3 St. Louis Cardinals trade rumors to shoot down

Just because the 2023 season isn't going well for the St. Louis Cardinals doesn't mean they should punt on 2024.

The last time the Redbirds had a losing record was 16 years ago when the '07 edition of this storied franchise went 78-84. Prior to that, you have to return to the previous millennium to find another losing record, as St. Louis went 75-86 in the 1999 campaign. Back-to-back sub-.500 years? That would be 1994-'95, two shortened seasons that were bad for the entire sport.

The reason to dig into the history books is to make this point very clear: The Cardinals don't rebuild. There are no five-year plans involving a total teardown of the Gateway City's beloved baseball franchise, no 100-loss campaigns (not a single one since 1908), no stockpiling of high draft picks with the hope of attaining glory well into the future.

And a key takeaway from this dedication to competition, this adherence to a philosophy of building a team that always contends (though one that also rarely is the very best of the best), is that St. Louis is not going to trade its best players this season, even if the current squad isn't good enough to make the playoff field that has expanded to six teams per league. If the Cardinals aren't good this year, the expectation is they'll be back in the running for a National League Central title next year.

Given that, some recent trade rumors need to be put to bed - immediately. Frustration with this iteration of the team may be high, but there's always next year. Always. With that clearly stated, let's see which players being bandied about in the rumor mill aren't going anywhere.