The Cardinals’ recent slide has put their deadline plans in a tricky spot, and it also makes the Casey Mize chatter harder to read.
St. Louis has dropped four in a row and five of its last six, leaving the club at 51-49 and just a half-game out of a National League playoff position with 12 days left until the 2026 Major League Baseball trade deadline. The Cardinals still have 11 games before Aug. 3, when they face the New York Yankees, and those games could go a long way toward deciding whether they buy, stand pat, or move pieces out.
If the Cardinals do push to add, the most obvious targets would be pitching help. The rotation and bullpen both have issues right now, with Matthew Liberatore and Dustin May struggling and JoJo Romero on the Injured List.
That context is why ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel’s latest deadline column stood out: they included St. Louis among the “best fits” for Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize.
"No. 16.
Casey Mize, RHP, Detroit Tigers," Passan and McDaniel wrote. "Chance of being traded: 60 percent.
Rest-of-season impact: High if it continues to click. Years of control: Just the rest of 2026.
The buzz: While Mize has twice hit the injured list with a strained groin, his most recent start illustrates why he'll be in high demand if Detroit decides to punt. ... Best fits: Braves, Padres, Cubs, Brewers, White Sox, A's, Cardinals, Rays, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays."
It’s not the first time the Cardinals have been tied to Mize this summer, either.
The appeal is easy to see. Mize has been excellent for Detroit, going 15 starts with a 2.79 ERA across 80 2/3 innings.
That mark would lead the Cardinals’ rotation right now. Michael McGreevy currently owns the staff’s best ERA at 2.92, and he and Kyle Leahy are the only St.
Louis starters sitting below 4.00.
Still, the fit comes with a major complication. This is the first year of Chaim Bloom’s reset, and the Cardinals have spent the offseason trying to rebuild the farm system. Trading prospects for a rental starter when the team is only two games over .500 and not locked into a playoff spot feels like a stretch, especially with Bloom already saying the club won’t take "shortcuts" this season.
There’s also the Tigers’ side of it. Detroit has started to gain ground in the standings, so it’s far from certain that Mize will even be available.
So yes, Mize would make sense on the field. He’d strengthen a Cardinals rotation that could use the lift. But with the team sitting at 51-49 and still trying to prove it belongs in the race, the buzz runs into the same problem every time: the price, the timing, and the uncertainty all point in the same direction.
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