RSS Cardinals Team Notes

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Rangers Acquire Phil Maton

The Rangers have added another veteran arm to their bullpen, acquiring right-hander Phil Maton from the Cardinals in exchange for minor league pitchers Mason Molina and Skylar Hales, per announcements from both clubs. Texas designated minor league outfielder Dustin Harris for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot.

Maton, 32, is playing the current season on a one-year, $2MM contract signed after spring training was underway. Other clubs around the league are surely kicking themselves to an extent, as Maton has turned in a career-best performance in St. Louis. He’s tallied 38 1/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, a 30.5% strikeout rate and a 9.5% walk rate. Maton’s 50.6% ground-ball mark is a career-high.

While he’s never been a hard-thrower, Maton has carved out a solid career for himself living in the upper 80s and low 90s. He’s sitting 89.5 mph with his sinker in 2025 — and throwing it at a career-high 13.2% clip — and averaging just 90.6 mph with his cutter. Maton has thrown his mid-70s curveball more than any other pitch this season, and he’s also mixed in a slider that sits 83.4 mph.

The whole package has been effective. Maton is missing bats, inducing grounders and limiting hard contact even better than he typically does — which is impressive given his track record. Opponents have averaged just 86 mph off Maton in his career, but they’re putting the ball in play at an average of only 84.8 mph in 2025. His 28.9% hard-hit rate is among the lowest in the sport, and Maton has only allowed three “barreled” balls, per Statcast’s definition, all season.

Maton has picked up 20 holds and a pair of saves with the Cardinals. He’s not likely to step into the ninth inning in Texas, but he’ll join newly acquired left-hander Danny Coulombe as a setup man to closer Robert Garcia. He’s a free agent at season’s end, making Maton a pure rental, but the cost of acquisition reflects that lack of team control.

Molina, 22, was the Brewers’ seventh-round pick in last year’s draft. The former Arkansas Razorback was traded to Texas in a January swap sending righty Grant Anderson to Milwaukee. He’ll now join his third organization in barely a year of pro ball.

The 6’2″, 230-pound Molina has split the current season between the Rangers’ Class-A and High-A affiliates. He’s appeared in 18 games, 17 of them starts, and worked to a 3.41 ERA in 74 innings. Molina has punched out 30.5% of his hitters and walked 9.3% of the batters he’s faced. He didn’t rank among the Rangers’ top-30 prospects.

The 23-year-old Hales was the Rangers’ fourth-round pick in 2023. He posted terrific numbers in his first season of pro ball but has struggled in year two, logging an ERA north of 5.00 in Double-A and serving up 13 runs in his first 7 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Overall, Hales has pitched 33 minor league innings and been tagged for a 7.64 ERA.

It’s not a compelling statistical profile, but Hales has a powerful 6’4″, 220-pound frame and averages better than 95 mph on his heater. Even as he’s struggled to keep runs off the board, he’s fanned nearly 28% of his opponents and notched strong swinging-strike rates. His command hasn’t been sharp in his limited look in Triple-A, but he posted quality walk rates at each stop prior to reaching Memphis.

Hales is a pure bullpen prospect, relying primarily on a fastball/slider combo. If he can get his command back on track and improve his performance with runners on base, he has the tools to be a useful bullpen piece.

The roster casualty for Maton will be Harris, a former 11th-round pick of the A’s whom the Rangers acquired in a 2020 trade. He ranked among the organization’s better prospects for a few seasons and had the look of an offensive-minded first baseman or left fielder. Harris posted huge numbers up through High-A and above-average numbers in his first passes through the Double-A and Triple-A levels.

He’s now in his third run through Triple-A, however, and he’s delivered below-average output in each of his past two stints at the level. In 308 plate appearances this season, the lefty-swinging Harris has a .262/.355/.401 slash with nine homers and 24 steals. He’s walked at a strong 10.7% clip and fanned in a lower-than-average 18.8% of plate appearances. It’s not necessarily bad production, but he’s checked in 5% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+.

Harris is also in his final minor league option year. He would’ve needed to stick on the major league roster next season had the Rangers not jettisoned him from the 40-man roster. That’ll be true for any organization that claims him off waivers as well. Harris can be optioned for the remainder of the current season but will have to stick in the majors or else be designated for assignment again next year.

