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[St. Louis Cardinals]

How Should The Cardinals Approach The Deadline?

The Cardinals are amidst a transition year. That's true literally, as John Mozeliak will turn control of baseball operations to Chaim Bloom at season's end. Dating back to last fall, they've framed this season as one primarily about evaluating and developing young players. It's not a rebuild, but their only move to improve over the winter was a bargain $2MM signing of setup man Phil Maton.

It set them up as expected deadline sellers. Impending free agents Ryan Helsley and Erick Fedde ranked among the likeliest players to move in July. It was surprising that the Cards even held both players into the season. Nolan Arenado's contract and no-trade clause meant he'd be a tough player to move midseason, but those rumors figured to resurface.

The team is trying its best to avoid those conversations. They have a 34-27 record that has them narrowly ahead of San Francisco and Milwaukee for the NL's final playoff spot. They've outscored opponents by 28 runs, giving them the fifth-best run differential in the National League. They went an MLB-best 19-8 in May. They've played like a contender so far. One opposing GM who was eyeing trade targets on the St. Louis roster succinctly told Jeff Passan of ESPN this week that the team's better than expected play "sucks" for potential buyers.

Much can change in the next six to eight weeks, but the front office may find itself in a tricky spot. Mozeliak addressed the situation in a chat with Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week. "We went into this year with an understanding this was going to be about opportunity for players and depending on what they do with it would determine our next steps, right?" he rhetorically asked. "So when you think about how the public had us as sellers — whether it was selling this offseason or selling at the trade deadline. It might look a little different based on how we’re playing."

It's an acknowledgment that the team could play its way off selling. At the same time, that wouldn't provide much clarity on how aggressively the team should add if they remain competitive. That's a tougher call, especially because of the way their first half has unfolded. The team may be better than expected, but the production has come mostly from their more established players -- particularly on offense. If the Cards are going to upgrade, the most obvious spots to do so would limit the playing time of a pair of young hitters on whom much of their season is supposed to be focused.

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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/06/how-should-the-cardinals-approach-the-deadline.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Sign Zach Plesac To Minor League Deal

Zach Plesac is back in affiliated ball. The Cardinals announced that they’ve signed the righty to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Memphis. Plesac had spent the past couple months pitching in the Atlantic League for the Long Island Ducks.

Plesac pitched well in the independent ranks. He turned in a 2.84 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate over seven starts. His stuff was sharp enough for the Cardinals to view him as a viable depth starter. Plesac needed to pitch his way back to affiliated ball after a rough 2024 season with the Angels. He only made three MLB starts and was blitzed for 11 runs across 12 innings. Things didn’t go much better in Triple-A, where he allowed a 5.69 ERA through 99 2/3 frames spanning 18 appearances.

It has been a while since Plesac was an effective starter. He was brilliant for Cleveland during the shortened 2020 season, turning in a 2.28 ERA over eight outings. That came against a generally weak slate of lineups with teams playing a limited schedule, though, and the former 12th-round pick wasn’t able to build off it. He owns a 4.86 ERA in 58 MLB appearances since that season.

St. Louis has had the best rotation health of any team this year. They’ve only used six starters. Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante and Erick Fedde have each taken all 12 turns. Steven Matz briefly joined the group when they used a six-man rotation to navigate a busy part of the schedule. He started twice and is now back in the bullpen.

They have another hectic stretch coming up, as they only have one off day (on June 16) for the remainder of the month. That could lead them to go back to a six-man rotation. Liberatore also left yesterday’s outing a little early with general fatigue, though there’s no indication it’ll impact his ability to make his next start. John Denton of MLB.com suggested this week that pitching prospect Michael McGreevy could be recalled as soon as this Sunday to fill out the staff — presumably with Matz staying in the bullpen. If that’s how things play out, Plesac can backfill the Triple-A rotation.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/06/cardinals-sign-zach-plesac-to-minor-league-deal.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Designate Ryan Vilade For Assignment, Select Andre Granillo

The Cardinals announced that they have selected right-hander Andre Granillo to their roster and also recalled outfielder Michael Siani. In corresponding moves, they have optioned righty Chris Roycroft and designated outfielder Ryan Vilade for assignment.

Granillo, 25, was selected by the Cardinals in the 14th round of the 2021 draft. Exclusively a reliever, he has climbed the minor league ladder while posting good strikeout numbers and also giving out a high number of walks. He has 233 1/3 minor league innings under his belt to this point, having allowed 3.74 earned runs per nine innings. He has punched out 32.2% of batters faced in that time while also giving out free passes at a 12.7% clip.

It seems he has taken a big step forward in terms of his control this year. He has thrown 29 2/3 innings over 18 appearances with a 1.82 ERA. He has only walked 6.9% of batters faced while still getting punchies at a huge rate of 39.7%. In May of last year, FanGraphs ranked Granillo as the #21 prospect in the system. That report gave the highest praise for his slider, though it also mentioned his changeup and his mid-90s fastball.

With Granillo seemingly taking a big step forward at Triple-A, the Cards will give him a chance to face major league hitters. But that required a 40-man spot, so Vilade will get bumped off. Vilade, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Cards in the offseason. He put up a strong .280/.375/.476 line in 48 Triple-A games and was added to the roster a couple of weeks ago when Jordan Walker landed on the IL.

Unfortunately, Vilade hasn’t been able to do much in his limited big league playing time. He has been sent to the plate 15 times and struck out in five of those trips. He drew two walks but recorded just one hit, a single. He now has a .141/.200/.188 slash in his 71 big league plate appearances for his career.

