3 former Cardinals players we'll be glad are gone, and 2 we'll wish stayed

Sometimes seeing a player leave is welcome, while other times, it has come back to hurt the Cardinals

Over the course of the St. Louis Cardinals' storied franchise history, there have been many trades made, most favoring the Cards. However, no team is perfect and no team is able to fully avoid some terrible trades as well.

For every Adam Wainwright trade, there's the Rollie Fingers trade to the Brewers.

For every Nolan Arenado trade, there's the complete flop of a deal that sent Adolis Garcia to the Rangers in exchange for cash considerations.

In recent memory, there are multiple names that come to mind that the Cardinals (and their fans) should be glad are gone. On the flip side, of course, there are also a few that still sting to this day as the players have gone on to find huge successes in other organizations.

Let's break down 3 players we're glad are gone and 2 we wish stayed.

We're glad Carson Kelly is gone.

Kelly, drafted by the Cardinals in the second round of the 2012 MLB Draft, was never guaranteed to get much playing time in St. Louis thanks to the presence of Yadier Molina behind the plate.

He wound up making appearances in parts of three seasons for the Cards and put himself firmly into the conversation for "worst hitters in the major leagues". In 63 games, Kelly managed to go just 18-for-117, good for a batting average of .154. He failed to hit a single home run and his OPS+ was 13.

Yes, you read that right, he was 83 percent below league-average at the plate for the Cardinals.

Kelly, now 28, was flipped to the Diamondbacks as part of the massive Paul Goldschmidt trade back in December of 2018. He has turned into a decent contributor in Arizona over the past four years or so, but his production comes nowhere close to what the Cardinals have gotten out of Goldy.

It's worth noting that the Diamondbacks acquired top-catching prospect Gabriel Moreno from the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the offseason, so the chances of Kelly being once again surpassed on the depth chart seem high.

We're glad Elehuris Montero is gone from the Cardinals.

Looking back on it now, it's insane that the Rockies insisted the Cardinals include Montero in a package for otherworldly third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Montero, alongside a few pieces who have yet to amount to much in Colorado, has since made his big league debut with the Rockies and frankly, hasn't looked like much.

He's always had significant power from the right side, and he does hit for high averages, but his patience at the plate is atrocious and many of his minor league numbers seem to be inflated.

In 53 games for the 2022 Rockies, Montero hit six home runs but struck out in 32 percent of his plate appearances and drew just eight walks in 176 at-bats. His defense at third base is also highly suspect, so much so that he will likely be moved off of the position in a year or two tops.

Much like Luke Voit and Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals fans have to sit back and ask themselves if they would've preferred these past few seasons with Montero as the club's everyday third baseman or Nolan Arenado.

Again, this is not much of a debate at all.

Since the trade, the 31-year-old Arenado has somehow gotten even better as a baseball player. Last year alone, he was worth 5.8 Offensive Wins Above Replacement (oWAR) and 2.3 Defensive Wins Above Replacement. He hit 30 home runs, drove in 103, posted a career-high 154 OPS+, and finished third in the NL MVP Award race behind Goldschmidt and ex-NL West rival Manny Machado.

We wish Sandy Alcantara was still on the Cardinals.

This one feels like a massive no brainer, doesn't it?

Alcantara, now 27, came up through the Cardinals system after signing with the organization as an international free agent in July of 2013. He, much like the aforementioned Luke Voit, quickly rose through the system thanks to a huge arm filled with ace-level potential.

Just a few years later at 21 years old, Alcantara broke into the big leagues as a middle reliever for the club. He made just eight appearances with a 4.32 ERA and four earned runs in 8.1 innings, but the talent was still obvious.

In one of the most painful moves in the franchise's history, the club traded Alcantara to the Miami Marlins (alongside Zac Gallen and two other players who have not amounted to anything in the majors) in exchange for controversial outfielder Marcell Ozuna, who has since moved onto the Atlanta Braves organization.

At the time, Ozuna was one of the key contributors in a Marlins outfield that at one time consisted of Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton as well. He did well in two years with the Cardinals, but the loss of Alcantara will hurt much more than Ozuna's production was worth on the team.

In 2019, Alcantara made his first All-Star Game and finished the season with a 3.88 ERA and 110 ERA+, making a full season of 32 starts and even throwing two complete game shutouts along the way.

He seemed to improve in each of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but he hit a whole new level this past season. Not only did he make his second All-Star Game appearance, but Alcantara absolutely dominated in every single way in 2022. He made 32 starts, went 14-9 with a sparkling 2.28 ERA and 178 ERA+, struck out 200 batters for the second consecutive season, and threw a jaw-dropping six complete games.

Alcantara easily won the NL Cy Young Award in 2022. His loss will continue to hurt more and more for the Cardinals as his development continues. He is still so young and there's a sense of last year being only the beginning of his utter dominance in The Show.

We wish Randy Arozarena was never traded from the Cardinals.

Before Arozarena became a postseason legend and cemented his name into the record books, he was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Now 28, he signed with the club as an international free agent back in July 2016 for just $1.25M. Oh, what the team would do to have him on that kind of contract now.

Arozarena, much like Sandy Alcantara, did make his big league debut as a member of the Cardinals but he only spent a part of one year on the major league squad. In that time, he made 19 appearances in the 2019 campaign, going six-for-20 with a double, a home run, two RBI, two stolen bases, and .300 batting average.

That year, he just didn't have enough behind his name to warrant significant playing time over incumbent starters Marcell Ozuna, Harrison Bader, and Dexter Fowler with José Martínez and Tyler O'Neill on hand as well.

Heading into 2020, the Cardinals were set to roll with O'Neill, Bader, and Fowler with youngsters Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson also making their big league debuts. Once again, there just wasn't a spot for Arozarena. Before the season even began, he was flipped to the Tampa Bay Rays (along with Martínez) in exchange for Matthew Liberatore, Edgardo Rodriguez, and a Competitive Balance Draft Pick.

Liberatore has performed well on his way through the ranks while Rodriguez has yet to produce much in parts of two seasons in the low minors.

Arozarena on the other hand, has turned into a Tampa Bay icon thanks to his incredible postseason play and impressive regular-season performances. He won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2021 thanks to a 20-home run showing in 141 games. He then followed that up with a just-as-solid 2022 season in which he played in 153 games, hit 41 doubles and 20 home runs with 89 RBI and a 124 OPS+.