Since trades of players who’ve been on 40-man rosters are no longer permitted, Harris will head to waivers within the next five days. He’ll be made available to all 29 other clubs at that point, with waiver priority determined by reverse standings.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported that Maton was headed to Texas. The Athletic’s Katie Woo reported the return.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/rangers-close-to-acquiring-phil-maton.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Place Nolan Arenado On Injured List

The Cardinals placed Nolan Arenado on the 10-day injured list this evening with a right shoulder strain. St. Louis activated Nolan Gorman from his own IL stay in a corresponding move. They also recalled relief pitchers Andre Granillo, Roddery Muñoz and Ryan Fernandez to fill the bullpen spots vacated by recent trades of Steven Matz, Ryan Helsley and Phil Maton.

Manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Katie Woo of The Athletic) that there’s no timeline for Arenado’s return. Marmol added that the veteran third baseman has been playing through discomfort for a while. It’s presumably no coincidence that his already pedestrian numbers have continued to drop. Arenado has a .235/.294/.366 batting line with 10 homers in 394 plate appearances on the year. He’s hitting only .175/.230/.211 in July, by far his worst month of the season.

Arenado remains a strong defender, but he’s amidst his worst full season at the plate since he was a rookie. That follows consecutive league average seasons between 2023-24. He seems to be firmly in the decline phase of his illustrious career at age 34. He’s signed through 2027 and the Cardinals have been unable to find a satisfactory trade agreement since he vetoed a potential deal to the Astros over the winter. If he is out for most or all of the remaining schedule, an offseason deal would be equally difficult to envision.

The 25-year-old Gorman returns after a couple weeks lost to a back issue. He’ll play third base regularly for at least as long as Arenado is sidelined. Asked last night whether the Cards were considering a change in playing time in the infield, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak somewhat vaguely replied that they’re “going to try to find at-bats for Nolan Gorman as best we can” (link via Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Arenado’s injury opens that path for the former first-round pick.

Gorman has big power but has struggled to make contact against MLB pitching. This season’s 30% strikeout rate is a marginal improvement relative to his first three seasons but remains too high. He has a league average .219/.310/.408 slash with nine homers in 226 plate appearances. Gorman hit 27 longballs a couple years ago and has formerly been an everyday second baseman. The Cards had a tougher time finding at-bats for him this year. They held Brendan Donovan past the deadline; he’ll play regularly at second base. Donovan can also play the corner outfield, but they’ve got Alec Burleson in left and have begun giving catcher Iván Herrera some outfield reps as well. That’s before considering Lars Nootbaar’s eventual return from the injured list.

In what amounts to a transitional year for St. Louis, the primary focus has been on the evaluation of young players like Gorman and Jordan Walker. They’ll have another two months to get more data before Mozeliak turns control of the front office to Chaim Bloom. The upcoming offseason will provide an insight into how Bloom evaluates the mid-20s players and what he considers the priorities to get the team back to playoff contention in 2026 or ’27.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cardinals-place-nolan-arenado-on-injured-list.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Dodgers Claim Luken Baker, Designate Jack Little

The Dodgers announced they’ve claimed first baseman Luken Baker off waivers from the Cardinals. According to the MLB.com transaction log, he’s been optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Los Angeles designated reliever Jack Little for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot. St. Louis had not previously announced that Baker was dropped from the 40-man roster but evidently tried to run him through waivers.

It’s a bit surprising that the Cards went that route. They had four open spots on the 40-man roster, so it’s not as if they were pressed for space. (Their count remains at 36 after they claimed lefty reliever Anthony Veneziano from Miami.) They nevertheless decided to move on from Baker, a 28-year-old first baseman who is in his fifth Triple-A season.

A former second-round pick out of TCU, Baker ranked toward the back of the Cards’ top 30 prospects for a few seasons on the strength of his raw power. He has connected on 136 home runs in his minor league career, 96 of which have come at the Triple-A level. Baker owns a .249/.344/.507 batting line in more than 1600 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s down to a meager .196/.309/.397 slash in 65 games this year, so the Cards determined he wasn’t getting another MLB opportunity. Baker has had sporadic big league appearances, hitting .206 with four homers in just under 200 plate appearances between 2023-25.

Before this claim, the Dodgers did not have a single healthy position player who was on optional assignment. Baker at least provides a healthy bat whom they can call upon if necessary without making a future 40-man roster transaction. He’s in his last minor league option year.

