Following a disappointing 71-91 season, the St. Louis Cardinals look to reverse their fortunes in 2024. The club rehauled its starting rotation, adding Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Sonny Gray in free agency to highlight a busy offseason.

The results were not encouraging to begin the year. The team fell as far as nine games below .500 in early May while dropping to last place in the NL Central. But since bottoming out, the Cardinals have turned things around. The team won five straight series to close out May and have slowly worked to pull itself above .500 — with its current 39-37 record being St. Louis' best mark this year.

With the Cardinals up to second place in the division, the team approaches the MLB trade deadline in prime position as a buyer. This is what a perfect trade deadline looks like for the Cardinals.

Trade for Chicago White Sox centerfielder Luis Robert

No team in all of Major League Baseball has gotten less production from its centerfielders this year than the St. Louis Cardinals. STL centerfielders have combined for a -1.6 WAR — the worst in baseball. Opening day centerfield Victor Scott batted .138 to start the year, earning himself a two-month demotion to Triple-A. His replacement, Michael Siani, has not been much better. Siani carries a .533 OPS with six extra-base hits in 149 at-bats.

Acquiring an injury-prone player like Luis Robert is a risk. Last year was the first time Robert stayed healthy for a full 162-game campaign after playing just over 50% of possible contests across 2021 and 2022. He also missed all of April and May in 2024. But when healthy, Robert is among the best centerfielders in the league. The 26-year-old went for 38 homers, 80 RBI, and 20 stolen bases last season, earning his first All-Star nod while also playing above-average defense.

Adding Luis Robert gives the Cardinals the All-Star-level production the team desperately needs in center field.

Acquire starting pitcher Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers

Sonny Gray has been very good in his first season with the Cardinals, posting a 2.81 ERA and an impressive 2.59 FIP — the latter being the best of his career. But outside of Gray, St. Louis has not gotten consistent production from its starting pitchers, as the team's starting pitchers have a combined WAR of -1.8 — 25th in the Majors.

Lance Lynn has failed to pitch five full innings in three of his last four starts. Steven Matz, coming off a solid year, is on the IL with a 6.18 ERA. Kyle Gibson and Miles Mikolas have both started to find their footing as of late — Gibson with a 2.91 ERA over his last nine starts and Mikolas with a 2.98 ERA in his last seven appearances. But can either player been depended on over the course of the season to consistently perform at that level?

Tarik Skubal would be the elite pitcher the Cardinals need alongside Sonny Gray. Skubal has a 2.55 ERA on the year and is striking out 10.5 batters per nine innings. The lefty has also not allowed more than four earned runs in a start this season. There are concerns about his durability (just 15 starts made in 2023 and 21 starts in 2022), but Skubal is the current favorite to win the AL Cy Young. With the Detroit Tigers struggling to compete, the electric lefty could make a high-profile move to a St. Louis team looking to add an ace.