Insider Wants Former Cardinal Traded To Cubs

As we start to get closer to the 2025 Major League Baseball trade deadline, one former member of the St. Louis Cardinals is going to get talked about a lot.

St. Louis traded Sandy Alcántara to the Miami Marlins years ago and he blossomed into a star. He only pitched eight games at the big league level for the Cardinals in 2017 and has been with Miami since the 2018 campaign. Since then, he has earned two All-Star nods, dealt with some rough injuries, and won the 2022 National League Cy Young Award.

Miami is poised for a firesale and Alcántara is its best trade chip even though he hasn't had a great season so far. Alcántara returned to the mound after missing the 2024 season so a little rust is to be expected. He has a 6.88 ERA overall this season in 14 starts, but has a 2.12 ERA over his last three starts.

Throughout the season so far, it has been expected that he would be the biggest star moved ahead of the trade deadline. Rafael Devers had something to say about that and was already traded to the San Francisco Giants. Alcántara is still going to be one of the biggest names talked about over the next month.

The Cardinals aren't likely to go out and splurge and make a move to bring him back, but one insider wants another National League Central club to do just that. The Athletic's Jim Bowden made a list of six trade proposals he wants to see happen and made one sending Alcántara to the Chicago Cubs.

"No. 1. Marlins trade RHP Sandy Alcantara to Cubs for RHP Cade Horton, OF Owen Caissie, OF Kelvin Alcántara and SS Ronny Cruz," Bowden said. "Sandy Alcantara has pitched much better of late, allowing two runs or fewer in each of his last three starts. He has a 6.88 ERA on the season, but if he shows he’s making even more progress toward rediscovering his Cy Young Award-winning form, what an acquisition he would be. In that scenario, adding an ace like Alcantara to their starting rotation would solidify the Cubs’ chances to not only win the NL Central, but also vastly improve their postseason odds and chances of advancing to the World Series.

"In return, the Marlins would receive Horton, 23, to replace Sandy Alcantara in their rotation, and two corner outfielders, Caissie and Kevin Alcántara, who should be major-league-ready by next year; that would allow Miami to trade either outfielder Jesús Sánchez or outfielder Kyle Stowers at this year’s deadline for more talent. Caissie, 22, has an .879 OPS this season at Triple A, while his Iowa Cubs teammate Alcántara, 22, is batting .239/.322/.400 with seven homers and nine steals. Cruz, an 18-year-old who is currently in Rookie ball, would be the final piece to make the deal work for Miami."

This obviously is hypothetical, but it is coming from an insider and former MLB GM so it has some sort of merit. For the Cardinals sake, hopefully this doesn't become a reality.