A Cardinals-Angels trade to steal a likely deadline target from the Cubs

It seems as though nearly every contending team is in the market for some starting pitching ahead of the trade deadline. Teams understand how important quality starters are for a team to contend in October.

Two of the teams that need to add a pitcher are the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, as both are chasing the Brewers in the NL Central. Not only are they chasing the Brewers, but they're constantly jockeying for position with each other.

What better way to overtake the other team than to steal one of their biggest trade targets from them? That's exactly what the Cardinals could do by acquiring Tyler Anderson from the Angels.

A Cardinals-Angels trade to steal Tyler Anderson from the Cubs wish list

Tyler Anderson will be on every contending team's wish list, but he's certainly a name to watch for the Cubs.

Anderson has made 15 starts, boasting a 2.48 ERA across nearly 100 innings pitched. He does have an FIP in the mid 4.00's, which is cause for concern, likely due to his high walk rate. But, that hasn't impacted him yet and the Cardinals would still want his services over some of the players in their rotation.

To acquire Anderson, who has an additional year of team control on his contract, would take the Cardinals 8th and 18th ranked prospects, two right-handed pitchers.

Graceffo, 24, has been very solid this year. He holds a 3.84 ERA across 75 Triple-A innings in 2024. The righty has a fastball that can tick up into the high 90's, but with relatively low movement, it gets hit decently hard. His potential, due to his improving command and his tremendous slider, remains tremendously high at this point in time.

Bedell, 24, has shown solid command in his professional career, recently recieving a promotion to Triple-A. He features multiple quality pitches including his best pitch, his slider. He's able to throw two different breaking balls which is crucial in this day and age of platoon split lineups.

Anderson will likely regress to the mean this year, at some point, but for right now, he continues to flash excellence. The Cardinals would make this move with the expectations that he won't regress at all. They would also steal him from their division rivals, where every team in the NL Central could find themselves in the market for Anderson, specifically the Cubs.

It's a win-win deal for the Cardinals to keep Anderson from being their rival down the stretch.