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The St. Louis Cardinals avoided a major catastrophe by not making this trade

By Josh Jacobs |
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New York Yankees v Tampa Bay Rays / Julio Aguilar/GettyImages
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Recent Frankie Montas news would have made a trade with the Cardinals' even worse

Stop me if you've heard this before - the St. Louis Cardinals found themselves linked to a front-line starter for months on end, and eventually missed out on that pitcher after an American League contender made a move for them.

No, I'm not talking about Pablo Lopez, who had been connected to the Cardinals for some time before landing with the Minnesota Twins. I am talking about New York Yankees' Frankie Montas, who I and many MLB insiders saw the Cardinals' making a play for while he was a member of the Oakland Athletics. Only six months removed from that trade, it looks like St. Louis avoided a major mistake.

At the MLB Trade Deadline, the Athletics sent Montas and reliever Lou Trivino to the Yankees for JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina, and Cooper Bowman. The equivalent to that package for the Cardinals (based on organization prospect rankings) would have been something like Gordon Graceffo, Michael McGreevy, Jake Walsh, and Jonathan Mejia. Had St. Louis given up this kind of package for Montas and Trivino, we would be ripping them for it every day based on his second-half performance alone.

After coming over to the Yankees, Montas made 8 starts, throwing just 39.2 innings with a 6.35 ERA. He was excellent during the first-half with Oakland, going 4-9 with a 3.18 ERA in 104.2 innings but had a shoulder injury that worried may teams. The Yankees still pulled the trigger though, and it proved costly for them down the stretch.

The recent news about Montas though makes this trade look even worse.

Frankie Montas may miss the 2023 season after a terrible second half with the Yankees

According to recent reports, Montas may need surgery for the shoulder injury he had during the 2022 season, which would cause him to miss the entire 2023 season for New York. After giving up quite a bit of prospect capital, the Yankees may have made one of the worst trades in recent memory.

Had the Cardinals made this trade, they would not have acquired Jordan Montgomery, leaving them with a rotation of Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, Adam Wainwright, Steven Matz, and probably Dakota Hudson now heading into 2023 after this news about Montas' shoulder. Not only that, but they'd be without multiple key prospects, leaving their farm system thinner if they wanted to go out and acquire a new starter.

For as frustrating as these "non-moves" can feel in the moment, in hindsight, they often end up being the right decisions. The Cardinals, more often than not, win the trades that they make. I see them being accused of prospect hoarding, which is a bit accurate at times, but I also think they tend to be wise in their decisions not to give up valuable assets. Should this deal or their whiff of a Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen for Marcell Ozuna trade prevent them from aggressively pursuing a starter in the near future? No, but it does go to show that the organization tends to make the right decisions when it comes to the trade market.

Next. 5 Cardinals' who may not be on the roster by the end of 2023. dark

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