The St. Louis Cardinals hadn't yet relied on Chris Carpenter at any point in the 2012 season, but news that 2011's ace would miss yet another full season has returned trade rumors to the front of our news cycle anyway. Zack Greinke and Wandy Rodriguez are Ken Rosenthal's first suggestions, and reasonable ones; the Cardinals have plenty of prospects with which to make a move on a player as big as Greinke, and enough of a rapport with new Astros GM Jeff Luhnow to make a smooth trade for Rodriguez.
↵As for whether they need to make a trade, I can't say their rotation has been going so badly in Carpenter's absence, but having both Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly among their five starters leaves them without rotation depth and with a significant amount of downside risk, and Shelby Miller's struggles since being promoted to AAA Memphis leave the Cardinals without an internal upgrade opportunity.
↵There's almost a month's worth of speculation still on tap, and now that Carpenter's injured we should prepare to hear all of it.
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