St. Louis Cardinals: Tough trade targets in the NL Central

Gregory Polanco #25 of the Pittsburgh Pirates celebrates after hitting a two run homer during the fourth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on September 25, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Gregory Polanco #25 of the Pittsburgh Pirates celebrates after hitting a two run homer during the fourth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on September 25, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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St. Louis Cardinals
ST LOUIS, MO – AUGUST 22: St. Louis Cardinals mascot Fredbird watches the game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds from the stands at Busch Stadium on August 22, 2020 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

Trades inside a team’s own division rarely happen, however, there are targets inside the NL Central that the St. Louis Cardinals should be in on.

Inside of the National League Central, teams rarely make trades with each other. When it comes to the St. Louis Cardinals, there have been blockbusters in the division before, but not for a long time.

Bruce Sutter, Jonathan Broxton, and John Tudor have all been members of intradivision blockbusters that the Cardinals have pulled off over the years. However, the Cardinals haven’t made a move with any team except the Brewers in the past 10 years. The only two moves they did make were with the Brewers for Jonathan Broxton and John Axford in 2015 and 2013.

To me, it sounds like the team is about due.

This winter, hopes aren’t high for the Cardinals to spend money in the free agent marketplace, but that doesn’t mean they won’t make trades. Trades like these are so hard to pull off because both teams have to face off against the players they trade right away. That hasn’t stopped teams in the past though.

Without more delay, let’s look through one trade candidate from each NL Central team.