He will now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Cards technically could take five days to explore trade interest. Vilade’s major league numbers aren’t good but in a tiny sample. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a .279/.355/.457 slash and 114 wRC+ in 156 Triple-A contests. He also stole 25 bases in that time while playing the three non-shortstop infield positions and all three outfield slots. Since he still has an option year, perhaps he could appeal to a club looking for extra position player depth.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ade-for-assignment-select-andre-granillo.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

IL Activations: Walker, Sanchez

Here’s the rundown of some prominent names returning from the injured list today…

• The Cardinals activated Jordan Walker from the 10-day IL, with fellow outfielder Michael Siani optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Walker returns to action after a little over two weeks on the IL, as the former top prospect was bothered by inflammation in his left wrist. Operating as the Cards’ everyday right fielder, Walker has hit only .215/.273/.310 in 172 plate appearances this season, though his bat had been starting to heat up in the few games just prior to his injury.
• The Orioles activated catcher Gary Sanchez from the 10-day IL, and optioned catcher Maverick Handley to Triple-A Norfolk. Like Walker, Sanchez was also sidelined with wrist inflammation, though his issue was more severe since Sanchez hasn’t played in a big league game since April 27. Sanchez will now resume his role as Adley Rutschman’s backup and hope that his IL stint essentially resets his season, as Sanchez had only three hits in his first 35 plate appearances in a Baltimore uniform. The O’s signed Sanchez to a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal back in December.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/06/il-activations-walker-sanchez.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Reds Claim Ryan Vilade, Designate Jacob Hurtubise

The Reds announced that infielder/outfielder Ryan Vilade has been claimed off waivers from the Cardinals, and Vilade was optioned to Triple-A. To create roster space, Cincinnati designated outfielder Jacob Hurtubise for assignment.

St. Louis designated Vilade two days ago, after Vilade had appeared in seven games during a brief stint on the Cards’ roster. Signed to a minor league contract in December, Vilade hit an impressive .280/.375/.476 over 192 plate appearances with Triple-A Memphis to earn a selection to the Cardinals’ active roster at the end of May, though he had only one hit in 15 PA on the Cards’ active roster.

To some extent, this has been the story of Vilade’s pro career, as he had a .141/.200/.188 slash line in 71 PA over 27 career games in the majors with the Rockies, Tigers, and Cardinals. His career .272/.353/.406 slash in 2093 Triple-A appearances is much more impressive, yet it hasn’t stood out quite enough for Vilade to get much in the way of regular playing time in the Show, nor has he hit anywhere near well enough to capitalize on his small sample.

While Vilade has played only as an outfielder and in one single game as a first baseman in the majors, he has some experience at all four infield positions, including time as a first, second, and third baseman with Memphis this year. This expanded defensive repertoire seems like a logical way for Vilade to improve his usefulness to big league teams, and it might help him earn some bench time on a Reds team that is somewhat unsettled in teams of everyday regulars. In particular, Vilade’s right-handed bat might help him become a complement within a Reds outfield overloaded with left-handed hitters.

That crowded outfield may have factored into the limited playing time that Hurtubise received in his first two MLB seasons, though the left-handed hitter has batted only .167/.291/.212 over 83 PA in the bigs. This season, he made the Reds’ Opening Day roster but didn’t last long before being optioned, and then briefly returned to the majors in May.

An undrafted free agent for the Reds in 2020 (the year of the pandemic-shortened five-round draft), Hurtubise reached Triple-A for the first time in 2023, but his numbers at Cincinnati’s top affiliate have gone steadily downward over the last three years. He has hit just .144/.336/.186 in 133 PA in Louisville this season, making him an expendable piece on the Reds’ 40-man roster despite some tremendous speed and base-stealing ability (124 steals in 147 chances in his minor league career). Hurtubise can’t reject an outright assignment, so he would remain in the Reds’ organization if he clears waivers.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/06/reds-claim-ryan-vilade-designate-jacob-hurtubise.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Ron Taylor Passes Away

Former MLB reliever and physician Ron Taylor has passed away, according to an announcement from the Mets. He was 87.

A Toronto native, Taylor began his career in the Cleveland organization in 1956. He reached the big leagues six years later and had a memorable debut at Fenway Park. Tabbed as the starting pitcher — one of just 17 starts he’d make in his career — Taylor began with 11 scoreless innings. Boston’s Bill Monbouquette matched him zero for zero, though, working through 12 scoreless frames. Taylor’s remarkable first outing came to a disappointing end, as he surrendered a walk-off grand slam to Carroll Hardy in the twelfth.

That was one of eight appearances that Taylor would make in his rookie season. After the year, Cleveland swapped him to the Cardinals for first baseman Fred Whitfield. Taylor had a strong first year in St. Louis, turning in a 2.84 ERA across 133 1/3 innings in a long relief role. He’d add another 4 2/3 scoreless frames against the Yankees in the World Series. Almost all of those came in Game 4, when he fired four scoreless without allowing a hit to save a 4-3 victory. That evened the series at two games apiece, and the Cards would go on to win in seven behind Bob Gibson.

Taylor struggled over the next couple seasons, leading St. Louis to deal him to the Astros midway through the ’65 campaign. He didn’t pitch particularly well during his year and a half in Houston. The Astros sold his contract to the Mets going into 1967. Taylor turned things around in Queens, working to a sub-3.00 ERA in each of his first three seasons.

He tossed 76 innings of 2.72 ERA ball with 13 saves for the ’69 Miracle Mets team that won 100 games and knocked off the Braves and Orioles en route to the first championship in franchise history. Taylor made four appearances in the postseason, striking out seven across 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He recorded one save apiece in the NLCS and World Series, getting Brooks Robinson to ground out with two runners on in a 2-1 ballgame to lock down Game 2 of the Fall Classic.

Taylor pitched a few more seasons in New York and finished his playing days with a very brief stint for the Padres in 1972. He remained in the game after the end of his playing career, but he didn’t follow the coaching or scouting paths of most former players. Taylor went to medical school immediately after retiring and was later hired as the team physician for the Blue Jays, a role he’d hold for a few decades. He added two more World Series rings in that capacity when Toronto went back-to-back in the early 1990s.

