The St. Louis Cardinals have a pretty steep wish list before Thursday's MLB non-waiver trade deadline and the clock is ticking as the red birds look to land either Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher David Price or Boston Red Sox starter Jon Lester.
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CBS Sports reports that the Cardinals, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers, are a front-runner to land either of the two southpaws should the AL East bottom-dwellers decide to make a trade.
Lester appears the most likely of the two to be traded as the last place Red Sox (48-59) scratched him from his scheduled start Wednesday against the Toronto Blue Jays, possibly in preparation of dealing him and to make sure he doesn't get hurt should a deal come to fruition.
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The fourth place Rays (53-54) have been on a roll lately and remain seven games out in the AL East and 4.5 games out of a wild-card spot due to their recent surge. Tampa Bay getting back in the race could sway them not to deal Price, but CBS Sports reported that the team remains "talking and willing" to deal the franchise southpaw.
The Cardinals and Dodgers have been in on Price for weeks, and it seems like St. Louis is determined as the team is reportedly looking to deal top hitting prospect Oscar Taveras and starting pitcher Shelby Miller (7-8, 4.20 ERA) in order to work out a deal.
Price's value is higher than Lester's due to the fact that he won't be a free agent until the end of the 2015 season while Lester runs the risk of being a rental player with his deal expiring in 2014 unless a team trades for him and believes he will re-sign with them.
The Dodgers have a lot of solid prospects as well including Joc Pederson, but ESPN Los Angeles reported that they are balking at including Pederson in a deal for Lester while its uncertain if they would for Price.
St. Louis is looking to revamp its rotation as it sits at 56-49, and a half-game out of the NL wild-card race and 1.5 games out of the NL Central. The Cardinals are ready to slug it out with the Milwaukee Brewers for the division lead while the Pittsburgh Pirates are also in the mix, and after injuries to Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia, the Cards are aggressively pursuing starting pitching.
Price, 28, is 11-7 this season with the Rays along with a 3.08 ERA while Lester is 10-7 with a 2.52 ERA on the campaign. One or both of them could be wearing new uniforms by Thursday's deadline.
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