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

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.