Kyle Gibson, Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals. (Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)
The St. Louis Cardinals need to act quickly if they want to save their season before it’s too late.
With huge expectations entering the 2021 MLB season, the St. Louis Cardinals have been nothing short of a massive disappointment this year.
St. Louis enters play on Tuesday night vs. the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks at 38-41 on the season. This has the Cardinals in fourth place in the NL Central standings with only the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates below them. Starting rotation issues have largely plagued their season, but the Cardinals still have time to make a deal to land an ace pitcher ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.
Here are three players worth trading for in a last-ditch effort to save the Cardinals’ 2021 season.
St. Louis Cardinals: 3 trades to save their season
3
Kyle Gibson
RHP Texas Rangers
Kyle Gibson’s AL-best ERA would be a huge boost to the Cardinals rotation
In his second season with the Texas Rangers, Kyle Gibson has never pitched better. He boasts a 6-0 record in 15 start for the second-worst team in the American League. Gibson leads the AL with a blistering 2.00 ERA and an incredibly 200 ERA+ in 90.0 innings. He is considerably better than he was a year ago during his first season in Arlington. Texas has massive trade value here.
Though Gibson is in the midst of his age-33 season, he rarely misses starts and will not be hitting unrestricted free agency until 2023. While he is not the biggest name on the trading block this summer, acquiring a veteran pitcher like him would be a boost to any rotation he joins for the second half of this year and next. The question is how many prospects would you have to give up.
The Cardinals might be able to still hold on to top prospect Matthew Liberatore, but we have to keep in mind that Texas is rebuilding. The Rangers are 30-48 on the season and a whopping 17.5 games out of first place in the AL West standings. With only the Baltimore Orioles worse than them in the Junior Circuit, they have the right to ask for the moon for the AL ERA leader this July.
Gibson may help the Cardinals this season and next, but he might be having a career year in 2021.