7 trade partners that make way too much sense for the Cardinals at the trade deadline

Just over a month ago, any trade deadline chatter around the St. Louis Cardinals focused on how much of a firesale they'd be undergoing, not the idea that they would be poaching talent from other clubs to make a run. But as things stand today, the Cardinals are firmly in the Wild Card race and look to be one of the top four teams in the National League.

It is truly remarkable the kind of run they want on from May 12th up until this point. They did so mostly without impact bats like Willson Contreras and Lars Nootbaar, and have been navigating a hole in their rotation as well. Now the Cardinals are a winning club that is getting healthier by the day, and adding a few more pieces to this team at the deadline could make them an interesting team come October.

While the league is still pretty muddy in terms of who will be buyers and who will be sellers, there are a number of clubs who will likely move some significant pieces at the trade deadline to contending teams and makes so much sense for the Cardinals to explore a deal with.

As things currently stand, the Cardinals will likely add another starting pitcher to their rotation and some bullpen depth, but there is also reason to believe they could explore adding another bat for their bench as well. I've identified seven different teams who appear to be seamless fits for the Cardinals to make a deal with between now and the deadline.

Detroit Tigers

While I do think it's worth keeping an eye on the Detroit Tigers as a trade partner for the Cardinals, I remain skeptical about their interest in a reunion with Jack Flaherty, even if it makes so much sense to pursue.

If you have not kept up with Flaherty this year, he's been excellent over in Detroit, being among the league leaders in strikeouts this year and posting a 3.24 ERA in the process. Flaherty would fit seamlessly into this rotation as a number two starter, giving St. Louis two dynamic studs at the top of their rotation entering the postseason. It also helps that he's familiar with the team, so a transition midseason wouldn't be a culture shock.

As of right now, I have not heard anything other than speculation connecting the Cardinals to Flaherty, and I doubt that this will end up happening as things currently stand. That could change as we get closer to the trade deadline though.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays are one of a few different teams on this list that none of us really expected to be sellers before the season began.

Toronto has severely underperformed this year as a whole though and currently sits 14.5 games back of the American League East-leading Orioles and Yankees as well as 7.5 games back of the third Wild Card spot. Like the White Sox, most of the attention this summer is going to be on their two stars - Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette - the Cardinals will not be involved in either of those markets.

Here is where things do get interesting for St. Louis though. If the Blue Jays sell off one or both of those stars who are set to be free agents after the 2025 season, then I would imagine they'll be open to moving on from a few other veterans on their roster as well in order to begin a retool or rebuild. As much as Toronto would like to believe they are contenders, they may have the bleakest future in the American League East, let alone other teams in the American League that they cannot compete with.

So while the Cardinals won't be calling on Bichette or Guerrero, what is stopping them from having interest in starting pitchers like Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi, or Chris Bassitt? Even if the Blue Jays don't want to go into a full-scale rebuild, it would make sense to capitalize on the value of starting pitchers in their mid-30s if their return to contention won't be a quick one.

Each of those starters would present unique opportunities for the Cardinals to upgrade their rotation. Bassitt is in his age 35 season and has one more year left on his contract at $22 million for 2025. He has been very effective for Toronto so far in 2024, posting a 3.45 ERA in 91.1 innings of work, and would certainly qualify as a good number three starter for the Cardinals if they were to acquire him, and I imagine that Toronto would either pay down his salary or get little in return for him.

Kikuchi has not been as effective as Bassitt this year but is in a contract year, making him a fairly attractive target for St. Louis rather than also committing $20 million or more to a starter next year (unless again that contract is paid down). Kikuchi has more swing-and-miss in his game than Bassitt but has done so to the tune of a 4.18 ERA in his 88.1 innings this year. He is a lefty as well which might be interesting to target with the success southpaws seem to have in Busch Stadium.

My favorite target of the bunch though and one I think the Cardinals should be all over this year is Kevin Gausman. Gausman was a Cy Young candidate each of the past three seasons, being among the league leaders in strikeouts and pitching like a true ace. The big concern is that his strikeout stuff has fallen off this year, and this has led to him posting a 4.26 ERA in this process. Gausman's 3.89 FIP indicates some positive regression could be coming, but the fact is he needs to regain his swing-and-miss stuff in order to be the kind of dominant starter we saw him become since 2021.

