The Cardinals’ deadline sell-off sent three veterans out the door, and the early returns from their new homes have been rough.
Chaim Bloom moved Lars Nootbaar, Dustin May and Jojo Romero in exchange for a package of prospects, but the players St. Louis shipped away have not exactly hit the ground running elsewhere. All three have had trouble settling in with their new clubs, even if the reasons look a little different from case to case.
Nootbaar, who spent his first six big league seasons in St. Louis, had been a plus-WAR player early in his career before his production started to slide in 2023.
Since landing with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the 28-year-old has played 14 games and gone just 8-for-43 with one home run and five runs batted in. He is batting .186 with a -0.3 WAR in Arizona.
May, also 28, is already with his fourth career team after being dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers. His time with the Cardinals was a classic roller coaster: 21 starts, flashes of brilliance, and plenty of blowups. He delivered a complete-game shutout one-hitter at one point, but also had outings where he was tagged for five, six or seven runs in just a few innings.
That unevenness has carried over. In his first two starts with Milwaukee, May gave up only three runs across 13 innings. But his most recent outing turned ugly fast, with the Seattle Mariners putting up seven before the third inning.
Romero’s situation is different. He was sent to Milwaukee with May, but he has not pitched since the trade.
He underwent an emergency appendectomy while still with St. Louis and is set to throw in his first rehab start on Tuesday.
So while the prospects coming back to St. Louis have drawn plenty of attention, the veterans headed out in the deadline deal have had a hard time making a clean first impression in their new uniforms.
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