Although the Cardinals were rumored to be the “favorites” to land former Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt, they never really seemed to match the interest that he showed in joining the reigning National League Central champions.

The Astros’ asking price continued to rise, and the Cardinals willingness to acquire continued to dwindle.

He has since been dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Cardinals continue their search for a starting pitcher.

That pretty much leads us to where we are right now.

As the Oswalt rumors faded, the possibility of the Cardinals targeting Cleveland Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook grew. Throughout the past week or so, when asked about trades, general manager John Mozeliak always seemed to hint that he’d be much more inclined in going after a lower-tier starter such as Westbrook than an ace like Oswalt.

Who could blame him? Although Oswalt would have possibly made the Cardinals’ rotation the best in the National League, the money would’ve been an issue, even with Oswalt not requiring his option to be picked up. The priority is still to give Albert Pujols an extension, so you’d have to think that was a main reason not to pursue Oswalt.

But as for Westbrook, he’s a good fit for the back end of the Cardinals’ rotation. He’s a sinker ball pitcher who gets a ton of ground ball outs. Mix that with pitching coach Dave Duncan and that could translate in to significant success for Westbrook and the Cardinals.

Cardinals dub Westbrook as their No. 1 target

On Friday night, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com published a report that said Westbrook was the Cardinals main target heading in to Saturday’s deadline.

Stark said that the Cardinals were also pursuing Colorado’s Aaron Cook and Washington’s Livan Hernandez until they decided to “go in a different direction.”

That meant they were going after Westbrook, but he then tweeted this:

“Cardinals target Westbrook. Turn away from other deals to go “in different direction.” But only “50-50″ chance of trade.”

ESPN’s Buster Olney echoed Stark’s report in a tweet of his own Friday night:

“Heard the same thing as Mr. Stark: The Indians and STL are in the same ballpark on a Westbrook deal — if the two sides have the desire to push it across the finish line. And that’s not a sure thing.”

Although it’s a 50-50 chance according to Stark and Olney, Cardinals fans have reason to believe that this deal will happen, given Mozeliak’s track record. He’s made it clear that landing a starting pitcher is high on his list of priorities before Saturday’s trade deadline.

My guess is that both teams want this deal but they’re just trying to work out the particulars on who the Cardinals will send to Cleveland. If it’s anything like the Mark DeRosa deal last season, the Cardinals won’t have to give up much to land him.

So that’s the state of play right now. The Cardinals want Westbrook and are moving in on him fairly swiftly. It doesn’t look like any other teams are in on Westbrook, so it’s very likely that Westbrook will a member of the Cardinals by the time the deadline rolls around on Saturday.

The only thing stopping this deal from happening is Westbrook’s desire to stay in Cleveland until the end of the season and his contract, which has been a roadblock in the past for trades.

Said Jayson Stark: “In addition to the nearly $4 million remaining on his $11 million salary, Westbrook’s contract would pay him a $2 million bonus if he gets traded…the Indians haven’t expressed much interest to this point in eating a significant portion of those dollars.”

But the fact is, this deal needs to happen for the Cardinals to continue to compete for the NL Central. The back end of the rotation needs stability with the poor performance of Jeff Suppan and Blake Hawksworth. Westbrook would provide that. It’s also uncertain when Kyle Lohse and Brad Penny will be back from the disabled list, or how effective they’ll be when they do get back.

With no internal solutions doing to the trick, this deal has to be made.