This has gotten really annoying. Two losses, almost identical in nature, in one of the most important series in the year. This series could have a lot of say as to whether the Cardinals are buyers or sellers, and right now it's not looking too good. The last time the Cardinals were cornered into this kind of quandary was when injured starters forced the Cardinals to sign Kyle Lohse, perhaps the best signing in all of baseball. The Cardinals acted fast then, which leads me to believe they're not sitting on their hands this time around. No one's calling for a drastic, thoughtless move to be made here, but I am anxious to upgrade the two biggest need areas we have - the bullpen and the middle infield.

The Cardinals are still looking at Damaso Marte of the Pirates, according to Will Carroll. Pitchers Hit Eighth left this idea in the comments under yesterday's post:

Pittsburgh is supposedly hot after Duncan and Reyes - how can we not find a match there?

Dunc and Reyes for Marte/Grabow and Jack Wilson, anyone?

The Pirates have become very shrewd since their days of trading Aramis Ramirez for a bag of balls a couple years ago, so I worry that they'd ask for the moon for two average players. Jack Wilson is under contract for next season for $7.25 million and has a 2010 $8.4 million club option. The good news is that he plays excellent defense, so there'd be little to no drop-off from Cesar to Jack. The bad news is that he wouldn't be a huge offensive upgrade, hitting .280/.325/.339 with no home runs. The absence of power is the biggest detriment that's keeping him from really breaking out.

Would the Pirates accept Chris Duncan and Anthony Reyes for those two? Probably not, as talks for just Marte are supposedly pretty high. This post by Tim Dierkes suggests the Pirates aren't opposed to moving Jack Wilson, so at least he's on the block. I'm thinking that the Pirates might be interested in a Skip Schumaker/Anthony Reyes/Mike Parisi package for Marte and Wilson. You sacrifice very little of the future for some win-now fixes, and the Pirates get pitching and a young, cost-controlled hitter. Thoughts? There's nothing like throwing out some wild, unfounded trade proposals.

The Cardinals have also been stirring the pot with the Baltimore Orioles for George Sherrill.

The Cardinals' pursuit of a lefthanded reliever to fortify their bullpen has intensified as the club has expressed interest in Baltimore closer George Sherrill, sources said.

The beauty of Sherrill is he's capable of closing and will be under club control for a few seasons. The ugly side? He's going to cost a lot. The Orioles want two or three prospects, with possibly a shortstop involved. What could that mean for the Cardinals? Brian Barden is a possibility for the shortstop but isn't going to command much interest at all. You'd have to think Jess Todd or Bryan Anderson would come up in discussions.

Then there's Eddie Guardado, the 37-year-old lefty reliever of the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are thought to be interested in Jess Todd. No. Just no.

Finally, a name I really like is Jhonny Peralta, shortstop for the Cleveland Indians. He has big-time power, sporting a .263/.307/.486 line with 17 homers and 27 doubles. His defense is pretty spotty, but that could be masked with Troy Glaus' stellar glove. The best part? Peralta is signed to a very affordable contract: $3.4 million in 2009, $4.6 million in 2010, and a $7 million 2011 club option. Perhaps we could send them back Brian Barton in a friendly agreement and effectively trade them Barton/Todd/Boggs/Ryan for Peralta and Rafael Perez?

Lots of possibilities. The entire hot stove market is heating up, not just the Cardinals. I do believe the Cards need to do something soon if we want to stay in contention. What ideas do you have?