5 pitchers that the Cardinals would be making a massive mistake trading for

Austin Gomber

Lastly, another Colorado Rockies starter seems to be available in trades this July, but this one actually was sent to the Rockies by the Cardinals in the Nolan Arenado trade.

Austin Gomber actually got off to a hot start for the Rockies this year, but on the season, he's posted a mediocre 4.61 ERA and 4.92 FIP in his 18 starts for Colorado. He is a lefty though, something the Cardinals could use in their rotation, but other than his handedness, I'm not sure why St. Louis would be interested.

Gomber, even more so than Quantrill, cannot use the Coors Field effect to defend his bad numbers either. On the year, he's actually pitching really well at home, posting a 3.54 ERA in Colorado, while his numbers balloon to a 5.61 ERA in his 10 road starts. Sure, maybe he ends up being highly successful at home for St. Louis, but I just really do not see the upside in going after Gomber here.

dependableAt the end of the day, the Cardinals need to target upside with this rotation upgrade at the deadline. They already have one front-end starter in Gray, and now they need a second. They have names like Gibson, Lynn, and Mikolas who are depenable veterans (more so in the case of Gibson) who can give them innings and starts down the stretch. They have immediate depth options in Pallante and Matthew Liberatore, as well as the Triple-A arms. They also seem to expect Matz to be back in the near future as well.

If the Cardinals want to add another depth arm, that's fine, but it cannot be the lone starting pitching upgrade they make. If they do try to sell fans on that, their chances of making it to October get a lot more difficult and their ceiling once they get there is very low.