The St. Louis Cardinals opened up a big NL Central series against the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon.
As of Friday afternoon, the Cardinals are on the verge of dropping the first game of the series, as they are down 3-0 in the later innings.
During the Cubs series, the Cardinals quietly let go of two players from their organization.
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Cardinals Release 2 Players from Organization
GettyST LOUIS, MISSOURI – MARCH 26: Manager Oliver Marmol #37 of the St. Louis Cardinals chats with St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom prior to a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays on Opening Day at Busch Stadium on March 26, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
On Friday, the Cubs released two players from their rookie ball affiliate, the DSL Cardinals. Both moves are reflected on the organization’s transactional tracker.
“DSL Cardinals released 1B Christian Sáez.”
“DSL Cardinals released RHP Ryan Rodríguez.”
Let’s take a quick look at their professional careers thus far.
Christian Sáez is a 19-year-old first baseman who has spent three seasons in the Cardinals organization, and he has not made it past rookie ball.
Over 72 total games played within the Cardinals organization, Saez batted .184 over 228 at-bats, so not great overall offensive statistics. He added three home runs and seven doubles, and recorded an OPS of .596. St. Louis was likely looking for a lot more offensive production out of him, and the lack of it led to the release.
Looking at Ryan Rodriguez, he is a right-handed pitcher out of Guadalajara, JA, Mexico, who is 18-years-old.
Across 17 total IP in two seasons, he allowed 33 earned runs with 13 strikeouts and a WHIP of 3.53, so also not great statistics.
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The St. Louis Cardinals Right Now
Although they are kinda a long shot, the St. Louis Cardinals are still hanging in there in the NL Wild Card hunt.
If they are to lose Friday (which looks likely), St. Louis will be back to the .500 plateau and still remain several games back of the final wild card, with several NL clubs to pass if they wanted to earn a playoff spot.
The issue for the Cardinals has been a very inconsistent offense. One game they are putting up 5+ runs, and the next they are getting shut out, so it’s hard to put together a stretch of consecutive wins with a shaky offense.
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St. Louis Cardinals Quietly Released 2 Players During Cubs Series