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

Package #1 for Jack Flahetry

I said it in the intro and I'll say it again, all of these deals are going to hurt. They have to in order to pry Flaherty away not just from the Tigers, but from being added to a different contender in pursuit of him.

Just off the top of my head, any of the Dodgers, Orioles, Guardians, Brewers, Braves, Padres, Red Sox, Yankees, and Astros could be looking to add Flaherty as the deadline gets closer. Pitching is always in need at the deadline, and with how good Flaherty has been, he is going to be the hot name on the market outside of Crochet and Skubal.

Flaherty is in the 94th percentile or higher in Whiff%, K%, BB%, and breaking ball run value this season. He has regained his elite strikeout stuff while also fixing his walk issue and being among the best in baseball at preventing free passes. Not only that, but he's well above average in creating weak contact as well, and has been a good groundball pitcher when he does not get a swing-and-miss.

Everything about Flaherty's game this year has been good, and so teams are going to be willing to pay up for the 28-year-old stud.

Giving away Cooper Hjerpe would be extremely painful. To me, he is one of the most underrated pitching prospects in baseball, and I would not blame the Cardinals for saying no to offering him. Frankly, I have a hard time saying I would either. Hjerpe's deceptive delivery and arm angle allow his low-90s fastball and nasty breaking stuff to play up even more, resulting in a 35.1% strikeout percentage across High-A and Double-A this year. He's already had two starts this year where he allowed no hits before being pulled due to his pitch limit. Hjerpe has so much potential.

But again, the Tigers are going to want something impactful for Flaherty, so if they used someone like Hjerpe as the centerpiece along with a high-upside prospect in Leonardo Bernal and MLB-ready infielder in Cesar Prieto, that could get the job done.

I could another team sending a stronger offer than this, but this would be really stretching for St. Louis. If you don't like this deal, I have two others that would be very difficult to make as well but could be realistic.