The Cardinals’ Shelby Miller is not untouchable

Brian McTaggart, Matthew Leach and Todd Zolecki of MLB.com confirm and add some more detail to my report from last night about the Cardinals’ interest in Roy Oswalt. Specifically regarding what the Cardinals may have to give up in order to get him:

The Cards’ most compelling potential trading chip for most teams would seem to be 2009 first-round Draft pick Shelby Miller, a right-hander who has been on a roll lately at low Class A Quad Cities. Farm director Jeff Luhnow was given the opportunity on Wednesday to classify Miller as untouchable, but declined to do so. He said the right-hander quite surely would not be moved for a two-month rental player, but that for a longer-term upgrade, any and all prospects could conceivably be in play.

There was a lot of back and forth in the Twitterverse last night about whether getting Roy Oswalt is worth Shelby Miller, especially if the Astros aren’t picking up any salary. My take on it is this: By the time Miller is ready to be a front line starter in the major leagues, Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday will be at or near an end and the Cardinals’ best chance to win a World Series -- now -- is likely gone. Oswalt for Miller is definitely a “win-now” move, but the Cardinals are a team that has no choice but to be on a “win-now” footing.

It’s a lot of money to take on, no question, and it’s always hard to give up a top pick. But the best reasonable scenario for Shelby Miller is that he becomes another Roy Oswalt, right? At the outside? And that’s several years from now. I pass up that bird in the bush if it means making the playoffs for the next two or three years with Albert Pujols in his prime and a rotation of Carpenter-Wainwright-Oswalt-Garcia, don’t you?