MLB trade regrade: Should the Cardinals regret dealing Jordan Montgomery to the Rangers?

Jordan Montgomery was a key member of the St. Louis Cardinals' rotation until he was traded to the Texas Rangers.

Last summer, St. Louis was already far out of contention and ended up being sellers at the trade deadline for the first time since 2018. Montgomery was one of the first pieces shipped out before the deadline.

The Cardinals also sent right-hander Chris Stratton to the Rangers with Montgomery and acquired left-hander John King, right-hander Tekoah Roby, and infielder Thomas Saggese.

Looking back, was this a trade that the Cardinals should have never made, or did it make sense to do this with them out of contention?

Regrading Cardinals-Rangers Montgomery trade

Obviously, this deal worked out great for the Rangers. Neither Montgomery nor Stratton are still with the team, but the Rangers would not have won the World Series without them.

As for the Cardinals, this was a move geared towards the future. Saggese has quickly risen through the ranks of the Cardinals minor league system. He was initially assigned to Double-A Springfield but is now with Triple-A Memphis after a late surge last September.

This season, the 22-year-old owns a batting average of .288 with two home runs and 11 RBI. He also has an OPS of .815.

Roby still is in Double-A and has some developing to do before being promoted. He's not off to a good start this season, as he owns an ERA of 6.00 in his three starts. He also had a 4.63 ERA last season, so there is room for him to improve.

But the Cardinals do like the swing-and-miss capability that he brings to the table, so he could end up being a key piece for the Cardinals in the future.

King gave the Cardinals a little bit of everything last year. He had a difficult spring and has struggled out of the gates this year, but he helped the bullpen out tremendously last year. He appeared in 20 games and had an ERA of 1.45.

But while the Cardinals could certainly use a presence like Montgomery in their rotation, is it fair to say that they should regret trading him?

One can make the case that it was a mistake to trade him, but the Cardinals were out of contention when this deal was made, and to fully understand what went wrong for St. Louis last year, you have to look back at an even bigger mistake they made in spring training.

The Cardinals had four starters with expiring contracts in spring training, and Montgomery was one of them. But rather than give a contract extension to the future postseason hero, St. Louis chose to extend Miles Mikolas. It's safe to say that hasn't worked out so well for the Cardinals. Mikolas posted a 4.78 ERA last season, and he owns a 6.49 mark this year.

That was one of St. Louis' biggest mistakes last year. Had they extended Montgomery instead, they could have a strong No. 2 starter in their rotation next to Sonny Gray. They also likely would have been able to get a similar package for Mikolas, who at the time was still performing quite well.

So, it's less about trading Montgomery and more so about not extending him instead of Mikolas. What the Cardinals got back in the deal was a pretty solid return, but extending Mikolas put them in a position where they had to trade Montgomery.

Trade grade: B-