3 Cardinals who definitely won't get traded before Opening Day and 3 who still could

Matthew Liberatore is a trade candidate before Opening Day.

Matthew Liberatore may always be known in Cardinal fan circles as the prospect St. Louis got in exchange for Randy Arozarena. Liberatore, once a top left-handed pitching prospect in all of baseball, has fallen mightily from those heights. He simply hasn't been able to translate strong minor-league numbers to even decent major-league numbers.

The tall lefty features a strong fastball with decent velocity and a big 12-to-6 curveball that can be a good strikeout pitch. His curveball had decent whiff rates last year (33.8%), but it was his worst offering by run value according to Baseball Savant.

In ninety-six innings in the majors, Libby has a 5.51 ERA and he has walked nearly 10% of the batters he has faced. His ERA in the minors is below 4.00, and he has strikeout rates north of 23% in Memphis for his career. It is baffling to see such a large discrepancy between a player's minor league stats and his major league stats regardless of his former prospect status.

Liberatore stands to be in the bullpen for next year but after the addition of Andrew Kittredge and the reports that John Mozeliak could add another bullpen arm, Libby's spot in the lineup is questionable. He has some trade value, and he could net a team's #15-#20 prospect in return, so trading him won't be for naught.