During a playing career that spanned parts of 11 seasons, Taylor posted a 3.93 ERA in exactly 800 regular season innings. He recorded 464 strikeouts and collected 74 saves. His postseason résumé was brief but impactful, as he didn’t allow a run in 10 1/3 frames while getting the save in three of his six playoff appearances. He played a key role in winning a pair of championships and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. MLBTR sends our condolences to Taylor’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates and colleagues throughout the game.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/06/ron-taylor-passes-away.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Ivan Herrera To Miss Multiple Weeks With Hamstring Strain

The Cardinals lost one of their top hitters on Friday afternoon. Catcher/designated hitter Iván Herrera landed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. It’ll be more than a minimal stay with a chance to cost him upwards of a month.

Herrera was diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain, the team informed reporters (link via Katie Woo of The Athletic). That involves some measure of tearing and is of moderate severity. There’s a wide range on the timeline. St. Louis said Herrera could be sidelined anywhere between two and six weeks. Thomas Saggese is up from Triple-A Memphis to take his spot on the active roster.

It’s the second IL stint of the season for the 25-year-old Herrera. A bone bruise in his left knee cost him a month between early April and the second week of May. Herrera has raked when healthy. He’s batting .320/.392/.533 and has already established a career high with eight home runs in only 171 plate appearances. Herrera has made 13 starts behind the dish while getting the DH assignment on 28 occasions.

The Cardinals have carried three catchers since Herrera’s first IL stint, which is why they were able to recall an infielder as the corresponding move. That has freed them up to use Herrera as a DH without worrying about overworking him. Pedro Pagés has a much lighter bat but has superior defensive marks. Pagés was already playing fairly regularly and will be the clear #1 catcher for the time being. Yohel Pozo will back him up. Nolan Gorman, Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker and Saggese could all rotate through the DH spot.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...iss-multiple-weeks-with-hamstring-strain.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Claim Garrett Hampson, Designate Jose Barrero For Assignment

The Cardinals announced that they have claimed infielder/outfielder Garrett Hampson off waivers from the Reds. Infielder/outfielder Jose Barrero has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Hampson, 30, joins his third team of the season and the sixth of his career. The increasingly well-traveled utilityman has taken 60 plate appearances between the D-backs and Reds but mustered only a .167/.310/.188 batting line in that time.

It’s not an impressive batting line, but Hampson has typically been known more for his speed and defensive versatility than his production in the batter’s box. Statcast pegs him in the 85th percentile of big leaguers in terms of average sprint speed, and Hampson has extensive experience at second base, shortstop and across all three outfield positions (mostly center). He’s also logged 121 big league innings at third base. In parts of eight major league seasons, Hampson is a .238/.301/.357 hitter.

It’s not the most exciting profile, but Hampson is faster and more versatile than Barrero, who has also struggled considerably at the plate in limited time with St. Louis. The former Reds top prospect has appeared in 22 games but tallied only 31 plate appearances, batting just .138/.194/.276. Barrero has played in parts of five major league seasons and batted .182/.238/.257 in 478 turns at the plate between the Reds and Cardinals.

Because he’s out of minor league options, Barrero couldn’t simply be sent down to Triple-A. He’d first need to clear waivers — which may be his ultimate destination now that he’s been designated for assignment. The Cards will have five days to find a trade partner before they have to put Barrero on waivers (a 48-hour process) in order to have his DFA resolved within the one-week maximum. He can, of course, be placed on waivers at any point between now and day five, if the team sees fit.

Barrero has had a big season in Triple-A this year, hitting .299/.396/.517 in 101 plate appearances. He’s a career .247/.324/.475 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons. Barrero has played primarily shortstop in his career but has logged more outfield time in recent years as Cincinnati and St. Louis both looked to expand his versatility.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...on-designate-jose-barrero-for-assignment.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Jose Barrero Elects Free Agency

Infielder/outfielder Jose Barrero, who was recently designated for assignment by the Cardinals, went unclaimed on waivers and has rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency, MLBTR has learned. Barrero will explore opportunities around the league but also has interest from at least one team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and is weighing whether to pursue an overseas opportunity.

Barrero, 27, appeared in 22 games with the Cardinals but was only given 31 plate appearances. He hit just .138/.194/.276 in that scattershot playing time. This was his fifth season of big league work, but he’s yet to deliver on his former top prospect billing in the majors, with a .182/.238/.257 slash in 478 plate appearances between the Reds (who initially signed him out of Cuba) and Cardinals.

Although Barrero hasn’t yet found his stride in the majors, he has a more solid track record in Triple-A. He’s a career .247/.324/.475 hitter in parts of five seasons there, including a huge .299/.396/.517 showing in 101 plate appearances with the Cardinals’ Memphis affiliate in 2025. In 252 Triple-A games, Barrero has swatted 51 homers and gone 48-for-56 (86%) in stolen base attempts.

Barrero has primarily been a shortstop, logging more than 5100 innings at the position since turning pro, but he’s gradually begun to see time at other positions as well in recent years. He’s played just shy of 300 innings at second base and 94 innings at third base, but his most frequent non-shortstop position has been center field, where he’s now piled up 719 innings. There are some justifiable concerns about his hit tool — Barrero has fanned in 30% of his Triple-A plate appearances — but Barrero offers an enticing blend of power and speed as well as the ability to play multiple up-the-middle positions on the defensive end of things.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/06/jose-barrero-cardinals-free-agency-japan-npb.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Front Office Expects Ownership Support At Deadline

With the deadline less than a month away, the Cardinals will have to make some decisions about their plans. If they decide to be buyers, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak expects ownership to support that. “I do think ownership, if they saw we were in a spot and it made sense to do something, I think they’d support it,” Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Mozeliak elaborated that he hasn’t done a “deep dive” into how ticket sales and the club’s broadcast deal have impacted things, but he expects ownership to invest in a contending club.

