The St. Louis Cardinals have won back-to-back games after a four-game losing streak and remain in the third National League wild card spot. This is going to present some unique challenges for first-year president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom.
The Cardinals need to stick to the plan, but they might also want to find a balance between that and keeping themselves in the race. The most likely path might be selling, but it may also not be that simple, so it will be interesting to see what direction Bloom goes in.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com believes that the Cardinals should be buyers at this year’s trade deadline, and listed starting pitching as their biggest need.
“First-year president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom probably didn’t expect to be a potential buyer this season, but St. Louis’ surprising performance warrants some moves given its chance to make the playoffs. Adding rotation depth should be a priority; the Cardinals’ five primary starters have made all but two of the team’s starts this season, but workload issues could come into play for Dustin May and Kyle Leahy during the second half.”
How Cardinals Can Buy Starters
To be clear, owner Bill DeWitt Jr. has already ruled out the idea of St. Louis chasing rental players just to sneak into a wild card spot. That means a reunion with Sonny Gray is highly unlikely.
So, that type of buying is not going to happen. However, they can still add, so long as the pieces they target have multiple years of club control and are still relatively young. Sometimes, buying that way is difficult, but to do that and add a starting pitcher, they could look for a team that has a lot of depth and potentially trade from their wealth of catching depth. A good match might be the Boston Red Sox, who have Brayan Bello in Triple-A.
Simply making a need-for-need trade could do the trick for the Cardinals if that is where they want to focus their energy. Bello is somebody who has three years of club control after 2026, so he makes sense as a possible target.
The Red Sox could use position players too, and the Cardinals have a lot of those. If St. Louis is buying though, the moves they make will likely not be blockbuster moves, as they need to add to their young core and stay focused on the future.
Cardinals Could Sell to Accomplish Needs
More than likely, the best way to accomplish their goals at the deadline is to sell. If they sell high on arms like Dustin May and Riley O’Brien, they could bring back some major league ready pitching prospects that could be plugged into the rotation right away. In a way, they would actually be improving their rotation by putting some more upside in it.
Addition by subtraction is certainly an interesting way to go about it, and that might be the best way for them to get what they truly need at the deadline, as the present and future would be addressed at the same time.
Cardinals Advised to Target One Key Area at 2026 Trade Deadline