The Cardinals may have Dustin May sitting right there as a clean trade candidate, but that doesn’t mean a deal would come with the kind of return fans are dreaming about.
St. Louis closed the first half at 50-45 and heads into the second half just one game behind the third National League wild card spot, so the front office still has some real decisions to make at the deadline.
Buying is still on the table if it doesn’t clash with the club’s longer-term plans, but selling is also very much in play. If the Cardinals go that route, May is one of the more obvious names to move.
The catch is that his market may not be nearly as strong as his status suggests. Brandon Kiley of 101 ESPN pointed to the same issue, saying, "Is that value greater than the value of giving him the QO & either keeping him for ‘27 or getting the pick that comes back?
This is what I struggle with on him. I’m just not sure that trade value is out there."
May is on an expiring deal after signing a one-year, $12.5 million contract in the offseason, and it includes a mutual option that rarely gets exercised. That alone makes him the kind of arm teams usually circle at the deadline, especially with rental pitching always in demand.
But the numbers don’t scream premium return. In 18 starts, the 28-year-old right-hander is 5-6 with a 4.55 ERA. That’s useful enough to draw interest, but not the kind of season that usually lands a stack of top prospects.
So while the Cardinals could still get something respectable back, it may fall short of what the fan base is hoping for. A top prospect or two sounds nice, but that seems unlikely based on what May has done this season.
If St. Louis wants to really maximize a sell-off, Riley O'Brien would be a more valuable trade piece. The All-Star closer has four years of club control left, which gives him a much stronger profile on the market.
May still looks like the most straightforward player to move, and the Cardinals could also explore other names. Lars Nootbaar could even enter the conversation as a possible trade chip.
For now, though, the expectation should be tempered. Trading May makes sense, but if the market doesn’t reward him the way the Cardinals might hope, there may not be much they can do about it.
Teams will be interested. How interested, and at what price, remains the real question.
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