The Cards went into the most recent offseason looking to transition into a new era. The club struggled to compete in 2023 and 2024 and their broadcast revenue was going to drop in 2025. The plan was to shift focus away from investing in the big league roster with a greater priority on development. As part of that shift, this is going to be Mozeliak’s final year in his role, with Chaim Bloom to take over after that. Currently, Bloom is focused on overhauling the club’s player development apparatus.

As part of that transition, it seemed the franchise hoped to cut payroll, but they struggled to do so. Well-paid players like Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Miles Mikolas were apparently unwilling to waive their respective no-trade clauses. Nolan Arenado was open to waiving his but blocked a trade to the Astros in the offseason and ultimately ended up staying.

When those efforts to trim the roster and the payroll stalled, the Cardinals essentially pivoted to standing pat. They could have tried trading players without no-trade clauses, such as Erick Fedde or Ryan Helsley, but didn’t seem inclined to. Their investments in the club were modest, to put it mildly. Their $2MM deal for Phil Maton was their biggest expenditure.

They now find themselves in a sort of limbo position, in more ways than one. Not only are they in this transition season between front office regimes, but they are also hovering close to contention. Despite the lack of investment in the roster, the club has gone 47-42. That puts them just half a game back of a playoff spot, as of this writing.

Taken all together, it would be fair to wonder about the bottom line. Even with the winning record, would ownership want to invest in a club when they were trying to cut the budget just a few months ago? Nothing is confirmed and Mozeliak suggests some conversations still need to be had, but he has been with the club for decades and presumably has a decent feel for the room in St. Louis. He adds that he has not been told to trim payroll.

It’s possible that the next few weeks will be key for the Cards. If they stay in the race through the end of the month, buying will be more likely. If they fall a few games back, the odds of selling should increase.

They could also do a bit of both, as Goold lays out. He mentions that the club believes in Michael McGreevy and wants to give him a shot in the rotation, but he doesn’t currently have a spot. The starting staff currently consists of Gray, Mikolas, Fedde, Andre Pallante and Matthew Liberatore. Perhaps a trade of someone in that group could be used to open a spot for McGreevy while the club simultaneously adds elsewhere.

Fedde would be the most likely candidate to go as an impending free agent. As mentioned, Gray and Mikolas have no-trade protection while Pallante and Liberatore can be cheaply controlled for years to come. They also have Helsley, Maton and Steven Matz as impending free agents in the bullpen. Perhaps the Cards would consider flipping someone from that group while still hoping to have an effective bullpen overall. If other clubs are interested, the Cards will seemingly pick up the phone.

“Trying to understand what someone may want to give you for something is probably worth hearing or at least listening,” Mozeliak said. “You can always say no. The mindset of us going in is to remain open-minded.”

For now, it’s all still speculative. Much could change in the coming weeks. The club’s wins and losses will be a factor while player health could also be a key factor. “I do feel like when you look at where we are that week leading up, the 72 hours leading up to the trade deadline, that may affect how we make our decisions,” Mozeliak said. He added that he and Bloom will both be involved in the deadline decision making as part of a collaborative process. “I hope we have really hard decisions to make come July 31 because that means we’re playing well.”

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ce-expects-ownership-support-at-deadline.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Nationals Sign Luis Garcia

July 8th: The Nationals have now officially announced the signing of Garcia. Right-hander Eduardo Salazar has been optioned to Triple-A Rochester as the corresponding active roster move. Righty Trevor Williams has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Williams was just placed on the 15-day IL a few days ago due to an elbow sprain. It appears the Nats don’t expect him to return before September. Washington also recalled catcher Drew Millas and placed catcher Keibert Ruiz on the seven-day concussion-related IL.

July 6th: The Nationals have signed right-hander Luis Garcia to a Major League contract, the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden reports. The deal will become official when the 38-year-old Garcia passes a physical.

It didn’t take long for Garcia to find a new landing spot, as the Dodgers only just released the veteran reliever on Friday. Garcia signed a minor league deal with Los Angeles last winter and broke camp with the team, but his struggled during his time on the big league roster. Garcia posted a 5.27 ERA and 12.7% walk rate over 27 1/3 innings, and spent about a month on the injured list recovering from an adductor strain.

There have been plenty of ups and downs for Garcia over his 13 MLB seasons, which isn’t surprising for a grounder specialist who relies a lot of batted-ball luck. His most sustained stretch of success came fairly recently, as Garcia posted a 3.62 ERA, 23.4% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate across 154 relief innings for the Cardinals and Padres from 2021-23. Those results led to a one-year, $4.25MM free agent deal with the Angels during the 2023-24 offseason, and Garcia continued to pitch decently well before his production dipped after a deadline trade to the Red Sox.

Washington has one of the league’s worst bullpens, so there’s not much risk for the Nats in taking a flier to see if Garcia can bounce back from his rough showing in L.A. If he really pitches well between now and the July 31 trade deadline, the Nationals could even look to quickly flip Garcia elsewhere for a low-level minor leaguer.

Once Garcia gets into a game with his new club, he will have pitched with eight different teams at the big league level over the course of his long career. This is actually the second Dodgers-to-Nationals trip Garcia has taken — after beginning his career as an international prospect in Los Angeles’ farm system, the Dodgers dealt Garcia to the Nats way back in August 2009. Garcia didn’t see any big league action during his year-plus in the Washington organization, and didn’t end up making his MLB debut until he was a 26-year-old pitching with the Phillies in 2013. (By coincidence, Garcia pitched against the Nats in his first Major League game.)

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/nationals-sign-luis-garcia.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Which Other Draft Picks Are Eligible To Be Traded Before Sunday?

