4 potential trade destinations for St. Louis Cardinals' Jordan Hicks

Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay cranks out multiple strong pitchers from its development pipeline on a yearly basis. This season, bullpen arms Jason Adam, Kevin Kelly, Colin Poche, Jake Diekman (not a young Rays-developed pitcher, but still...), and Pete Fairbanks all have ERAs under (in some cases well under) 3.00.

Also, the Rays also typically don't let their starting pitchers go deep into games, so they have a more pronounced need for relievers than most squads. So, how do you make that staff better? Bring in even more bullpen arms, such as Hicks. Given how Tampa Bay uses its bullpen, he could pitch in middle relief, a setup role, or serve as the closer - possibly all three in a given week.

What would the trade return for Hicks look like? As with the Dodgers, the Rays have a wealth of prospects. This could be another situation where the Cardinals send multiple big leaguers in exchange for a better prospect package. Again, Tampa Bay churns through its pitchers - both starters and relievers - frequently, so pairing Hicks with Montgomery or Flaherty could work best.

Perhaps St. Louis targets someone like Double-A starter Mason Montgomery. Or maybe they look at his teammates playing the middle infield, shortstop Greg Jones or second baseman Osleivis Basabe. Another option would be to restock the bullpen with arms like Colby White or Ian Seymour.

Given the players the Cardinals have to trade and the Rays have to offer in exchange, Hicks could be part of a variety of packages that would help both teams. Maybe there's even a way to help balance out the Randy Arozarena-Matthew Liberatore deal. We all can dream, right?