3 players the St. Louis Cardinals must consider trading, and 1 they absolutely can’t

The St. Louis Cardinals have a need to make some upgrades at the trade deadline, and need to deliberate on the future of these players.

This season has not been the one St. Louis Cardinals fans dreamed of during Spring Training. It’s not the storybook season for Adam Wainwright to go out with (yet, anyway), and the new addition of Willson Contreras has panned out as anything less than ideal.

All that said, the Cardinals — after nosediving down to the bottom of the standings in the NL Central — are on their way back up. Just four games out of first place in the division, the No. 1 spot in the NLC is still well within reach given how much time is left on the schedule.

That is, if the Cardinals make smart strategy decisions, and especially if they make the right moves at the trade deadline.

The deadline is August 1st, so there is plenty of time for the Cardinals to give things some time to see how they continue to improve. Perhaps they want to see how this iteration of the roster pans out. That’s certainly valid.

But even if the Cardinals decide there’s no need to make a major move or shake-up, it’s not OK to at least not consider making a move. Front offices have to consider every possibility.

These four following players are bound to come up in trade discussions. The first question, really, is to decide whether a team should or shouldn’t pursue trading that player if the package is right.