The Rays made an “early” strike in deadline season yesterday, shipping off their Competitive Balance Round A selection (No. 37 overall) in Sunday’s draft to acquire righty Bryan Baker from the division-rival Orioles. Baker, 30, has had his two worst outings of the season in his final Orioles appearance and last night’s Rays debut — which came just hours after he was “shocked” to learn he was traded and boarded a last-minute flight to meet his new team in Boston — but carried a 2.58 ERA and 33.3% strikeout rate through July 5. He comes to the Rays with three additional seasons of club control, as well.

Following the trade, O’s general manager Mike Elias acknowledged that Thursday’s trade was “earlier than my comfort level” but that the timing of the draft and strength of the return pushed him to make a deal sooner than he’d have preferred (link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). It’s feasible that other general managers/president of baseball operations feel similar pressure if presented with opportunities to add an extra pick over the next two-plus days.

As a refresher, Competitive Balance picks are the only picks in the annual amateur draft that are eligible to be traded. They can only be traded one time, meaning the pick the Orioles received for Baker — and the picks the Dodgers, Guardians and Red Sox received in trades of Gavin Lux, Josh Naylor and Quinn Priester, respectively — are now locked in place for those clubs. There are still a handful of selections that could be traded, however.

Here’s a rundown of the picks in Competitive Balance Rounds A and B. MLBTR has confirmed via industry sources that the picks held by the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets in Round A are ineligible to be traded, as they’re technically first-round picks that were dropped down into Competitive Balance Round A as penalty for exceeding the luxury tax by more than $40MM. Similarly, the picks held by the Rays and Brewers in Round B are ineligible to be traded due to the fact that they are compensation for failing to sign last year’s picks in Competitive Balance Round B. Picks that are eligible to be traded are in bold; those ineligible to be moved are in strikethrough font. The deadline to trade any of these eligible picks is 4pm ET on Sunday — two hours prior to the start of this year’s amateur draft.

Round A

• No. 33 overall: Red Sox (acquired from Brewers in exchange for RHP Quinn Priester)
• No. 34: Tigers
• No. 35: Mariners
• No. 36: Twins
• No. 37: Orioles (acquired from Rays in exchange for RHP Bryan Baker)
• No. 38: Mets
• No. 39: Yankees
• No. 40: Dodgers
• No. 41: Dodgers (acquired from Reds in exchange for INF/OF Gavin Lux)
• No. 42: Rays (acquired from A’s in exchange for LHPs Jeffrey Springs, Jacob Lopez)
• No. 43: Marlins

Round B

• No. 66 overall: Guardians
• No. 67: Rays (compensation for unsigned pick in 2024)
• No. 68: Brewers (compensation for unsigned pick in 2024)
• No. 69: Orioles
• No. 70: Guardians (acquired from D-backs in exchange for 1B Josh Naylor)
• No. 71: Royals
• No. 72: Cardinals
• No. 73: Pirates
• No. 74: Rockies

The Tigers are the only clear buyer with a pick that can be traded, and it’s a prominent one. The Mariners and Cardinals are only one game out of a Wild Card spot in their respective leagues. Seattle is expected to act as a buyer and has been on the hunt for corner infield bats and late-inning bullpen help. The Royals (3.5 games), Twins (4) and Guardians (5) are all within five games of a Wild Card spot.

Fans would largely welcome the advent of additional selections becoming eligible to be traded, but that’s not in the cards for now. MLBPA executive director Bruce Meyer joined Foul Territory earlier this week and told hosts Scott Braun, Erik Kratz and A.J. Pierzynski that the union is in favor of trading draft picks and has unsuccessfully raised the issue in past waves of collective bargaining (video link, draft pick talk coming around the one hour, 12-minute mark).

“This union has consistently been in favor of teams being able to trade draft picks,” said Meyer. “It would help competition. We think it would help small-market teams that have those valuable draft picks. They should have the flexibility to trade them if it’s in the best interest of the team. I think many teams would agree, but the league for whatever reason has, to date, been against allowing clubs the ability to trade Rule 4 [amateur] draft picks. We proposed it last time. It was rejected. I don’t want to commit to much for the next round of bargaining, but I feel pretty confident we’ll propose that again, because we think it’s actually beneficial to competitive balance.”

It should be noted that virtually any proposal in collective bargaining comes with some give and take. Meyer’s comments only portray one side of the discussion, and it’s not clear whether anything else was attached to that proposal. Regardless, it’s notable that the union’s lead negotiator has signaled a desire to again broach the subject of draft pick trades when the two sides return to the table to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...-are-eligible-to-be-traded-before-sunday.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Activate Ivan Herrera, Place Lars Nootbaar On 10-Day IL

Prior to today’s game, the Cardinals activated catcher Ivan Herrera from the 10-day injured list. The corresponding move saw another regular hit the 10-day IL, as outfielder Lars Nootbaar has been sidelined by what the Cards described as a left costochondral sprain.

Herrera hasn’t played since June 19 due to a Grade 2 hamstring strain, though the fact that he was able to return from a more severe strain within a month’s time is a positive sign. This was the second IL stint of the year for Herrera, who missed a month due to left knee inflammation in April and early May. As a result, Herrera’s 2025 campaign has been limited to 43 games, counting his appearance as the designated hitter in today’s contest with the Braves.

Despite the injuries, Herrera has swung a hot bat when he has been able to play, as he hit .320/.392/.533 with eight homers over his first 171 trips to the plate. In order to keep Herrera healthy, the Cardinals aren’t expected to use him much as a catcher over the remainder of the year, so Herrera will mostly act as a DH.

