Cardinals rumors: Team has "real" interest in Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera

The St. Louis Cardinals have "real" interest in acquiring Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

I do believe the Cardinals' interest in Asdrubal Cabrera real. With such a flimsy free agent market for shortstops, a number of teams are intrigued by Cabrera -- if the Indians are indeed willing to shop him.

To compete for Cabrera, the Cardinals would have to part with multiple prospects.

The Cardinals could view Cabrera as an adequate replacement at shortstop for the oft-injured Rafael Furcal, who missed the last month of the season with an elbow injury and whose status for 2013 is still up in the air. Strauss posits that the Cardinals may be forced to part with one of their young starters like Lance Lynn in order to acquire Cabrera from the Indians.

Cabrera, 27, had a bit of a down year compared to his breakout 2011, but the switch-hitter still put up respectable numbers, hitting .270/.338/.423 with sixteen home runs in one hundred forty-three games.

According to Strauss, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak does not view Pete Kozma as a long-term starting option at short, rather viewing him in a bench role as a utility middle infielder.