The Red Sox and Cardinals already know how to do business with each other, and that familiarity could make for another deadline match.
Last offseason, the two clubs lined up on a pair of blockbuster trades that sent veterans from St. Louis to Boston.
Both sides have reasons to feel good about how those moves have played out so far. Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray have been the two best players on a resurgent Red Sox team, while the Cardinals used the openings created by those deals to give younger players more runway, and that group has helped fuel their own surprising season.
Now Boston has already made the first loud move of trade season. Over the weekend, Craig Breslow sent another talented starting pitcher, Connelly Early, to the other side in exchange for up-and-coming slugger Curtis Mead. It was the first true blockbuster of the year, and it made one thing clear: after a 15-game winning streak, the Red Sox are planning to stay aggressive.
That naturally raises the question of whether another deal with St. Louis is coming.
Both teams are winning, and both are trying to balance the present with the future. There’s a fit here, especially if Chaim Bloom can work his old connections and pry another pitching prospect out of Boston.
The most obvious Cardinals piece for Boston is catcher Iván Herrera.
Mead is set to take over at second base, and that leaves the Red Sox still looking for help at catcher, shortstop, and left-handed relief pitching. St.
Louis could theoretically address all three, but a midseason move for Masyn Winn would be difficult, and JoJo Romero’s appendicitis could complicate his value. That makes catcher the cleanest path.
The Cardinals do have catching depth, and Herrera stands out as the name Boston would likely chase. He’s 26, under team control for 3.5 more years, and he’s produced a 114 wRC+ and .748 OPS.
Offensively, he fits the kind of controllable right-handed bat Boston just added in Mead, and Fenway Park would be a dangerous place for him if he started driving more fly balls to his pull side. The Red Sox also already have Carlos Narváez, a defensive specialist behind the plate, which would give them a nice offensive-defense pairing.
If Boston’s willingness to move Early is any guide, St. Louis could ask for a strong return in a Herrera deal. Payton Tolle is probably off limits, but Kyson Witherspoon, the 2025 first-round pick, or Anthony Eyanson, a fast-rising top-100 prospect, would be the kind of headliner that could get the Cardinals’ attention.
None of that means Herrera is definitely on the move, or even that trading him is the right call. He’s been a major part of the Cardinals’ success this season, sitting in the middle of the lineup and producing like a key piece. Still, with so much catching depth in the organization and primary DH types not carrying huge trade value, the Cardinals could at least listen if Bloom comes with a package that includes one top pitching prospect and another MLB-ready player.
In Other News...
The Cardinals Have One Young Bat They Cannot Afford To Move
The Cardinals spot in the standings has pushed them toward a familiar deadline conversation, one that is less about adding help and more about deciding what can be moved without damaging the next version of the roster. At 53-53 and sitting fourth in the NL Central, St. Louis has to weigh short-term flexibility against the value of keeping a few younger pieces who still fit the clubs future timeline.
Ivn Herrera is the kind of bat that makes that balancing act harder. The 26-year-old catcher and designated hitter earned his first All-Star nod this season and has been one of the more important offensive pieces on the roster, which is why the Cardinals would need a significant return before even entertaining the idea of dealing him. For a team trying to thread the needle between selling and staying relevant, that is the sort of decision that can shape more than one deadline. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Suddenly Have Trade Deadline Leverage They Desperately Needed
The trade deadline has a way of turning bad news for one club into opportunity for another, and the Cardinals may have stumbled into exactly that kind of opening. After a rough stretch that has pushed St. Louis toward seller territory, the front office suddenly has a little more leverage than it did a few days ago, because clubs looking for help now have one more reason to call. The Yankees are among the teams with a clear need in the outfield, which puts the Cardinals back in the kind of deadline conversation they have been hoping to avoid but may now be able to use.
St. Louis has players who could draw interest if it decides to move pieces, and the fit with New York is obvious enough to keep the phones ringing. Any conversation would likely revolve around young pitching depth on the Yankees' side, the sort of names that could make sense if the two clubs decide to revisit a familiar kind of exchange. The Cardinals and Yankees have done business before, and while nothing is close to done here, this is the sort of situation that can quickly turn a seller's market into a real chance to reshape a roster. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Just Sent A Troubling Deadline Message Amid This Ugly Slide
The Cardinals have spent much of July looking like a team stuck between directions, and the results have only sharpened the conversation as the trade deadline approaches. A loss in seven of their last nine games has dragged them down to No. 14 in the power rankings, while the offense has gone cold enough to leave little doubt that this is more than a short slump.
Since early July, St. Louis has been near the bottom of the league in nearly every meaningful hitting category, which makes the next move especially tricky. The front office has already started making small roster adjustments, but the bigger question is whether the Cardinals lean into a retool or try to ride out the current group, and the answer could say plenty about how they view the rest of this season. [Read more 🡒]