Philadelphia Phillies Seen as Potential Fit for Cardinals Ace at Deadline

The Philadelphia Phillies have a few options when it comes to the MLB trade deadline.

They could opt to go with acquiring another power bat, someone like St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado?

Or they could pursue Arenado's teammate and Cardinals ace Jordan Montgomery.

In fact, Montgomery was linked to the Phillies as a potential fit at the MLB trade deadline by Baseball Essential's Scott Neville.

Montgomery would easily slide in as the third starter in the Phillies rotation after having put up a 3.23 ERA over the course of 103.0 innings pitched before the MLB All-Star break.

With the Cardinals seemingly out of the postseason race, a sell-off, including Montgomery, seems to be in the cards.

"Montgomery is seen as someone the Cardinals would be interested in retaining long-term but it would be reckless to keep him around in a lost season instead of capitalizing on his value," writes Neville. "He's posted a 3.28 ERA with a 91-to-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .251 batting average against, 1.24 WHIP in 98 2/3 innings across 17 starts."

A hurler like Montgomery would help catapult Philadelphia's rotation to one of the very best in MLB. It would also help ensure that they can secure a postseason spot for a second-consecutive season.

Or hey, perhaps the Phillies really go for it and acquire both Arenado and Montgomery in a single, franchise-altering package.

One really never knows when you have Dave Dombrowski at the helm of the front office.

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