Little, 27, is a 6’4″ righty who made his big league debut last month. He has had two very brief stints on the MLB roster, combining to toss three innings of two-run ball. The Stanford product owns a 4.64 ERA with slightly worse than average strikeout (21.1%) and walk (10.3%) rates across 36 appearances with OKC. Little had gotten out to a strong start to the Triple-A campaign, but he has surrendered 17 earned runs in 19 innings dating back to the beginning of June. The Dodgers will put him on waivers this week.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/dodgers-claim-luken-baker-designate-jack-little.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Claim Anthony Veneziano From Marlins

The Cardinals claimed reliever Anthony Veneziano off waivers from the Marlins, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Memphis. Miami had designated him for assignment last week when they promoted outfielder Jakob Marsee.

Veneziano is a 6’5″ lefty who has made 38 MLB appearances over the past three years. He has a combined 3.93 earned run average through 36 2/3 innings, striking out 20.6% of opponents against an 8.8% walk rate. He leans mostly on a mid-80s slider while averaging around 94 MPH on his fastball. Veneziano has managed serviceable big league production, but he has given up eight runs with an underwhelming 12:9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 12 Triple-A appearances this year.

St. Louis traded Ryan Helsley, Steven Matz and Phil Maton at the deadline. They lost John King to an oblique strain last week. JoJo Romero is the only southpaw in Oli Marmol’s bullpen. He is now the team’s best reliever and probably going to get a decent amount of work in the ninth inning. Romero picked up the save, his first of the season, on Saturday in the team’s only win since the Helsley trade. Veneziano won’t jump right into the big league bullpen, but he’s the only other healthy lefty reliever on the 40-man roster.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cardinals-claim-anthony-veneziano-from-marlins.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Poll: Who Had The Best Deadline In The NL Central?

The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Over the next week-plus, MLBTR will be running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. Yesterday, the Phillies came out on top in the NL East with about half the vote. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the NL Central. A look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers have the best record in baseball but had a fairly quiet deadline. Perhaps their most impactful move of the summer came last month, when they traded away Aaron Civale to land former top prospect Andrew Vaughn from the White Sox. Vaughn had struggled in Chicago for years but has caught fire with the Brewers and has proven to be an anchor for a lineup that’s without Rhys Hoskins and Jackson Chourio. Looking at deals made closer to the deadline, Milwaukee swapped out another big league starter to add a hitter when they shipped Nestor Cortes to the Padres alongside infield prospect Jorge Quintana and cash in order to bring in outfielder Brandon Lockridge.

Another unusual trade for Milwaukee was acquiring injured closer Shelby Miller and injured lefty Jordan Montgomery in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Montgomery won’t pitch this year, so the deal essentially saw the Brewers buy Miller off of the Diamondbacks in exchange for eating some of Montgomery’s salary. Perhaps the only typical buy-side addition was catcher Danny Jansen, who they acquired from the Rays to back up William Contreras. Dealing away Cortes and Civale hasn’t seemed to hurt the team much, but their additions are fairly modest on paper.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have fallen behind the Brewers after posting a somewhat pedestrian 29-25 record since the start of June, and entered trade season in clear need of upgrades. Perhaps their most impactful addition was utility man Willi Castro, a switch-hitter who can help take pressure off of rookie Matt Shaw at third base while upgrading the bench to make giving regulars like Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ days off more feasible. Deals with the Orioles and Pirates to acquire veteran setup man Andrew Kittredge and southpaw Taylor Rogers should help bolster a bullpen that had been relying on reclamation projects like Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz to this point, as well.

Despite those generally solid additions, the Cubs did not substantially address their biggest need this summer: starting pitching. It was no secret that adding rotation help was a top priority for Chicago with Justin Steele done for the year, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad both on the injured list, and both Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd in uncharted territory in terms of innings. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they were unable to find much help in that regard on the market. Michael Soroka was added in a trade with the Nationals in order to pitch in, but his velocity was down in his last few outings with the Nats and now he’s headed for the injured list with shoulder discomfort. While the club’s bench and bullpen additions were solid, it’s unclear if that will be enough to outweigh the lack of impactful rotation help down the stretch.

