The St. Louis Cardinals are looking to make some changes this offseason after a wildly disappointing 2023 campaign saw them finish last in the National League Central with a 71-91 record. That's certainly not what the Cardinals were hoping for, and they have been a busy team in the rumor mill early on this offseason, and they were looking to make moves ahead of the non-tender deadline, particularly in regards to starting pitcher Dakota Hudson.

Hudson, who was a former first-round pick for St. Louis, continued to struggle in 2023 (6-3, 4.98 ERA, 45 K, 1.50 WHIP), and the Cardinals made the decision to move on from him early on in the offseason it appears. With the deadline fast approaching on Friday, the Cards were aggressively shopping Hudson in hopes that they could get something in return for him instead of letting him walk in free agency.

Via Mark Feinsand:

“The Cardinals are shopping Dakota Hudson ‘pretty hard' today, per source, meaning he could be a non-tender candidate if he's not moved.”

The Cardinals were unsuccessful in their efforts to trade Dakota Hudson

Cardinals, Oli Marmol, Dylan Carlson, Jordan Walker, Nolan Arenado

While Hudson has not necessarily proven himself to be a very capable starter in the MLB, he obviously has some upside that teams would be interested in tapping into. Unfortunately, nothing ever developed on the trade market for Hudson, and it resulted in the Cardinals simply non-tendering him and cutting their losses with the talented yet inconsistent pitcher.

Via St. Louis Cardinals:

“We have non-tendered the following players: RHP Dakota Hudson RHP Jake Woodford C Andrew Knizner 1B/OF Juan Yepez Our 40-player roster now stands at 36.”

The decision to simply move on from Hudson without recouping anything in return is fairly surprising, and it's not the start to the offseason the Cardinals were hoping for. The front office decided it wasn't worth paying Hudson to struggle anymore, but with the team being linked to star pitchers such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Dylan Cease, fans would surely get over this decision if they were able to land an ace on the free agent market instead.