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Which will the Cardinals be? I believe they will be sellers.
Short term they have a shot at a wild card berth but little chance of advancing. Longer term they have players nearing free agency who could meet the needs of 10 to 14 teams with a relistic chance of making the post season.
I suspect that May,Romero, O’Brien, Nootbar are possible trade candidates for prospects. You could also see one of Crooks or Bernal as a throw in. The Cardinals are absolutely loaded with catching prospects and add Rojas with the Dominican Cardinals as an addition to that group.
A lot also probably depends on how they are progressing on long term contracts on some players like Winn and Burleson.
I agree 95% with you, Sooner.
Where I differ is with O’Brien. His contract situation is very different from that of May, Romero and Nootbaar.
O’Brien has 4 1/2 years of team control remaining, including one more year (2027) at MLB minimum salary. He is an asset I would definitely hold onto for a couple of more years. Depending on where he is and the team is, maybe I trade him down the road when he gets expensive.
Add Soriano to those that could be traded. I don’t think Stanek would draw much attention but I certainly wouldn’t mid seeing him go.
On another matter is the Condon we drafted related to Chalie Condon, a Rockies prospect
As of now, at least, O’Brien has one more pre arb year and is due to walk after the 2030 season. That makes him ‘young controllable talent’ to my way of thinking. As I understand what the FO is doing, young controllable talent would only be traded if it is from an area of excess. I do not think quality pitching is an area of excess and therefore I do not think O’Brien will be moved.
I believe I saw a Redbird Rants article title that said they were brothers but maybe since corrected.
I do not necessarily agree on Soriano. Not that we have an excess of pen arms, but unlike O’Rielly, who I consider top end, Soriano and everyone else in the pen is more in the bulk pen arms aisle. If a potential deadline trade partner needed innings I could see the add on to a deal. Obviously, I would rather the add on be someone else, but that may not be how it works.
My hope is they trade May, Romero, and Stanek. Get what they can for them and also it frees up roster spots to let younger pitchers get more opportunities to develop. I suppose if Urias can be traded they should to avoid having to demote a younger guy when he comes backs.
I wouldn’t trade Nootbaar at the deadline unless someone overwhelms me. I would instead try to let him build up more value the rest of the year and consider trading him in the off-season.
My take on Nootbaar depends 100% on what another team is willing to pay for him. If the offer is big enough now, I wouldn’t hesitate.
He hasn’t exactly been an iron man in his career and who knows, his peak value might be right now!
Walker, Church, Velasquez, Scott, Baez. It seems like Velazquez would be necessary if Noot is moved. Easily done if they want to. I guess if Urias returns it frees up Fermin to fill what Valezquez now fills, unless its Fermin who goes when Urias returns. Ugh, too much thinking.
Baez isn’t ready so I don’t think there is a need to move Nootbaar. I know some have clamored for Baez to get a call up since he is hitting HRs but he needs to work in swing decisions still.
I also personally like watching Nootbaar play when he is healthy as he is an entertaining player.
Sell. May, Romero, Nootbaar, Stanek for sure. I’m listening on O’Brien for sure. RP is always so hit or miss and with his injury history if someone wants to buy high on him I’d take the deal. With the catching situation they need to start figuring it out. If that’s trading Crooks or Bernal or if that’s trading Pages and Crooks and Herrera catching (probably recalling Pozo at the 26th man for depth since Herrera has to DH 50%+ of the time) they need to take a direction on it sooner rather than later. I’d also listen on Pallante if someone was interested, but the SP depth is also an issue.
I 100% believe the Cardinals will be sellers. I think May, Jo Jo, Noot, and O’Brien will all be gone by August 3 and maybe Stanek if he has any value.
May, Jo Jo, Noot, and Stanek are obvious moves because they aren’t long term pieces. O’Brien gets moved because relievers are notoriously fickle and are easier to replace than starters or position players. He is also 31 years old which screams regression to me. His value may never be higher than it is now.
As I mentioned on the Trades Thread my overall feeling of why the Cardinals will sell is just listening to what Bloom says. He has been asked about this numerous times and every time his stock answer is something like “we aren’t going to make any moves for short term gain”. Every time he says this. At some point we should probably believe him.
I think May and Romero are the most obvious “low hanging fruit” that will be gone in a couple of weeks or so. Stanek too if we can get a bucket of balls and maybe a free ticket to that buffet Rats goes to every week with a plethora of items.
Crooks or Pages are possibilities – Pages might be perfect for a contender needing a good part-time to 3/4 time receiver. Crooks to another rebuilder that is weak at catching prospects – more of a “my prospect for your prospect” deal.
Nootbaar is an interesting player. Seems to be a great teammate, and plays hard. Does a lot of good things, and he comes across to me as one of those guys that is more valuable than the stat sheet would indicate. But then if you can get some potential for him, then his intangibles are probably not going to keep you from taking the plunge.
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