Gausman makes $22 million this year and then $23 million each of the next two seasons. If Toronto is willing to pay that contract down a bit, Gausman could be the perfect upside play for the Cardinals to pursue. For context, Miles Mikolas makes $18 million right now, and while that was not a good contract for the Cardinals to hand out, it shows what the cost of pitching becomes when it hits the open market. Buying low on a guy with the kind of stuff Gausman has, not giving up significant prospects to acquire him, and paying less than market value on his contract is the exact kind of move the Cardinals have found success with in past years.

One other piece to note - the Cardinals and Blue Jays made three different trades with each other last season (Paul DeJong, Genesis Cabrera, and Jordan Hicks) and have discussed deals in the past for the Blue Jays catchers. This may open the door to quicker conversations as well.

Miami Marlins

Like the White Sox, the Miami Marlins have been on a one-way ticket toward a fire sale since the first month of the season. They already traded their best hitter Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres earlier this season, and they will surely be looking to capitalize on other assets as the deadline nears.

Unlike the White Sox though, a lot of the Marlins' best assets are dealing with injury issues at the moment, making their firesale a lot more complicated than you would think. Top starters like Sandy Alcantara, Jesus Luzardo, Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera, and Ryan Weathers are all on the injured list right now, so they may not actually be the best partners for the Cardinals to grab a starting pitcher.

Unless one of those arms like Weathers or Garrett gets healthy quickly, the Cardinals would likely have more interest in the bullpen arms the Marlins have on hand instead.

The big fish they have to offer right now is left-hander Tanner Scott, who is set to hit free agency after the season and is one of the best relievers in baseball. He's posted a 1.54 ERA in 35 innings this year and is more than comfortable closing games if needed. Like JoJo Romero, Scott can shut down both right-handed and left-handed hitters, so if the Cardinals added him to the back of their bullpen, it would be a truly elite group of players they can turn to late in games.

One of the ways the Cardinals can give themselves an edge in October would be by doubling down on how good their bullpen has been. While their starters may not stack up with the other playoff teams they'll face, they could go to their bullpen early and often to shut down other lineups.

Scott might be a bit too expensive though, so maybe a name like JT Chargois could be a target for them. He's a right-handed reliever who hasn't thrown much this year but has been highly effective so far and has been in the past as well.

The Marlins have to be kept tabs on with how bad they are, but unless they can get healthier, the options the Cardinals would be interested in are thinner than other clubs.

Texas Rangers

Like the Blue Jays, the Texas Rangers have been a major disappointment in 2024, and their World Series title defense looks to be in doubt as they get closer and closer to the deadline.

The Rangers have plenty of talent still and more players in their farm system coming, so they don't need to consider a rebuild, but they would likely be open to making moves as the Cardinals did at the 2023 deadline to capitalize on their impending free agents.

Also like the Blue Jays, the Rangers have three different starting pitchers who the Cardinals would be wise to target as the deadline draws near, and all three of them have the ability to raise the club's ceiling in October.

Nathan Eovaldi has a vesting option of $20 million for 2025, so I could see the Rangers holding onto him for a rebound season next year. But if they wanted to get a nice return for their future, similar to what the Cardinals did with Jordan Montgomery in their exchange last July, Eovaldi would make sense to move on from. He's posted a 3.45 ERA this year with just over a strikeout per inning, and he's proven himself to be a big-game pitcher in October for both the Red Sox and Rangers.

Andrew Heaney is a left-handed starter who is set to hit free agency after the season and has posted a 4.17 ERA in 77.2 innings this year. While he's not a flashy option, he has shown the ability to pitch at a really high level, and he could be in the same vein as a Jose Quintana from 2022 where he leads the club to October and pitches a playoff game even after lackluster numbers to begin the year.

While Eovaldi would be a really strong fit, perhaps the fit that makes the most sense for both sides is the Chesterfield native Max Scherzer, who has had an interest in playing for his hometown team in the past but a deal never came to fruition (mostly because of the Cardinals). Scherzer is a free agent following the season, and while his salary this year is $43 million, the New York Mets are actually paying $30 million of that salary for the Rangers this year, so for the Cardinals' books they only have to account for the remainder of the $13.3 million that the Rangers owed Scherzer this year.

