The Cardinals have spent the season living in two places at once.
On one hand, this is the same club that kicked off a youth movement - and the payroll trim that came with it - with a flurry of trades last offseason. On the other, St.
Louis is still sitting in the thick of the Wild Card race, which has created a tricky deadline lane for Chaim Bloom and the front office. Bloom has already signaled the Cardinals aren’t going to drift too far from the long-term plan, but that still leaves plenty of room for a team that has to decide how hard to buy, how hard to sell, or whether to do a little of both.
The schedule around the deadline gives them a real chance to stay in the mix. St.
Louis blew a ninth-inning lead in last night’s series opener at Angel Stadium, but the Cardinals still have two more games against the Angels before a makeup game at Busch Stadium against the Diamondbacks. After that comes a three-game series with the Reds, then matchups with the Cubs and Blue Jays leading up to the deadline.
Even after dropping three straight, the Cardinals are holding the NL’s final playoff spot as of now, though five teams are sitting within three games of them.
That kind of setup points toward a familiar compromise: not full buyer, not full seller. The Cardinals have a couple of veteran pieces who could bring back future value without forcing them to act like 2026 is off the table.
St. Louis is 51-48 and sits at 24.4% playoff odds, per FanGraphs.
On the sell side, the list is short. The Cardinals have only three impending free agents, and that would become four if they turn down Ryne Stanek’s $6MM option. Urías isn’t part of the conversation; he’s missed most of the year with tennis elbow and isn’t bringing back anything.
JoJo Romero is the more interesting movable arm. He’s put together a solid year with a 3.35 ERA, league-average strikeout and walk rates, and 21 holds.
The concern is that his swinging-strike rate has dipped to a career-low 8%, and he just hit the injured list after being treated for appendicitis. He’s earning $4.26MM, which is a fair price for a reliever in this lane.
A middling prospect might be on the table, but that may not be enough for St. Louis to part with one of the more established arms in a bullpen that doesn’t have much depth.
Then there’s Miles Mikolas, the biggest rental name in the group. He’s on a $12MM salary and is set to collect a $500K buyout on a mutual option after the season.
The Cardinals could extend a qualifying offer in the neighborhood of $23MM, but that would be a steep number for a pitcher at this level. Mikolas was the team’s best starter for a stretch, but he hasn’t finished six innings in an outing since his one-hit shutout against San Diego on June 15.
His numbers still give him a chance to draw interest. The sinkerballer owns a 4.78 ERA over 98 innings, with a strikeout-walk profile that’s a little better than average and a fastball that sits at 97 mph.
Other clubs may see more upside there than in a standard fifth starter. Even so, he’s not shaping up as anyone’s top target, and if the Cardinals do move him, they’ll likely be looking at a couple mid-tier prospects in return.
In Other News...
Cardinals Deadline Picture Just Turned Into A Bullpen Gut Check
With the trade deadline closing in, the Cardinals are sorting through a bullpen market that could force some uncomfortable choices. The club has a few relievers who would draw interest from other teams, and the front office is weighing value against the need to keep the current group intact for a stretch run. It is the kind of deadline setup that leaves little room for sentiment, especially when the roster has to be judged against both present needs and what the market might return.
Riley O'Brien and JoJo Romero sit near the center of that conversation, while the rest of the picture is less dramatic but still important. St. Louis also appears inclined to ride with Dustin May, Ryne Stanek and Lars Nootbaar despite uneven stretches, which suggests the Cardinals are trying to balance short-term stability with longer-term roster planning. The final call is still unresolved, and for a team trying to navigate both its bullpen and its bigger deadline picture, that uncertainty may be the story. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Just Sent A Strong Message About Top Pick Rocco Maniscalco
The Cardinals have locked in one of the more intriguing names from their latest draft class, agreeing to terms with 17-year-old shortstop Rocco Maniscalco after taking him No. 50 overall in the 2026 MLB Draft. St. Louis went well above the slot value with a $3.2 million signing bonus, a clear sign the organization wanted to make sure the young infielders path led straight to pro ball rather than somewhere else.
Maniscalco had been committed to Mississippi State, so the Cardinals were not just buying talent, they were beating back a possible college route for a player they clearly view as a priority. The bonus and the age alone tell part of the story, but there is also a reason the club pushed so hard to get him signed now, and it starts with what he can already bring to the field. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Fans Wont Like Whos Suddenly Being Linked To Seiya Suzuki
The Cardinals recent slide has only sharpened the focus on where they stand in the NL Wild Card race, and it has also made an ESPN trade idea stand out a little more than usual. Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel listed St. Louis among the possible landing spots for Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, a name that would immediately raise eyebrows given the way the two clubs are lined up in the standings and the fact that any move involving Chicagos outfield would carry real division intrigue.
Still, the fit looks more like a curiosity than a true front-office target. St. Louis already has Jordan Walker, Nathan Church and Lars Nootbaar in the outfield mix, with Joshua Bez next in line for depth, and the organization has not shown much appetite for short-term shortcuts this summer. With Chaim Bloom signaling a patient approach, the idea of the Cardinals and Cubs doing business on a player like Suzuki feels like the kind of rumor that gets attention without necessarily getting much traction. [Read more 🡒]