Apr 16, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals scoreboard as a plane passes by during the seventh inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
A former St. Louis Cardinals homegrown talent could soon return to the National League Central but it certainly won't be with the team who gave him his first big-league contract.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals have prematurely moved on from several budding stars over the last decade, including Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen and Texas Rangers superstar Adolis García.
One of the Cardinals' worst blunders in franchise history involved the trading of a Cy Young-caliber hurler, who could be traded to St. Louis' most-hated division rival this summer.
"Sandy Alcantara is a (Chicago) Cub by summer's end," MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince wrote Thursday, outlining his bold predictions for the 2025 season. "There is no more obvious trade candidate going into 2025 than the (Miami) Marlins' newly healed ace, Alcantara. Maybe it's too obvious. Maybe Alcantara gets hurt again. Maybe he doesn't recapture his Cy Young form from 2022 and is not as hot a commodity as anticipated. Or maybe a Marlins team with nothing firm on the books beyond the last guaranteed year of Alcantara's extension in 2026 extends him again."
Alcantara posted 8 1/3 innings pitched for the Cardinals after debuting with the club in 2017 at 21 years old. Before that, the Dominican Republic native played in St. Louis' farm system for four seasons prior to him being dealt to the Marlins, along with Diamondbacks Opening Day starter Gallen in exchange for Atlanta Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna -- arguably one of the Redbirds' worst-ever trades.
"But I'm going with the premise that Alcantara is the darling of the deadline, and the Cubs look like a team that will have the need to amplify its pitching, the desire to nail down the division and the financial might and farm system depth to get this done," Castrovince continued. "They should be making every effort to return to October for the first time in a full season since 2018 and with a roster capable of going the distance," Castrovince went on to say. "And nobody goes the distance better than Alcantara, a throwback capable of a 200-plus-inning campaign and these little-known, old-fashioned things called complete games."
Considering that the Cardinals traded a pair of front-end starting pitchers for Ozuna, who only spent two seasons in St. Louis, it would be especially painful to see Alcantara join the NL Central-foe Cubs.
This isn't the first time Alcantara has recently been floated as a logical trade chip for the Cubs. If the 29-year-old dominates in the first half of the 2025 season, Chicago might go all in to make a move for the Sandman.