Cincinnati Reds

The 59-54 Reds currently sit just three games out of a Wild Card spot in the NL, and that was enough to convince them to go for it this summer. They made three trades to round out their roster. They picked up right-hander Zack Littell from the Rays in a three-team deal that sent righty Brian Van Belle to Tampa and lefty Adam Serwinowski to the Dodgers. They added Miguel Andujar to their bench in a deal with the A’s and, most interestingly, they picked up third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the Pirates in exchange for Rogers (who was later traded to the Cubs) and shortstop prospect Sammy Stafura.

Littell should provide some depth for an already-strong rotation that has a history of struggling to stay healthy (as was reinforced by Nick Lodolo’s departure from yesterday’s game after just 1 2/3 innings of work). Andujar provides a lefty-mashing bench bat to a club that has struggled badly against southpaws this year, but Hayes is the most interesting addition of the bunch. A former top prospect and Gold Glove award winner at third base, Hayes is one of the most talented defenders in the sport but hit just .236/.279/.290 (57 wRC+) in 100 games with the Pirates this year and has a career wRC+ of just 84. His relatively pricey contract makes bringing him in a gamble, but if he can float a slash line even close to league average, he should be a 3-win player when healthy.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals sold at the deadline for the second time in three years, but in doing so they only traded veterans on expiring contracts. Right-hander Erick Fedde was the first domino to fall, as the veteran starter was shipped to the Braves for a player to be named later or cash amid a disappointing season that saw him designated for assignment just before the deal. Veteran setup man Phil Maton netted a pair of prospects from the Rangers, one of whom is now St. Louis’s #26 ranked prospect at MLB Pipeline, and swingman Steven Matz was shipped to the Red Sox in a deal that brought back power-hitting first baseman Blaze Jordan (#18 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline).

The team’s biggest deal this summer, however, was shipping out closer Ryan Helsley to the Mets. Even in the midst of a down season by his standards, Helsley brought back a trio of talented players: infield prospect Jesus Baez (#6 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline), righty pitching prospect Nate Dohm (#15), and right-handed prospect Frank Elissalt (unranked). It’s a solid group of talent to bring in for a handful of rentals on expiring deals and the moves should help set incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom up for success as John Mozeliak departs the club at the end of the season.

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates also sold off pieces this summer, although their deadline was quiet for a club that entered July with Paul Skenes and Andrew McCutchen as their only two untouchable players. Not only did widely-speculated trade candidate Mitch Keller stay put despite a market starved for controllable rotation talent, but a number of rental players for whom the Pirates have little use did not end up getting cashed in for prospects and/or salary relief. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham, Andrew Heaney, and Tim Mayza all remain in town. And some deals they did make, such as the David Bednar swap with the Yankees, produced underwhelming returns.

That’s not to say everything about the club’s deadline was disappointing, however. The Pirates did manage to get out from under the Hayes contract, and then flipped Rogers to get an additional prospect from the Cubs. Lefty Caleb Ferguson and infielder Adam Frazier both were successfully cashed in for prospect talent and the Bucs received a return led by intriguing MLB-ready reliever Evan Sisk when they looked to sell on back-end starter Bailey Falter. Some of those young players acquired should help the Pirates going forward, and getting Hayes off the books should make adding offense easier for 2026 and beyond. Even so, it’s fair to wonder if this deadline represents a missed opportunity in Pittsburgh.

The NL Central was one of the quieter divisions in baseball this deadline, with only a handful of non-rental players changing hands and no blockbusters. With that being said, three teams did make an effort to get better for 2025, while the Cardinals and Pirates picked up a number of pieces for their futures. Which club did the best of this quintet? Have your say in the poll below:

Take Our Poll

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/poll-who-had-the-best-deadline-in-the-nl-central.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Claim Jorge Alcalá

Today: The Cardinals have formally added Alcalá to their active roster ahead of this evening’s game against the Cubs. In a corresponding move, Gordon Graceffo was optioned to Triple-A.

August 7: The Cardinals announce that they have claimed right-hander Jorge Alcalá off waivers from the Red Sox. Boston designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Cards had several 40-man roster openings from their deadline dealings. Alcalá is out of options, so the Cards will need to make a corresponding active roster move once he reports to the team.

Alcalá, 30, has a decent overall track record but is having a rough season. From 2019 to 2024, he pitched 163 1/3 innings for the Twins with a 3.64 earned run average. He struck out 25.4% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.3% clip. He earned one save and 28 holds in that time.

