Cardinals News and Notes: Machado Rumors, Ozuna and Piscotty Trades, Greinke

Here is what went down yesterday at Viva El Birdos:

• Was 2017 Marcell Ozuna for real?: John examines the newest Cardinal and explains why he might not be as good as advertised in 2017.
• Was the Marcell Ozuna trade a fair deal?: I explain why Ozuna is due for regression in 2018 but how Wednesday’s trade is still justifiable.
• How about Zack Greinke for the Cardinals?: Pegasus looks at Zack Greinke as a potential trade target for the Cardinals.
• Goodbye, Stephen Piscotty - A Hunt and Peck: Heather looks back on Stephen Piscotty's career in St. Louis following his trade to Oakland.

As far as Cardinals news goes, the club officially announced both the Ozuna acquisition and Piscotty trade yesterday.

Meanwhile, Buster Olney reported that the Cardinals and White Sox "have [made the] best offers so far" for Orioles superstar Manny Machado. Bob Nightengale said the Orioles, who prior to their division-rival Yankees' trade for Giancarlo Stanton were unlikely to deal Machado this offseason, could move the three-time All-Star sooner than we originally thought. Nightengale fired off a round of Machado-related tweets yesterday:

In his writeup of the situation, Nightengale speculated that "the St. Louis Cardinals could be the favorites to land Machado," although Ken Rosenthal noted that the Cardinals found Baltimore's original asking price to be too steep.

Long story short, a Machado trade doesn't appear imminent considering how fuzzy the various reports coming out have been. Don't start losing sleep over this quite yet–but stay tuned.

Have a good one,

Tyler