5 trade targets from the St. Louis Cardinals for the Colorado Rockies

As Colorado Rockies fans are well aware, the Colorado Rockies have, seemingly, been a farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals for decades now.

The first-ever trade between the two teams sent two-time All-Star and former NL Cy Young award candidate, the late Darryl Kile, to the Cardinals to become an All-Star and Cy Young award candidate once again after two forgetful seasons as a member of the Rockies.

Just under five years later, the Rockies traded future Hall of Famer Larry Walker to the Cardinals for, essentially, nothing, and just over 15 years later, the Rockies traded them a player who is on a path to the Hall of Fame in Nolan Arenado.

The St. Louis Cardinals are also, arguably, the best team in the National League Central entering 2022. They made it to the NL Wild Card Game in 2021 after underperforming for most of the season but they won 21 of their final 23 games.

This offseason, they haven’t done a ton but they did add starting pitcher Steven Matz to their rotation and they will have three of their main pitchers from 2018 and 2019 back after having significant injuries in 2020 and 2021.

The Colorado Rockies, unlike the St. Louis Cardinals, are not a playoff-contending team.

The Colorado Rockies are not a playoff-contending team, like the St. Louis Cardinals. They won 74 games in 2021, went 26-34 in 2020, and won 71 games in 2019.

However, they believe that they just “need more pieces” to be a playoff contender in 2022, which is why we are examining every other MLB for trade targets for the Rockies. Overall, the likelihood that the two teams come together for a trade that has the Rockies being the buyers is negligible.

But there are still five St. Louis Cardinals players that the Colorado Rockies should examine further as trade targets.

St. Louis Cardinals infielder Tommy Edman would be a great fit for the Colorado Rockies

St. Louis Cardinals infielder Tommy Edman would be a great fit for the Colorado Rockies for a few reasons.

Edman, 26, made his debut with the Cardinals in 2019 and since then, he has been a good and versatile player for them. In 2021, he played in 159 games and he hit .262/.308/.387 with 41 doubles, 11 homers, and 56 RBI with an OPS+ of 93.

Defensively, he had 7 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), which was good enough for him to get the Gold Glove Award at second base. That also helped him get an rWAR of 3.7.

In 55 games in 2020, Edman hit .250/.317/.368 with seven doubles, five homers, 26 RBI, and an OPS+ of 90. He had 8 DRS, which helped him get an rWAR of 1.2.

In 2019 (his rookie season), Edman played in 92 games after he was called up in June and he hit for a higher average as he hit .304/.350/.500. He had 17 doubles, 11 homers, 36 RBI, and an OPS+ of 122. He had 13 DRS, which helped get his 3.9 rWAR.

The Rockies love their versatile players and Edman fits that mold. While he won the Gold Glove award at second base in 2021 (and they easily could plug him in there), Edman has played over 60 games at third base, right field, more than a dozen games at shortstop, and a handful of games in left and center in his MLB career.

It should be noted too that Edman is from the San Diego, California area, where Rockies manager Bud Black is from as well and he has been able to bring in a few players to the Rockies with San Diego ties.

With his controllability (he’s not even eligible for arbitration yet) and the Cardinals being playoff contenders, they are very unlikely to trade him but he would definitely be a fit in more ways than one.

St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong is much more likely to be traded and the Colorado Rockies would be a fit

Someone that is much more likely to be traded this offseason (whenever the lockout ends) is St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong and he would be a fit with the Colorado Rockies.

The Rockies will almost certainly lose Trevor Story in free agency and they will need someone to replace him either at shortstop or in the infield and move someone else (like Ryan McMahon or Brendan Rodgers) to shortstop.

DeJong, 28, really struggled at the plate in 2021 as, in 113 games, he had 19 homers and 45 RBI but a slash line of just .197/.284/.390 and an OPS+ of 86.

In 2020, he had similar numbers as, in 45 games, he had three homers and 25 RBI with a .250/.322/.349 slash line and an OPS+ of 87. In 2019, though, DeJong was an All-Star as he hit 30 homers and had 78 RBI in 159 games with a .233/.318/.444 slash line with an OPS+ of 99.

Defensively, he had 6 DRS in 2021, 0 DRS in 2020, and 24 DRS in 2019. In 2019, with those defensive numbers, his rWAR was 5.7.

If DeJong could have that production at the plate and defensively, he could be a great asset for the Rockies or, even better, have his 2018 (102 OPS+) or 2017 (121 OPS+).

DeJong is locked up for the next two seasons for a combined $15.33 million and there are two team options for a combined $27.5 million after. Considering his struggles, the Cardinals should pay for some of the guaranteed years but if he can be a 5-6 WAR player like he was in 2019, then he will be well worth the team options, and the Rockies could foot the tab for them.

The Colorado Rockies have already liked St. Louis Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson for years now.

Two years ago (minus a week), Kevin Larson of Rox Pile examined a recent trade idea that was being bandied about that the time between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Colorado Rockies. The two clubs were discussing a trade for Nolan Arenado and, eventually, the Cardinals did get their man but in the 2019-2020 offseason, the two teams were discussing starting pitcher Dakota Hudson. The Rockies still should be considering him now.

Hudson, 27, has barely pitched in the last two years as he was out with Tommy John surgery, which he had at the end of September 2020. However, he is healthy again as he pitched in two games for the Cardinals at the end of the season.

Hudson was the Cardinals’ #4 prospect entering the 2019 season, which was just ahead of infielder Elehuris Montero, who the Rockies acquired from the Cardinals in the Arenado deal. He has a very good fastball with three average to above-average secondary pitches and a slightly below-average curveball.

For the Rockies, part of the reason why they were interested in him two years ago and why they are interested in him now is his very high groundball rate. The Rockies starting rotation has been good in recent years (and, particularly, at Coors Field) because high groundball rates. Since 2019 (minimum 300 innings pitched), the Rockies had three starters in the top 17 in groundball rates.

Among all pitchers with at least 200 innings pitched since 2019, Hudson’s groundball rate is third-highest at 57.2 percent.

Hudson is entering the first year of arbitration.

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks would be a good fit for the Colorado Rockies bullpen

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks would be a good fit for the Colorado Rockies bullpen.

Like Hudson, Hicks, 25, has not pitched much in the last two years since he had Tommy John surgery and elbow inflammation. Hicks also opted out of the 2020 season due to the pandemic and him having type I diabetes. Hicks returned in 2021 to pitch in a handful of games (with limited success) but what he did in 2018 and 2019 is what should intrigue the Rockies.

In 2018 (his rookie years), Hicks appeared in 73 games and he had a 3.59 ERA with six saves. He had an ERA+ of 108, a FIP of 3.74, and a WHIP of 1.339. In 2019 before having to have Tommy John surgery in June, he had a 3.14 ERA in 29 games as the Cardinals’ closer. He had 14 saves, a 135 ERA+, and a 0.942 WHIP.

Hicks is known for his great fastball as, in 2018, he tied the MLB record for throwing a fastball at 105.1 MPH and, in 2019, his average velocity on his fastball was 101.1 MPH, which was the highest in baseball.

He also has a sinker that frequently is over 100 MPH. That helped him have a 63 percent groundball rate, which is 7th-highest among relievers since 2018. He is entering his second season of arbitration.

Our trade target series is done in the NL Central and next, we will head to our last division: the NL West and the Arizona Diamondbacks.