunter Renfroe (22 DRS, 13.1 UZR/150, +6 OAA) and Kevin Kiermaier (13 DRS, 9.8 UZR/150, +17 OAA) are outstanding fielders. Austin Meadows is solid in left field (2 DRS, 13.9 UZR/150; -2 OAA overall), but the added depth acquired on Thursday is a definite plus.
And the Cardinals now have one of the game’s most promising young arms developing in their system. Everybody wins. Maybe.
