Red-Hot Cardinals Should Bring All-Star Back To St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals look like a team that could be legitimately dangerous in the National League.

St. Louis enters play on Wednesday sporting a 31-24 record after taking down the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. If the Cardinals continue to play the way they have throughout the month of May, there's a realistic chance that they could be a playoff team this year. The Cardinals currently have the No. 3 Wild Card spot in the National League and are one game back of the No. 2 spot and three games behind the No. 1 New York Mets.

If the Cardinals keep playing like this, it would make sense to strategically add ahead of the July trade deadline. They likely won't do anything crazy that mortgages the future, but a short-term boost down the stretch shouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. This series against the Orioles presents an opportunity to get a look at an old friend and maybe someone worth calling about.

Former Cardinals reliever Andrew Kittredge looked like a star last year. He had a 2.80 ERA in 74 appearances for the Cardinals. He only has appeared in three games so far this season and has a 3.00 ERA. Kittredge was injured early on but is healthy now.

The one-time All-Star signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Orioles before the season. Baltimore has been bad this year, though, and he would be a valuable arm to offload. The Cardinals already know what they can get out of him. Why not call in July if the Orioles still are struggling and St. Louis is winning?