Blue Jays swipe Yankees’ trade target from Cardinals before deadline

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks was among the big names on the block ahead of the MLB trade deadline, and on Sunday, the National League Central team found a landing spot for him.

The Cardinals traded Hicks to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league pitchers Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein – who are both righties. St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak vowed changes to the organization with the deadline approaching.

The Blue Jays swiped Hicks after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Hicks and outfielder Dylan Carlson drew discussions. Adding a reliever would’ve been a boon for the Yankees, who are trying to claw their way out of a hole in the American League East, but their divisional rival made a shrewd move.

Through 40 appearances so far this season, Hicks has a 3.67 ERA with 59 strikeouts. He has a career-high 12.7 SO/9 ratio. Toronto entered the day third in the division at 59-46.

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St. Louis also traded Jordan Montgomery to the Texas Rangers, according to multiple reports.

“A decent amount of talent that just walked out,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol told the Post-Dispatch after the Hicks and Montgomery deals were done.

Robberse, from the Netherlands, had been in the Jays’ organization since 2019. He had a 4.06 ERA with 86 strikeouts in Double-A New Hampshire. Kloffenstein joined Toronto’s system in 2018. He was also at Double-A New Hampshire this year and had a 3.24 ERA with 105 strikeouts.

St. Louis was 46-60 entering Sunday.