The Cardinals’ rebuild is officially upon us after multiple trade deadline deals | Locked on Cardinals

St. Louis has had a disappointing 2023 and now they traded away a starter and two relievers in exchange for four prospects and a reliever.

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals avoided a sweep by the Chicago Cubs on Sunday and made two big trades before the day ended. 

And no, it wasn’t Nolan Arenado, which was rumored for a while. It also wasn’t young outfielder Dylan Carlson – although there is still some chatter about him being moved – and Jack Flaherty may also be moved before the deadline on Tuesday.

Instead, the Cardinals traded lefty starter Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton to the Texas Rangers and reliever Jordan Hicks to the Toronto Blue Jays. 

In return, the Cardinals got back four prospects and one major-league-level reliever: RHPs Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein from the Blue Jays and RHP Tekoah Roby, INF Thomas Saggese, and LHP John King from the Rangers.

Most of the prospects are projected to be big league ready in 2024. 

Host JD Hafron of Locked On Cardinals discussed the team’s busy Sunday on the latest episode. 

“Are these elite, top-end prospects? No. No, they’re not,” Hafron said. “But what it does is replenish the farm system that outside of guys like Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn, and Tink Hence doesn’t really move the needle for a lot of people.” 

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Hafron also added that it says something about the Cardinals’ system: three of the four prospects they received are now on their Top 10 prospects list. 

King was nearly part of the Joey Gallo deal to New York in 2021, and he has a 5.79 ERA in 18 and two-thirds innings this season while going back and forth between the Rangers and Triple-A Round Rock. 

As for the guys they sent away, Montgomery is 6-9 with a 3.42 ERA in 21 starts, and the Rangers got him because they needed to shore up their rotation which injuries have decimated. Nathan Eovaldi was placed on the 15-day IL with a forearm strain, and the Rangers have already lost Jacob deGrom to Tommy John surgery earlier this season. Montgomery is a free agent this offseason. 

Stratton is 1-1 with a 4.36 ERA in 42 appearances. He adds depth to a Rangers’ bullpen that needs it and joins the also newly acquired Aroldis Chapman, who was traded to the Rangers on June 30 from the Royals. 

Hicks, who recently revealed he and the Cardinals were trying to work on a contract extension,  is 1-6 with a 3.67 ERA across 40 games and is bringing his 102-103 MPH heat to the Blue Jays bullpen as they jockey for position in an ultra-competitive American League East division. 

Cardinals’ team president John Mozeliak said on Sunday after the trades were made in quick succession, “This is a day that we were hoping would never happen in the sense of having to break up our club and having to focus on the future, but over the course of the last two weeks, we were really taking a hard look at what the Trade Deadline could do for us.”

The Cardinals were not expecting to be in this position, but they did the right thing by trading away some pieces to ensure their future is a lot brighter. 

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