One other guy who stands out to me is Aaron Cook of the Rockies. Like Mortensen, he’s a durable right-handed pitcher who lives off an 89-91 mph sinking fastball and a hard slider. I don’t think Mortensen’s control is where it needs to be to be a solid mid-rotation starter like Cook, but he’s had stretches where it’s been there and Mortensen still seems to be improving as a pitcher.

Now, maybe velocity is overrated, but it’s still no better than 50-50 he makes it to the Cardinals’ rotation, IMO. That means his trade value is equally important as his skillset. The Cardinals are starting to accumulate a lot of these guys who look good on paper for a variety of reasons, but just aren’t good bait for trades. Given the ratio of failures, particularly among pitchers, perhaps we should try to create more of an A’s-type system, stockpiled with trade chips.