3 trade packages to reunite the St. Louis Cardinals' with former ace Jack Flaherty

In case you haven't heard, Jack Flaherty looks like the starter that the St. Louis Cardinals once dreamed would lead their rotation for years to come, and he should be available in a trade between now and the MLB Trade Deadline.

It is no secret that the Cardinals need another front-line starter, and Flaherty would fit the bill perfectly. Flaherty has been one of the best starters in baseball this year with the Detroit Tigers, posting a 3.13 ERA and 32.1% strikeout rate in 16 starts thus far. Every contender in need of starting pitching is looking at Flaherty right now, and for good reason.

I have come around to the idea of the Cardinals going after Flaherty at this trade deadline. For a while, it seemed like a non-starter to me, but the more I've thought about it, the more and more it makes sense for St. Louis to entertain.

I wanted to create some trade packages that I think could get a deal done with the Tigers for Flaherty. To be clear upfront, I did my best to not only give equal value to the Tigers for Flaherty but to also propose deals that could "top" other offers from contenders. Flaherty may be the best rental arm available on the market, and those starters do not come cheap.

While starters with control like Flaherty's teammate Tarik Skubal or White Sox's Garrett Crochet will fetch far more in a deal, Flaherty has been in the same class of starter as those guys this year, and so even though he is a rental, it will cost a pretty penny. Jordan Montgomery was pitching very similarly to Flaherty when he was traded last deadline, and he fetched two fringe top 100 prospects in Thomas Saggese and Tekoah Roby along with John King in a deal that also netted the Rangers Chris Stratton.

It won't come cheap for the Cardinals to acquire Flaherty, but they should strongly consider adding him.

Here are three trade packages I think could bring Flaherty back to St. Louis at this trade deadline