In an interesting wrinkle, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that the Cards also had Herrera go through some workouts as an outfielder, so he could potentially contribute in the field without entirely locking up the DH spot. A career catcher, Herrera has never played in the outfield as a professional, as his only other positional experience consists of a few games as a first baseman during winter ball action.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol downplayed the idea of Herrera getting any significant time as an outfielder, simply saying “we’re going to see what that looks like. We know catching is a stressor. We want to do whatever allows him to stay healthy all the way through, and if we feel at any point that it’s strictly DH, then it’s well worth it to keep his bat in the lineup and give him days off when we need the flexibility of moving someone into that spot.”

Speaking of outfielders, Nootbaar will get a full IL stint to heal up after dealing with a side problem for the last few days. The costochondral joints connect the ribs to costal cartilage, so while the situation certainly isn’t pleasant for Nootbaar, he has at least avoided an oblique strain that might’ve led to a much longer absence. Nootbaar missed about seven weeks of the 2024 due to a pair of IL stints related to an oblique strain and a rib contusion.

Nootbaar is hitting .227/.332/.381 with 12 homers over 386 plate appearances this year, translating to a 104 wRC+ that is just above the league average. The left-handed hitting Nootbaar has played almost every day for St. Louis, playing mostly left field while chipping in at the other two outfield positions. After injuries hampered him in both 2023 and 2024, it was a good sign that Nootbaar had at least been able to stay on the field until now, and the hope is that he won’t miss too much more time to get back to playing condition. Brendan Donovan, Jose Fermin, or Garrett Hampson figure to be used in left field while Nootbaar is out.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...herrera-place-lars-nootbaar-on-10-day-il.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Trade Deadline Outlook: St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals reached the All-Star break in a tricky position. With about 40% of their season remaining, they're only 1.5 games back in the Wild Card and have a real shot at the playoffs. That's the case despite an offseason in which they did not attempt to improve the club, in what longtime president of baseball operations John Mozeliak termed a "reset." And Mozeliak will be navigating the July 31st deadline as a lame duck, given the club's stated plan to give his job to Chaim Bloom for the 2026 season.

Mozeliak put it this way nine days ago (Katie Woo of The Athletic reporting): "I do feel like where we are in the week leading up, or the 72 hours leading up to the trading deadline, may affect how we make our decisions." He further explained, "When we talk about all-in, I do think based on where the franchise is, based on payroll down and thinking more of the long view, we’re still trying to balance today’s success with ultimately having long-term success."

Record: 51-46 (28.5% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)

Buy Mode

Potential needs: Right-handed bat, pitching depth

Regarding the transition to Bloom, Mozeliak said, "When we get closer to the deadline, if there’s something that could impact how the future looks, clearly we’ll take a look at in a more collaborative sense."

With relative stability on the pitching staff, Mozeliak's deadline focus on the buy side may be on an offense that ranks fifth in the National League with 4.58 runs scored per game. Within that respectable showing, however, is a team that ranks 10th in the NL with an 88 wRC+ against left-handed pitching.

Mozeliak acknowledged the deficiency but also said, "I do feel like where they’re going to be in a week or two is not a glaring hole in terms of trading deadline thoughts," given Ivan Herrera's July 13th activation and minor injuries affecting other righty bats like Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras.

Brendan Donovan has been an everyday player, generally at second base, despite consistent struggles against southpaws over the last three seasons. Alec Burleson, currently deployed in the corner outfield, has been similar. Center fielder Victor Scott II has sat against some lefties in the last month in favor of Garrett Hampson. Lars Nootbaar, on the IL for a left costochondral sprain, had been sitting here or there against lefties but often with Donovan or Burleson in his spot and Thomas Saggese getting the start at second base.

Given that Mozeliak said "I don’t think we’re ever going to take away from the guys we’re trying to see play," it may be difficult to find the ideal addition. An improvement over Hampson as Scott's platoon partner could be one answer. Perhaps a call to the White Sox regarding Austin Slater or Michael A. Taylor of the White Sox would make sense. A homecoming for Randal Grichuk could work, though he hasn't played much center in recent years. Maybe the Astros will find Chas McCormick expendable once he completes his rehab assignment for an oblique strain.

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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/trade-deadline-outlook-st-louis-cardinals.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Sign First-Round Pick Liam Doyle

The Cardinals announced Thursday that they’ve signed first-round pick Liam Doyle. The team did not disclose bonus terms. The fifth overall pick comes with an approximate $8.13MM slot value.

A left-hander from the University of Tennessee, Doyle was the third pitcher off the board on Sunday. The Cardinals were picking in the top five for the first time in almost three decades. Doyle became their highest-drafted player since J.D. Drew also went fifth in 1998. The organization’s most recent pitcher selected in the top five was Braden Looper, who went third overall in ’96.

Doyle struggled over his first two college seasons, which he divided between Coastal Carolina and Ole Miss. Things clicked for him during his junior year in Knoxville, as he turned in a 3.20 ERA across 95 2/3 innings in the nation’s best conference. The 6’2″ southpaw struck out 43% of opposing hitters. He recorded 164 punchouts overall. Only LSU lefty Kade Anderson, whom the Mariners selected with the third pick, had more strikeouts in the nation.

Keith Law of The Athletic ranked Doyle as the top pitcher in the class and the #2 overall prospect on his pre-draft board. Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN all had Doyle in the back half of their top 10. Evaluators all rave about the velocity and life on his upper-90s fastball, which dominated collegiate hitters. Some reports raised concern about the frequency with which he used the heater and/or his delivery, but most project him for at least average control. Law put a plus grade on his splitter and credited him with an above-average slider, projecting him as a potential #2 starter so long as the command continues to develop.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if we see Doyle in the big leagues by the end of the 2026 season. Five of last year’s top 14 selections — each from the college ranks — have already reached the majors. Doyle joins a farm system that includes Quinn Mathews, Tekoah Roby, Michael McGreevy and Tink Hence in the pitching pipeline. Twenty-five-year-old Matthew Liberatore is amidst an impressive season at the MLB level and looks to be breaking out as a long-term rotation fixture as well.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/cardinals-sign-first-round-pick-liam-doyle.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Kyle Gibson Announces Retirement

After parts of 13 seasons in the big leagues, Kyle Gibson is retiring. The longtime MLB starter announced the news on the Serving It Up show this afternoon.