Scherzer missed the beginning of the year with an injury, but in his two starts back from the injury list thus far, has posted a 1.74 ERA. Scherzer is not the perennial Cy Young contender he used to be, but he's someone you could easily trust to pair with Sonny Gray at the top of the Cardinals' rotation and knows how to pitch in the biggest moments in October. It may even result in a new contract with the Cardinals in the offseason.

Tampa Bay Rays

If the Tampa Bay Rays were in the National League, they'd be right in the thick of things in the Wild Card and I don't think we would be talking about them as a seller. But the American League has been so tough this year, and as of writing this, the Rays' .500 record has them 11 games back of first place in the American League East and four games out of the Wild Card. They can certainly get back into the race down the stretch, but they'll have to fight off the likes of the Royals, Red Sox, and Astros to do so.

We all know how the Rays operate. They are constantly looking to capitalize on value so they can continue to build a winning team year in and year out. With Tampa Bay clearly not one of the best teams in the American League this year and dealing with their own variety of injuries, they could look to explore selling some pieces that hold value so that when they get healthy for 2025, they have even more ammo to endure what the season throws their way.

As far as rotation arms go, Zach Eflin is set to see his contract rise to $18 million in 2025, and they could look to part with him for some pieces at the deadline. Eflin has posted a 3.92 ERA in 87.1 innings this year and would fit the bill as that number three starter type for St. Louis.

The Rays' bullpen arms are where I really think a match could come together though, as both Pete Fairbanks and Shawn Armstrong could be helpful upgrades for the back end of the Cardinals' bullpen.

Fairbanks played for the University of Missouri in college and would be a fun match for St. Louis. He's been great so far in 2024, posting a 3.14 ERA in 28.2 innings of work while striking out over a batter per inning. He also has a lot of experience closing games, so he could shut down the 9th when Helsley is not available or slot into other high-leverage spots. Fairbanks does have a super affordable contract the next two years though, so he won't come cheap.

Armstrong has been pretty good in 2024 for the Rays, but his lack of control and high-end production would cause his price to be significantly lower than Fairbanks. Armstrong has solid swing-and-miss in his game like Fairbanks but has done so to the tune of a 3.96 ERA this season.

There's also an interesting target in Phil Maton, someone whom the Cardinals had an interest in during free agency this past season but has really struggled this year. The Cardinals already made a deal with Tampa Bay this past offseason for reliever Andrew Kittredge, so maybe a sequel to that deal is in the cards.

Houston Astros

I know the Rangers are the defending World Series champions, but talking about the Houston Astros as a potential seller is a lot weirder to me. I kept expecting the Astros to totally turn things around, and while they've been a lot better as of late, they still sit 5.5 games back of the AL West and 4.5 games back of the Wild Card race. In a few weeks here we could be talking about them as buyers, but for now, they are at least in the conversation for selling, and if they do, they have pieces the Cardinals should want.

No, I'm not talking about Kyle Tucker, who will cost way too much prospect capital for the Cardinals to consider, or even some crazy idea of getting Alex Bregman. Once again, pitching is at the forefront of mind here, and the Astros have a number of arms the Cardinals could be interested in.

Like Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander is having a significant amount of his contract paid down by the Mets, but he has a player option for 2025 so the Cardinals would be on the hook for $18 million unless the Astros paid some of that down as well. He did hit the injured list recently with neck discomfort and already missed time earlier in the season too, so I'm not sure how comfortable St. Louis would be going after him.

The bigger fish that the Cardinals would surely like to add to their rotation is left-hander Framber Valdez, who's posted a 3.68 ERA this season and has one more year of control following this season. Valdez has been with the Astros for years now and is used to the high-stakes environments of October and has found himself in the Cy Young race a number of times in his career.

Again, it's unclear if the Astros will even sell at all, but if they did do so, it would take a significant package to convince them to forgo having Valdez in their rotation next year, something the Cardinals will have to debate heavily internally to consider.

Which of these teams do you think the Cardinals should be looking to make a deal with during July? If I had to pick my favorites, I would say the Blue Jays and Rangers for rotation help and then the Rays for another bullpen arm, but it remains to be seen which of those teams truly sell.