The St. Louis Cardinals were right to hang on to these 3 players

The St. Louis Cardinals, for the first time in a generation, were sellers at the trade deadline this year. The Cardinals did well to unload their expiring contracts after making a handful of moves over the last week to restock the farm system.

There were, however, rumors that St. Louis would consider moving on from some of their cost-controlled players like Brendan Donovan and Tyler O'Neill. After the Tuesday deadline came and went, most of the St. Louis offense was kept together.

Instead, Paul DeJong was removed from the Cardinal offense and eventually shipped to the Toronto Blue Jays, joining former Cardinals teammates Genesis Cabrera and Jordan Hicks in Canada.

With Tommy Edman's arrival off the injured list on Tuesday, DeJong's presence on the team would have created another logjam on the Cardinals' active roster. Instead, it will be Edman who will get the majority of the reps at shortstop.

Of the players that remain, three players deserved to stay in St. Louis and should receive the bulk of the playing time down the stretch to either increase their value to be moved in the offseason or to showcase their skills to the front office to remain in the mix for the next several years.