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2 hours ago
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The St. Louis Cardinals, much to the chagrin of the baseball world, continue to win games. With plenty of assets teams would fight over, the Cardinals continue to win, and put themselves into buyer's mode as opposed to being sellers.
This recent production from the Cardinals prompted Nick Selbe and Will Laws of Sports Illustrated to predict that at the MLB trade deadline, the Cardinals would trade for a player. The player they predicted the Cardinals would land is Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly.
Kelly is in the final year of a three-year, $24 million deal. He'll be a free agent after 2025, and with the Diamondbacks 3.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, they could end up as sellers. If they do, they will have plenty of players who'd fetch a pretty penny, Kelly as one of them.
The Cardinals have a solid rotation, but they could use a better number-two starter. Sonny Gray is incredible, and just came off a nine-inning shutout of the San Diego Padres in an 89-pitch masterpiece. But the rest of the rotation is suspect.
Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas, Matthew Liberatore, and Andre Pallante all have underwhelmed this year. While none of the four are terrible, they're closer to number four or five starters instead of a true number two.
This season, Kelly has a 3.49 ERA and a 7-4 record. In his 17 starts, Kelly has 100 strikeouts and 26 walks across his 98 innings pitched. He's been a solid starter for the Diamondbacks and would slide right into the Cardinals' number two role for a postseason push if the Cardinals acquired him.
If they did make the postseason, and Kelly was on the roster, his 2023 postseason performances should leave the team extremely confident. He went 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA and striking out 28 batters.
Kelly on the Cardinals would give St. Louis a strong 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. While the Cardinals being buyers would surprise some, if the team continues playing like it has lately, there's no reason for the team not to scour the market at the deadline.
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