Tyler O'Neill is on the trade market... Was he ever off?

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that the St. Louis Cardinals will entertain offers on outfielder Tyler O'Neill, a player largely thought to be available at the 2023 MLB trade deadline.

Here's the excerpt from Goold's article:

The Cardinals are open to dealing from their outfielder and infielder depth to acquire pitching and streamline their major league roster. Trades could bring clarity to their outfield, for example. They are going to entertain offers for Gold Glove winner Tyler O'Neill, multiple sources said. A few teams, including Toronto, have asked about Dylan Carlson, according to another source. The Yankees are shopping for two outfielders and want to add some "left-handed balance" to the lineup, general manager Brian Cashman said. Multiple sources said the Yankees see the Cardinals as a fit for trade talks involving Alec Burleson or Brendan Donovan.

This isn't new... It's the same thing we heard in October and confirms what the baseball world thought in July: O'Neill's time with the Cardinals is limited.

O'Neill's career track has been roller coaster-esque. With the Cardinals since 2018, he's played in over 100 games in a given season just once. That lone season of consistent availability also proved to be his best, where he finished eighth in MVP voting along with his second-straight Gold Glove award. He put forth a 148 OPS+ but fell below the average mark of 100 to 99 in 2022 and 94 in 2023.

Most frustrating is the lack of availability, though, as O'Neill has dealt with injury after injury throughout his MLB career. O'Neill is a free agent after this season, though it's definitely worth asking whether or not he ends up still in St. Louis to close his contract year.

Jordan Montgomery would prefer to re-sign with Rangers over Cardinals, Yankees

Jordan Montgomery is a World Series champion. Good on him, as the highly-reliable starting pitcher has been chewed up and spit out by both the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals the last few years.

Fans might remember that the Yankees did Montgomery dirty, trading him just weeks after he and his NYC-based medical resident fiancee took their engagement photos on the field at Yankee Stadium. Cold blooded. It's a business, but was that really necessary?

The Cardinals would hang on to him to start the following year after acquiring him from New York but then traded him ahead of the 2023 deadline to the eventual champion Rangers.

Now, Montgomery has the power: He's a free agent. So, how about the chances of a reunion with the Yankees or Cardinals, who could both benefit from starting pitching?

Not looking likely! Montgomery appears to prefer to finally get some consistency in his life and plant roots in the Dallas area, with Jon Heyman reporting Montgomery prefers to sign with the Rangers over a return to either St. Louis or the Bronx.

Montgomery might genuinely just prefer the Rangers, but it's a good reminder that you can't just cash in on players for assets and expect them to come crawling back later. That worked for the Yankees with Aroldis Chapman in 2016, but Monty doesn't seem to want to go that route.

Still, money talks, and it doesn't necessarily mean the Cardinals are out on a return with him. In need of starting pitching, the Cardinals would certainly be wise to spend on a pitcher like Monty.

An Alek Manoah trade floated, but a terrible idea

Earlier this week, Derek Goold tabbed the Cardinals as interested in possible buy-low starting pitcher Alek Manoah, who imploded with the Toronto Blue Jays last season after emerging as an elite starting pitcher in 2022.

Given his 2023 struggles -- 5.87 ERA, 6.01 FIP, 1.740 WHIP and 6.1 walks per nine innings -- that was not an ideal piece of news for Cardinals fans to learn. Unfortunately for fans disappointed by that development, the connection is picking up steam, with FanSided MLB Insider Robert Murray connecting the two as well in his most recent article.

As with any trade, this all comes down to price. If the Cardinals are able to acquire Manoah for what is truly a bargain bin deal, this may be palatable. One would think there's still an MVP and near-Cy Young threat somewhere in Manoah, it's just a matter of how difficult it will be to draw that ceiling out.

But if St. Louis is giving up real assets for a player who bounced back and forth between minor and major leagues last year due to inconsistency and struggles as a starter, that's not going to play...

The Cardinals also are outwardly saying they're looking at starting pitching as one of its key offseason issues to solve. Hopefully, this is just one of many possible options they're pursuing, because this feels like far from a sure thing to improve on issues that plagued the team in 2022.