Cardinals interested in Astros starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi

The St. Louis Cardinals have been associated with many starting pitchers in the merchant market, but there is one very surprising one for a few reasons.

That St. Louis Cardinals know they need to start pitching. They had a lot of injuries and some starters failed when they were healthy. In fact, Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright were the only two starters who didn’t disappoint either on the field or with injuries.

Therefore, they have expressed interest in many starting pitchers in the trade market. These include Oakland A starting pitcher Frankie Montas and Loud Derrick Good from The mailing of St. Louisthey also reviewed Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi and Angels starter Noah Syndergaard.

All three are on teams that have struggled this season, so they shouldn’t be big surprises. However, one of their targets comes from a competitor: Houston Astros Starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi.

St. Louis Cardinals interested in Houston Astros starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi

The Houston Astros have the second-best record in the American League at 66-36, but they could sell one of their veterans: starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi and the St. Louis Cardinals are interested.

Odorizzi, 32, is from Breese, Illinois, which is about 40 miles from Busch Stadium. So if the Cardinals and Astros teamed up for a trade, it would be a homecoming of sorts for him. But the problem for the Cardinals is that he didn’t do well that season.

In 2022 he has completed just 11 starts and has a 4.25 ERA (92 ERA+). He’s averaging under five innings per start with a career-low strikeout rate (6.5K/9). He is also a free agent at the end of this season.

If the Cardinals took over Odorizzi, it would smell like their last trading deadline. They traded for three lefties, all struggling elsewhere: Jon Lester, JA Happ and Wade LeBlanc. All three performed better for St. Louis but still didn’t have the quality the Cardinals needed as the Cardinals were quickly knocked out in the 2021 NL Wild Card Game. Coincidentally, all three were eliminated after the 2021 season.

In reality, the Cardinals need to get some more dominant starters because, as they say, you can never have too much pitching and there’s nothing worse than nickels and dimming on the pitching start.