4 St. Louis Cardinals who aren’t on the trade block, but should be

As the trade deadline nears, which St. Louis Cardinals should be on the block?

The St. Louis Cardinals are off to the worst start in decades and sit a miserable11.5 games back of the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central.

The team is suffering after waiting for their front office to make good on improving the team, specifically the starting pitching. While the organization said its main priority was to get a catcher to replace legendary catcher, Yadier Molina, getting some pitching was also mentioned on the needs list.

That was never met. The organization doubled down on their pitchers, knowing this is the final season for Adam Wainwright, who has been dealing with various health issues. Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty will each become free agents at the end of this season. Steven Matz and Miles Mikolas are the only starting pitchers signed after this season, and each has had their share of struggles this season. Matthew Liberatore was brought up to start and did well until he was moved into a long relief role.

These issues, combined with poor rotation management by manager Oli Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake have made the situation all the worse.

The organization attempted to blame the struggles on new catcher Willson Contreras. Still, things were smoother after the new catcher made a concerted effort to work and communicate with each pitcher to determine what they needed from him.

Combine this with defensive miscues due to several players being out of place and then an offense that struggles to hit with any consistency, and you’ve got a team that desperately needs a change to improve their season and seasons to come. The past few seasons have frustrated the group and its fan base. It’s time for the organization, specifically president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and chairman Bill DeWitt, to make things right for the team and its adoring fanbase.

Let’s discuss some players who are not on the team’s trade block but possibly should consider what they could bring to the table.