Texas Rangers: Could team look to St. Louis for salary relief?

The Texas Rangers are desperately trying to offload Rougned Odor and his contract. Could St. Louis help?

Rougned Odor has fallen out of favor with the Texas Rangers, and a change of scenery would benefit both parties.

Much like the Texas Rangers did with Elvis Andrus, the only way to get a bad contract off the books is by acquiring another bad contract.

So, we’re calling up the St. Louis Cardinals.

Looking up and down the Redbird roster, they have stars and quality young prospects, but one name stands out that may be of interest to the Texas Rangers.

The Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals could make sense as trade partners.

Matt Carpenter.

The Galveston, TX native played his college ball at TCU and would provide yet another homecoming opportunity for the Texas Rangers.

Most notably though, Carpenter is owed $18.5 million over the next two seasons, with 2022 being a vesting option at 550 plate appearances in 2021.

The problem for Carpenter is that he is blocked around the infield by Nolan Arenado, Paul DeJong, Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt.

He has no position, and without the DH in the senior circuit, he’s losing at-bats by the minute.

Sounds a lot like Rougned Odor, doesn’t it?

Here’s the thing: Carpenter is in his mid-30s and Odor is only 27. There’s still plenty of time for Rougned to figure things out.

Rougned Odor has two guaranteed years left on his contract worth roughly $24.5 million, plus a $13.5 million team option and $3 million buyout.

Overall, Odor is guaranteed $27.5 million over two years.

Could the Rangers and Cardinals make this work? Absolutely.

If the Cardinals were willing to pay down on Matt Carpenter’s $18.5 million, I believe Phillips and Barlow would be the best two guys going back.

Phillips is a young, controllable starter that commands the strike zone, while Barlow is a hard-throwing righty that is more of a depth piece.

St. Louis would be buying prospects, much like the Texas Rangers did with the Andrus-Davis deal.

Rougned Odor would present an upgrade over Tommy Edman at second for the Cardinals, adding 30-35 home run power in between Goldschmidt and Arenado.

On the flip side, Matt Carpenter can play a bench role for the Texas Rangers while spending his last few seasons in the big leagues in his own backyard.

I believe that this deal could make a lot of sense for both clubs, but especially for the Texas Rangers.

They can clear Odor’s contract, get Carpenter off the books in 2021-2022, and use that freed up money to make one or two franchise-changing moves next offseason.

*cough, cough* Trevor Story and Clayton Kershaw *cough, cough*