1 Chaim Bloom trade with Red Sox feels even more unnecessary after latest development

We won't be able to judge the St. Louis Cardinals' barrage of trades from this past offseason for quite a few years -- prospects take time to develop, after all -- but we can look over at the veterans they sent out to see how they're faring with their new teams.

Nolan Arenado has recovered from a slow start and is producing at roughly a league-average rate for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Brendan Donovan, meanwhile, continues to rake in Seattle (176 wRC+). And you could say the same for Willson Contreras with the Red Sox (.760 OPS).

Sonny Gray, on the other hand, is a bit of a mystery. He's now on the injured list with a hamstring injury, but in his five starts thus far in Boston, he's who we all know him to be: a reliable starter. He's sitting on a 4.30 ERA and 4.48 FIP through 23 innings.

When he went down, the Red Sox recalled Payton Tolle, one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball. As you might expect from someone who hurls thunderbolts, he shredded the New York Yankees upon his rearrival to the big leagues.

Which begs the question: Why did the Red Sox even bother acquiring Gray at all if they had this guy waiting in the wings?

Red Sox-Cardinals Sonny Gray trade exists in a bizarre limbo right now

All offseason, the Red Sox traded young pitching for established major-league talent. They're a win-now team, so it made sense for them to target Gray as a right-hand man for ace Garrett Crochet.

Except they then sent even more prospect capital over to the Pirates for Johan Oviedo (also hurt), and then subsequently spent $130 million on Ranger Suárez. In turn, they pushed Tolle and Connelly Early, two of the best left-handed pitching prospects in the minors, off the roster.

Both of those young southpaws are now in Boston due to injuries, but it was just a bizarre use of resources, to say the least.

The Cardinals' end of the deal -- which involved St. Louis eating roughly $20 million -- is also in a complicated place right now. The deal was finalized earlier this month when the Red Sox sent Patrick Galle over as the player to be named later, but the prize returns are both injured.

Brandon Clarke was the centerpiece, but he hasn't pitched for the organization yet due to shoulder surgery that's expected to hold him out until June or July. His lengthy injury history was one of the reasons the Red Sox were willing to part with him, so hopefully he'll be able to finish out the year strong once he's back.

Likewise, Richard Fitts is now out for the year after undergoing season-ending lat surgery. It's a crushing blow to the Cardinals' pitching depth, though Fitts thankfully still has plenty of years of team control beyond this one.

With three of the four pitchers from the deal currently injured, it's hard to tell if either side is "winning" the trade yet. What we do know is that the Red Sox, in all of their urgency to acquire a starting pitching of Gray's caliber, may have overlooked even better ones in-house.

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