The St. Louis Cardinals needed a pitching upgrade, and they acquired one in Jose Quintana of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It hasn't been the Bucs year, to say the least.

But the Pirates could prove useful for contenders, as they have several veterans on expiring contracts. Quintana is one of those vets.

At 33 years old, Quintana is having his best season in quite some time, pitching to a 3.50 ERA and 3.24 FIP. In his last two starts in Pittsburgh, he gave up zero earned runs over 12.2 innings pitched, with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 8;2.

Jose Quintana trade details

If this is all the Cards have planned for the trade deadline, consider us underwhelmed. For a team that was once connected to outfielder Juan Soto and starting pitcher Frankie Montas, acquiring only Quintana would be deemed a huge disappointment.

St. Louis has all the makings of a contender, with a few holes to boot. Starting pitching is clearly one of those. However, this front office missed out on both Luis Castillo and Montas. Quintana is a solid addition, but reeks of settling — something the Cards did at last year's deadline, as well.

An inter-division trade between these two rivals is rare, but something that became necessary for John Mozeliak over the last few days.

Quintana's contract ends after this season, so it remains to be seen if he's in the Cards' plans beyond 2022. That'll likely depend on his performance over these next few months.