Gibson, 37, has been a free agent since he opted out of a minor league contract with the Rays last month. The veteran righty had pitched very well over four Triple-A starts, but Tampa Bay did not have room in their big league rotation. Gibson said today that he hoped his Triple-A numbers would lead to an immediate MLB opportunity. When that didn’t materialize, he decided to retire. He implied that he received a major league offer a couple weeks later but he and his wife Elizabeth were happy with his decision by that point.

“It has been a lot of fun to be around the family a lot more. … That’s where I ended up a couple weeks ago when it turned out that I wasn’t going to get the opportunity that I was looking for,” Gibson added. “It has been exciting being home and turning the page to a new chapter. I’ve taken the last couple weeks to call and text people who I really wanted to let know (the news) in person. I’m going to take the next few days and try to write something up to properly thank everybody that needs to be thanked for the last 15, 16 years in professional baseball.”

Gibson’s pro career began when he was selected by the Twins in the first round in 2009. A 2011 Tommy John surgery prevented him from making his big league debut until 2013. Gibson made 31 starts the following year, the beginning of his lengthy run as an innings eater. He made at least 25 starts in all six full seasons in Minnesota. Gibson posted a pair of sub-4.00 ERA showings and has his best year in 2018. He turned in a 3.62 earned run average while setting career marks in innings (196 2/3) and strikeouts (179).

A first-time free agent after the 2019 season, Gibson joined the Rangers on a three-year deal that guaranteed $28MM. He struggled in the shortened 2020 campaign but got out to a fantastic first few months a year later. Gibson reeled off a 2.87 ERA in his first 19 starts to earn an All-Star selection. The Rangers were out of contention, so they shipped him alongside Ian Kennedy to the Phillies at the deadline. Gibson spent a season and a half at the back of the Philadelphia rotation. He posted a 5.06 ERA in 43 regular season appearances and was part of the NL’s pennant winning club in 2022. Gibson made one appearance in the Fall Classic, tossing a scoreless inning.

That marked the end of the three-year deal. Gibson would finish his career on a series of one-year contracts. He signed with the Orioles in 2023, posting a 4.73 ERA over 33 starts. He won a career-high 15 games that year and led the 101-win club with 192 innings. A Midwest native who attended the University of Missouri, Gibson chose to pitch close to home in 2024. He signed a $13MM contract with the Cardinals and remained a steady hand at the back of the rotation. He worked to a 4.24 ERA while reaching 30 starts for the fourth consecutive season.

Gibson’s final trip to free agency was not as fruitful. He remained unsigned well into Spring Training. Gibson finally returned to Baltimore on a $5.25MM contract with less than a week until Opening Day. He agreed to spend the first couple weeks of the season building up in Triple-A. The O’s brought him up at the end of April, but opponents teed off for 23 runs across 12 1/3 innings. Baltimore released him after just four MLB starts. That’d prove to be the final work of his big league career, though his professional run concluded with three consecutive scoreless starts for Tampa Bay’s Triple-A club before he triggered the opt-out clause.

Aside from this year’s extremely small sample, Gibson was a consistent and remarkably durable starter. While he never reached the 200-inning mark, he thrice got past 190 frames. Gibson topped 150 innings nine times and had a grand total of three injured list stints in his MLB career. A 2016 shoulder strain was the only injury that cost him more than a month after he reached the big leagues.

Over the 11-year stretch between 2014-24, only Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole topped Gibson’s 1814 2/3 innings. He started 314 games during that time, 16 more than anyone else. Gibson finishes his career with a 4.60 ERA in 1878 frames. He topped 1500 strikeouts and won 112 games. Baseball Reference credited him with roughly 14 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs valued him at 21 WAR. Gibson made 30+ starts for five different teams and earned a little more than $73MM in salary, according to B-Ref. Congratulations to Gibson on an excellent run and all the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of Kim Klement, Imagn Images.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/kyle-gibson-announces-retirement.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Latest On Cardinals’ Bullpen Trade Candidates

Cardinals lefty Steven Matz has drawn some trade interest as the July 31 deadline inches closer, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (video link, bullpen talk beginning around the 4:10 mark). “There are a handful of teams at least poking around on Matz,” per Goold. He adds that the Cardinals will also likely be open to offers on righty Phil Maton but would need a very strong offer to trade closer Ryan Helsley, who could receive a qualifying offer if he’s not moved.

[Related: St. Louis Cardinals Trade Deadline Outlook]

Matz, 34, is in the final season of a four-year, $44MM contract. He’s being paid $12MM this season and has about $4.65MM of that sum yet to be paid out. By the time deadline day rolls around, he’ll have about $3.8MM to go on that contract.

While the four-year deal hasn’t panned out as hope — Matz was injured/ineffective in both 2022 and 2024 — the 2025 season has been a good one for the veteran lefty. Matz has pitched well in two starts (nine innings, one run, 11 strikeouts, no walks) but has spent the majority of the season working in a multi-inning relief role. He’s pitched to a 3.35 ERA in 51 innings overall, fanning 21.4% of his opponents and limiting walks at a terrific 4.3% clip. He’s hit a rough patch of late, allowing nine runs in his past dozen innings, but it’s generally been a nice rebound year for the southpaw.

Goold adds that Matz has drawn interest from teams looking to fill a variety of roles. He obviously has a long track record as a starter and is pitching in multi-inning stints right now. It’d be possible to stretch Matz back out as a relatively under-the-radar target for teams seeking to fortify the back end of the rotation. Conversely, Matz has clear value in his current multi-inning role, and he has the stuff and results to succeed in a more traditional single-inning setup role.

