Here is the blueprint for the St. Louis Cardinals to win the MLB trade deadline

Capitalizing on the value of impending free agents and aggressively pursuing upgrades for 2024 would lead to the Cardinals winning the trade deadline.
Houston Astros v St. Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros v St. Louis Cardinals / Scott Kane/GettyImages
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3. Trade Dylan Carlson to the New York Yankees for Clayton Beeter and Randy Vazquez

I really like Dylan Carlson. But if the Cardinals are not going to commit to him as an everyday outfielder, then they are wasting his career on the bench and need to turn him into pitching help.

As the deadline nears, the Yankees and Cardinals continue to heat up as trade partners, with names like Dylan Carlson, Tyler O'Neill, Jordan Montgomery, and Jack Flaherty being closely linked.

I keep bringing up Clayton Beeter as he is a name that has been directly linked from the Yankees farm system, but there are a variety of arms in the Yankees system that could appeal to the Cardinals.

Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren, Richard Fitts, and Yoendrys Gomez could all be of interest to St. Louis. Beeter just appeared in the MLB Futures Game and has looked really good in Double-A and Triple-A this year, while Vasquez has made his MLB debut with the Yankees and looked very good to this point.

In this scenario, the Cardinals would love both Nootbaar and Carlson at this deadline, committing to Brendan Donovan and Jordan Walker in the corner outfield spots with Tommy Edman in center field for the time being. The Cardinals could then pursue a center field upgrade in free agency like Cody Bellinger, Harrison Bader, or Kevin Kiermaier if they so choose.