St. Louis Cardinals: 3 trade deadline targets to avoid

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CINCINNATI, OHIO – APRIL 23: Manager Oliver Marmol of the St. Louis Cardinals walks across the field in the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 23, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

The St. Louis Cardinals will be active at the trade deadline for certain. But there are some targets they must avoid in order to be successful down the stretch of the season.

The Cardinals have landed in first place in the NL Central, and in order for them to remain there, the club desperately needs pitching. The team has been getting some significant help from long relievers and prospects but will need more as the season progresses.

The Cardinals have had good outings from Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, and most recently from reliever turned starter Andre Pallante. They have had some success from Dakota Hudson and Matthew Liberatore. The team is waiting on the returns of Steven Matz and Jack Flaherty. The Cardinals can not depend on Johan Oviedo, Jake Woodford, or Jordan Hicks. As such, St. Louis will receive their first start on Monday from prospect Zack Thompson who recently had a tremendous relief outing against the Cubs.

The Cardinals should have an interesting few weeks ahead as they will be connected to several names. There are some names, however, the Cardinals must keep away from in order to continue on their current track of success. Let’s take a look at some of those names they should steer clear of for now.

St. Louis Cardinals trade target to avoid: Jose Quintana

Quintana’s outing on Sunday probably removed him from many team’s wishlists. The 33-year-old lefty lost his start on Sunday going five innings, giving up six hits and four earned runs, including three home runs.

Terrible.

This makes him 1-4 in 12 games started for the Pirates this season. He’s pitched 58.2 innings, 23 earned runs, and five homers. He has walked 20 batters and he’s struck out 50. Previously, one could attribute the poor play to the team for which Quintana plays. That may be what is going on combined with the Pirates playing the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. The Braves have won 11 games in a row. That’s amazing. Quintana is supposed to be a veteran arm that can get a team through an outing with a high-caliber team. This wasn’t a good outing and provided a hit to Quintana’s stock as we get closer to the trade deadline.

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