3 nightmare scenarios for Cardinals at this year's MLB Trade Deadline

Nightmare #2 - The Cardinals go after a starter who is not an upgrade over any of their current arms

The Cardinals rotation is currently filled with one front-line starter (Sonny Gray), one middle-of-the-rotation starter (Kyle Gibson), and three back-of-the-rotation starters (Andre Pallante, Miles Mikolas, and Lance Lynn). If the Cardinals acquire another back-end of the rotation type of guy as the only starter they acquire, it would be an awful move in my opinion.

First, the Cardinals need another front end of the rotation name, not another innings eater or quality starts guru. They need a guy who can go toe-to-toe with some of the best pitchers in baseball down the stretch and in the postseason. I'm looking at names like Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Flaherty, Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, Erick Fedde, and Chris Bassit for that range.

Second, Andre Pallante would be the name that most likely booted from the rotation, and he has been their best starter since joining the rotation. Adding a name like Austin Gomber, Cal Quantrill, Tyler Anderson, or whatever back-end arm they could acquire would be a lateral move at best.

I don't hate the idea of grabbing a front-end guy and another back-end arm as insurance, but if they are just going to acquire a back-end starter, I'd rather them not acquire one at all. If they are going to play cheap with starting pitching, then just focus on upgrading the bullpen and grabbing a right-handed bat instead. A back-end of the rotation arm does not move the needle for this club, but strengthening the bullpen further and adding a bat would.

The Cardinals have been consistently linked to names in both categories, so it will be interesting to see what they pull off. But if they plan on going after the low-hanging fruit, just save us the nightmare and don't.