The Cardinals’ first-year rebuild has taken a sharp turn into something far more interesting. JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker have helped push St. Louis into legitimate postseason territory, and at 44-39, the club is sitting in a Wild Card spot despite a -10 run differential that leaves a little room for concern.
If the Cardinals are going to buy at the trade deadline, the need is obvious: starting pitching.
That’s why ESPN’s David Schoenfield has tied St. Louis to Los Angeles Angels left-hander Reid Detmers, a 3.88 ERA starter who would fit the Cardinals’ needs.
The catch is that the Cardinals aren’t alone. Schoenfield also listed the Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks and Athletics as clubs in the mix.
"St. Louis Cardinals/ Washington Nationals / Arizona Diamondbacks /Athletic: Trade for Detmers," Schoenfield writes.
"... They all need rotation help, and though they don't necessarily feel like playoff teams, they're all in the playoff chase, with the Cardinals leading the way."
Detmers makes sense for a group of teams looking beyond a short-term rental. He’s 26, left-handed, and under club control through the 2028 season, giving any acquiring team a little over two years of control. That kind of team-friendly runway matters for a Cardinals club that could use help now and still have the pitcher in place for the next couple of seasons.
Through 17 starts this year, Detmers has gone 3-5 with a 3.88 ERA, 1.6 bWAR, and 112 strikeouts in 99.2 innings. He also flashed a much sharper version of himself in June, when he posted a 2.27 ERA with a 2.89 FIP.
That stretch is exactly why he stands out as a possible fit. The Cardinals need rotation help, and Detmers has shown enough to suggest he could be more than a deadline patch.
He would help St. Louis in the push for 2026 and give the organization a starter it could lean on beyond this season.
The price tag won’t be light, especially with that extra control, and the Cardinals will have competition from Arizona, Washington and Oakland. Still, if they’re serious about adding pitching, Detmers looks like one of the clearest names on the board.
In Other News...
Cardinals Rebuild May Force A Defining Jordan Walker Decision
Jordan Walker has quickly become the face of the Cardinals next phase, the kind of bat the organization can build around as the rebuild takes shape. His offense has given St. Louis exactly what it hoped for from a young centerpiece, but the bigger question around him is no longer whether he can hit. It is where the club believes he should be stationed while the roster around him keeps changing.
The outfield picture is getting crowded as more corner options move toward the majors, and that matters because the Cardinals do not have much certainty elsewhere on the diamond. Third base, in particular, remains thin in the system, which is why Walkers long-term home has become such a meaningful conversation for the front office. For a team trying to line up its next core, the answer could say a lot about how it plans to balance immediate fit with the best use of its most important young player. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals May Have One More Pitching Answer Before The Deadline
The Cardinals have spent much of the summer sorting through a deep Triple-A group that also includes Rainiel Rodriguez, Liam Doyle and Joshua Bez, but the pitching side of that mix may be closest to forcing its way into the conversation before the deadline. Recent performances in Memphis have kept the organizations attention on the upper levels of the farm system, where another left-hander has been piling up strong outings and making it harder to ignore his case for a move.
He has been effective over his last six starts since May 22, and the numbers behind that run have only strengthened the argument that St. Louis might have another answer waiting in-house. The only real question now is how the club wants to use him if it does bring him up, since his profile leaves the Cardinals room to think beyond just one lane as they weigh their next pitching move. [Read more 🡒]