Cardinals Aiming For Multiple Reunions In Free Agency Despite Fire Sale

St. Louis is hoping to bring back familiar faces despite recent trades

The St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff struggled leading up to this year's trade deadline -- forcing the organization to make some trade decisions that were tough to swallow.

Over the weekend, St. Louis had to reluctantly say goodbye to three essential pieces of their pitching staff after trading starter Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton to the Texas Rangers and sending closer Jordan Hicks to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The decision to let go of three proven arms was a bitter pill to swallow for the ball club but Manager Oliver Marmol is predicting a reunion in the future.

“Our hope is this isn’t the last time they’re wearing this (Cardinals) uniform.” per MLB Pipeline's John Denton.

It's clear that St. Louis did not want to trade Montgomery, Stratton, and Hicks but felt they had to in order to move forward. 

With all three pitchers being free agents at the end of the season, St. Louis had to choose between risking to keep them for the rest of the season and get nothing, or trading them away for prospects that will help them win down the line.

The Cardinals are now left with three major pitching holes to fill before next season and it's more trades happen before Tuesday night's deadline. Jack Flaherty is all but gone as is Paul DeJong while the organization reportedly also mulls over the idea of trading young stars such as Brendan Donovan, Tommy Edman, Alec Burleson and Dylan Carlson.

For now, the Cardinals will have to count their losses of Montgomery, Stratton, and Hicks but could have a chance to bring them back home this winter.

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