Grading each of the St. Louis Cardinals' trade deadline moves

It's been a few days now since the St. Louis Cardinals whirlwind of a trade deadline. For the first time in the John Mozeliak era, the club was a legit seller at the deadline. Sure, there have been years where they were not "buying", but we have never seen a teardown at the deadline under this front office.

Many, myself included, had hoped that the Cardinals could also pull off some deals for high-end starting pitching with control. Names like Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, and Bryce Miller of the Seattle Mariners came to mind. But the only starter moved at the deadline with club control was Guardians' Aaron Civale, who netted the Guardians a top-30 prospect in baseball.

So, without a clear deal on the table, the Cardinals did what they needed to do, which was capitalize on their impending free agents. There was buzz about extension talks with Jordan Hicks and Jack Flaherty leading up to the deadline, as well as a possible outcome where the Cardinals would keep Flaherty and just extend him a qualifying offer in the offseason. None of those things came to fruition, as the Cardinals were able to pull off deals for not only Hicks and Flaherty, but also Paul DeJong, Jordan Montgomery, and Chris Stratton.

So, how did the Cardinals do at the deadline this year? Let's break down each individual deal, and then give the Cardinals an overall deadline grade as well.

These are my grades for the St. Louis Cardinals trade deadline moves