St. Louis Cardinals: Four players likely to be traded in 2020

Dakota Hudson

This trade is probably the most unlikely, but there was one scenario where trading the former first-rounder makes sense. If you are dangling something valuable like Hudson, you have to be going after a big fish like Nolan Arenado. In fact, a package of Hudson and Knizner would be a good start to what it would likely take to land the superstar third baseman.

More from St Louis Cardinals News

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Here is Willson Contreras’ first message for St. Louis fans
• How do the St. Louis Cardinals stack up with Willson Contreras?
• Cardinals: The insane asking price the Athletics had for Sean Murphy
• St. Louis Cardinals: Ask me anything with Josh Jacobs – 12/8

I, again, am a huge fan of Hudson’s and in his first full season of starting, he got great results. Starting 32 games with a 3.35 ERA looks great at first, but he had a way-too-high 4.4 walks per nine and his WHIP of 1.408 suggests he benefited more from his infield defense.

He did get groundballs at an MLB-best 56.9% rate, but Hudson is likely due for some regression in 2020 if nothing changes about his approach. Hudson was off to a better start in the spring as he had a WHIP under 1.0 in his 12.1 innings, allowing just four earned runs.

I’m not an advocate of trading Hudson unless the team is getting something huge in return as the 25-year-old sinkerballer has a chance to be a great innings-eater as he matures.

In all, the Cardinals can’t afford to sit pat at the trade deadline (whatever that may look like) in 2020 as they have the past few years. If there is a clear need, even if it’s addition by subtraction, the team needs to make a move on it and these players would likely be among the first to be moved.