4 potential trade destinations for Jack Flaherty

Baltimore Orioles

Here's another team with relatively young and unproven starters that could benefit from the stabilizing presence of a veteran arm. With rookie Grayson Rodriguez scuffling to a 7.35 ERA through 10 starts and Cole Irvin posting a 5.50 mark, improvement in one starter role obviously would be beneficial. And with Kyle Gibson and Dean Kremer putting up ERAs in the 4.70-4.80 range so far, Flaherty could slot into the third starter position and bump both of them down a notch.

In addition to the potential performance improvement Flaherty could bring, his presence could allow the Orioles to give their young hurlers a break, either by shifting them to the bullpen to reduce their innings workload or to the minors to keep them on a starter's schedule but in a lower-stress environment where their pitch count and effort could be more closely controlled with less concern about the outcome of any particular game.

Focusing on the return a St. Louis-Baltimore trade would bring for the Cardinals, it's not so clear that pitching is what the O's have to offer. Their depth is primarily with middle infielders. As the Reds have shown this season, if you have a lot of guys who can play shortstop, you tend to have a lot of guys who can play a number of different positions.

The specific youngsters available from Baltimore in exchange for a two-month rental starting pitcher is vague, but acquiring such depth could make current Cardinals such as DeJong, Tommy Edman, Nolan Gorman, and Brendan Donovan available for other trade opportunities. It's the buy-and-sell mode John Mozeliak and other front office leaders around the majors have been leaning on more and more the last few seasons.