6 Cardinals trade ideas after acquiring Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham

Dylan Carlson finally becomes a Washington National

I've thrown this idea out before, but seriously, how fitting would it be for Carlson to end up on the Nationals after everything that happened at the 2022 trade deadline with Juan Soto?

There has been this incredibly wrong sentiment that some Cardinals fans still hold onto that Carlson was the reason the Cardinals did not acquire Juan Soto in 2022, citing the fact that he was "told he wouldn't be traded" as proof that he was a dealbreaker for St. Louis.

Reporting regarding the situation has consistently contradicted that notion. The only reporter who I know of that really pushed that narrative was MLB Network's Jon Morosi, who, let's face it, is an unreliable source at best and consistently throws stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

Carlson was a name that St. Louis was hopeful they could hold onto, but as Jeff Jones put in a really insightful thread a few days ago on X, the reason he was told he wasn't moving was not because he was "untouchable", it is because the deal was already dead. Here are two important tweets from that thread, but I highly recommend reading all of his tweets on this.

Okay, I digress. It would still be funny to see Carlson end up in Washington though, as no matter how many times people report or clarify that Carlson was not the reason the Cardinals did not get Soto, people still want to pump that narrative.

Mark Feinsand listed the Cardinals as one of the top trade fits for Nationals' Dylan Floro yesterday, and he would be a really nice fit for their bullpen. A rental reliever, Floro does not have a ton of strikeout stuff, but he has been hyper-effective at getting groundballs this year and has posted a 2.06 ERA and 2.61 FIP in the process.

Floro would slot right in with the Cardinals' high-leverage relievers, while Carlson would get a chance to redeem his career with the organization that he could have been dealt to back in 2022.