Jack Flaherty #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Globe Life Field on June 7, 2023 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
After the Cardinals’ series loss to the Reds, St. Louis may be thinking about making some drastic changes at the trade deadline. Here are three Cards to trade.
The St. Louis Cardinals just keep reaching new lows.
The Cardinals dropped a division series against the Cincinnati Reds yesterday, losing 4-3 in a game that felt truly winnable. And that’s the problem: Most of them do. That marks the sixth straight series that the Cardinals have lost in their nosedive of a season. They are 12 games under .500 and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting dimmer by the week.
What’s left for the last place team in the NL Central?
For a team that has nothing left to lose, the Cardinals have a small handful of valuable trade chips they can use to, at the very least, win some of their dignity back. They may have fallen far from the pedestal of this season’s expectations, but that doesn’t mean they have to wallow in disappointment for the next few months.
These are three Cardinals players who could be up for sale.
Cardinals trade candidate No. 3: Jack Flaherty
All injuries and no play makes Jack Flaherty a viable trade candidate. Flaherty, who is set to enter free agency at the end of this season, has been the picture of inconsistency for the Cardinals in 2023.
St. Louis are running out of ways to justify keeping him in the pitching rotation, and the statue of limitations for saying “But he looked fantastic in 2018 and 2019” has passed. Flaherty’s injury-plagued woes has seen him play just 39 games in the last three years.
This year, Flaherty is crawling to a 4.15 ERA in 69.1 innings and a 1.50 WHIP. When healthy, sure, he could maybe be considered one of the more surefire pitchers on the mound. But ever since his 2019 season he’s fought an uphill battle to stay in shape, and durability is a real concern. In his seven-year career, the right-hander has only pitched more than 100 innings twice.
Plus, Flaherty going off a reporter earlier this season just makes him seem out of touch with his game, not to mention insecure about it.
At 27 years old, Flaherty can still provide some value to St. Louis — as a trade chip. Move on the from the ace and find a better starting pitcher.