Cardinals Will 'Listen To Offers' For These Four Homegrown Sluggers

The St. Louis Cardinals need to improve their pitching staff in order to turn around their season after one of the worst starts in franchise history.

While the recent move to get Willson Contreras away from pitching calling duties will help, it's clear that St. Louis will need to look at external options to improve the group.

The Cardinals reportedly have a few trade chips in mind as they seek a deal for starting pitching.

"The Cardinals will listen to offers for outfielders Tyler O’Neill (injured list), Dylan Carlson, Alec Burleson and Juan Yepez (recalled last week and is hitting .294 with one homer in 17 at-bats), but so far no team has knocked down the door with a starting pitcher deal that moved the needle," The Athletic's Jim Bowden wrote Monday.

With the deadline months away, the Cardinals might have to wait for one of these sluggers to heat up in order to attract a trade partner. Yepez is swinging a hot bat but only has played in five games this season. The other three are underperforming and one of them -- O'Neill -- isn't even healthy.

Teams could be attracted to the potential of some of the aforementioned sluggers -- especially since all have multiple years of team control remaining. But, a combination of this grouping will not be traded for a frontline starter.

The Cardinals likely would have to package whomever they choose on the big league side from this grouping and add some enticing prospects to swing a trade for an impactful pitcher.

St. Louis being willing to part ways with these players to make changes to the pitching staff makes sense but you need to give up good players to get them and none of the four mentioned are worth much at the moment.

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