Maton, 32, has been one of the top bargain pickups of the offseason. He surprisingly languished on the free-agent market into March despite a nice 2024 season — really, a nice three-year run from 2022-24 — and ultimately signed for a modest $2MM guarantee with the Cards. He’s been a key arm in the St. Louis bullpen, pitching 35 1/3 innings with a 2.55 ERA, a 30.4% strikeout rate rate and a 9.5% walk rate. That strikeout rate would be a career-best in a 162-game season.

The lack of interest in Maton may have stemmed from some worrying trends with regard to his velocity. He’s never been a hard-thrower, but last year’s 88.7 mph average on his cutter and 87.5 mph average on his sinker were steps down from the prior season (and a career-worst with regard to his sinker). He’s added about two miles per hour to each pitch in 2025, sitting 90.4 mph on his cutter and 89.5 mph on his sinker.

It’s still below-average velocity, but this is the fourth straight year that Maton has enjoyed success with meager heat on his pitches — and he’s only owed about $774K more of this year’s salary as of this writing ($634K after deadline day). Budget-crunched teams seeking a reliable setup arm should have interest. Maton has already tied a career-high with 18 holds, and he’s picked up a pair of saves as well.

As for the 31-year-old Helsley, he’s enjoying a strong season overall but hasn’t matched his 2024 dominance. Last year, the flamethrowing righty notched a 2.04 ERA with an NL-best 49 saves while fanning 29.7% of his opponents. This season, he’s pitched to a 3.27 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate, a 9.7% walk rate and 19 saves. He’s still owed about $3.17MM of this year’s $8.2MM salary (a number that’ll dip to $2.6MM by the day of the deadline itself).

Last year’s qualifying offer clocked in at $21.05MM. That number figures to rise this season. It’d be a steep price to pay for one year of any reliever, but there’s a good chance Helsley would still reject the QO and look for a lucrative multi-year contract. He won’t command an AAV that strong on a longer-term deal, but this offseason will represent his best chance to cash in on a long-term deal.

There’ll surely be some temptation to accept that sizable one-year deal and test the open market post-2026, without the burden of draft pick compensation, but doing so runs the risk of incurring an injury or major downturn in performance next year. Relief pitching is immensely volatile on a year-to-year basis. There’s also the looming specter of a potential lockout in the 2026-27 offseason, given the Dec. 2026 expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement. Having a multi-year deal in place is surely preferable to being a free agent in such an uncertain offseason.

If Helsley were to reject a QO and sign for more than $50MM total — which seems quite attainable — the Cardinals would receive a compensatory pick after the first round in the 2026 draft. Any return on Helsley would need to reflect that. It’s also possible the Cardinals have some hope of keeping Helsley, whether via that one-year QO or perhaps by negotiating a multi-year extension after making said offer. Helsley has said in the past that he’d love to stay in St. Louis long-term.

Any decisions on Helsley — and, to a lesser extent, Matz and Maton — will hinge on the Cardinals’ play in the early stages coming out of the All-Star break. At 51-46 on the season, they’re currently 6.5 games back of the division-leading Cubs but only 1.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot in the National League.

The Cardinals open the season’s second half with a pivotal three-game road set against a D-backs club in a similar position of needing to string together some wins to avoid a notable deadline sell-off. The Cardinals, 22-26 on the road versus 29-20 at home, will send Andre Pallante, Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas to the mound. Arizona will counter with Brandon Pfaadt, Ryne Nelson and Merrill Kelly. The Cardinals then head to Colorado for three games before hosting the Padres and Marlins in their final two series prior to the July 31 trade deadline. With a strong performance over the next 12 games, they could opt to hold onto most of their veterans and look to add pieces, while a string of series losses be the deciding factor in trading away short-term veterans.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...mors-steven-matz-ryan-helsley-phil-maton.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Sign Aaron Wilkerson To Minor League Contract

The Cardinals announced that Aaron Wilkerson has signed a minor league deal, and the right-hander has been assigned to Triple-A Memphis. Wilkerson had been pitching in the Reds organization on another minors contract until earlier this week, as KPRC 2’s Ari Alexander reported that Wilkerson triggered an opt-out clause in that deal.

It has been almost six years since Wilkerson’s last big league appearance, as the righty posted a 6.88 ERA across 35 1/3 innings with the Brewers from 2017-19. Now 36 years old, Wilkerson’s career has seen consisted of a pair of trips abroad (pitching with NPB’s Hanshin Tigers in 2022 and with the KBO League’s Lotte Giants in 2023-24) and a few other stints in the minors with MLB organizations. Wilkerson has pitched with the Dodgers, Athletics, and Reds without any further calls to the Show.

This year, Wilkerson has a 4.17 ERA over 18 starts and 95 innings for Triple-A Louisville, with a modest 20.7% strikeout rate but an outstanding 4.5% walk rate. A .249 BABIP has undoubtedly contributed to Wilkerson’s success, and his 15% homer rate continues his trend of having some trouble keeping the ball in the park in both the upper minors and during his brief time as a Major Leaguer.

Wilkerson’s work in Louisville wasn’t enough to get him a look in Cincinnati, as the Reds have turned to a couple of top prospects (Chase Petty, Chase Burns) and more established starting options when having to fill holes in the rotation this year. The Cardinals’ rotational depth chart is also pretty crowded, yet the Wilkerson signing is intriguing within the context of the July 31 trade deadline. Since St. Louis could be looking to move Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas, or long reliever Steven Matz, it behooves the Cards to have an experienced starting depth at Triple-A should a vacancy suddenly appear on the team’s pitching staff.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/cardinals-sign-aaron-wilkerson-to-minor-league-contract.html