But as mentioned, this year has been a struggle. He posted some poor numbers earlier in the year and got flipped to the Red Sox in June. Between Minnesota and Boston, he has thrown 40 2/3 innings with a 6.64 ERA. His 24.2% strikeout rate is still a good number but he has given out free passes to 12.1% of opponents.

For the Cards, they’re only 5.5 games out of a playoff spot but clearly have their sights set on next season. They had planned for 2025 to be a reset year from the beginning. Even though they hung around the playoff race, they sold off impending free agents ahead of the deadline. That included three relievers, with Ryan Helsley traded to the Mets, Phil Maton to the Rangers and Steven Matz to the Red Sox.

Those trades left them with some openings on the roster. This is their second waiver claim since those deals. They grabbed Anthony Veneziano from the Marlins a few days ago and now have added Alcalá into the mix.

Alcalá is making $1.5MM this year and can be retained for 2026 via arbitration. His poor results this year will prevent him from earning a big raise. The Cards can get a close-up look at him for a few weeks and decide if they want to tender him a contract.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cardinals-claim-jorge-alcala.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Notes: Romero, King

Cardinals left-hander JoJo Romero was a logical trade candidate this summer but wasn’t moved. In a chat with readers this week, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that “at least one team” was in touch with the Cardinals, looking for a lefty reliever. However, Goold relays that the Cards let that team know they would be willing to listen to offers on John King, seemingly preferring to make him available as opposed to Romero.

The interest in Romero is understandable. His career strikeout and walk rates of 23% and 8.3%, respectively, are both pretty close to league average. His 53.1% ground ball rate is quite strong. He has a 3.70 earned run average in his career and that number is down to 1.98 here in 2025. He is making just $2.26MM this year and can be retained via arbitration for 2026. The Padres were connected to Romero prior to the deadline but there were likely plenty of other clubs interested without that interest being made public.

It seems the Cards didn’t have much interest in making him available, as they tried to put King out there as an alternative. King is somewhat akin to Romero as a lefty grounder specialist, but his numbers aren’t quite as strong. His 62.2% ground ball rate is better than Romero’s but he has only punched out 15.1% of opponents. That’s a notable difference, especially in the modern era where front offices love strikeouts. King has a 3.87 ERA in his career but is at 5.18 this year. He is making $1.605MM this year and can be controlled via arbitration for two more seasons. That’s one extra year compared to Romero but King is two years older, about to turn 31 while Romero is almost 29. King landed on the IL with a strained oblique just before the deadline.

Ultimately, neither player moved, so the Cardinals presumably didn’t get an offer they considered compelling enough in either case. What will be interesting to monitor going forward is if there will be a shift once their regime change takes the next step.

It was almost a year ago, in late September of 2024, that the impending front office change was announced. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak would stay through 2025 before handing the reins over the Chaim Bloom. In the interim, Bloom would be focusing on the club’s player development systems, occasionally advising on front office moves as well.

The Cards were also open about 2025 being a transition year where they would be less focused on investing in the big league roster, with more of an emphasis on those player development elements. It was widely expected that they would make veteran players available last offseason, particularly the expensive ones. However, guys like Willson Contreras, Miles Mikolas and Sonny Gray showed little to no interest in waiving their respective no-trade clauses. Nolan Arenado was more open to trade possibilities but blocked a deal to the Astros and ultimately wasn’t moved.

The club could have then pivoted to trading other guys in the offseason, such as Erick Fedde or Ryan Helsley, but ended up mostly staying pat. Their most notable move of the winter was signing Phil Maton for one year and $2MM.

Their deadline, too, was modest. They made a few trades but only moved impending free agents like Fedde, Helsley, Maton and Steven Matz. They reportedly got interest in controllable guys like Romero, Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan but held all of them.

What remains to be seen is if those decisions were a function of the weird limbo year. Perhaps Mozeliak preferred to leave the decisions on those controllable guys to his successor. If so, then maybe it’s possible those guys will be more available this winter once the keys are handed over to Bloom.

It also depends on various other factors. What sort of payroll parameters will Bloom get from ownership? Will the club wait for expensive contracts to expire before spending on the team again? How does Bloom feel about the system he’s been monitoring for the past year? Does the club still want to keep giving playing time to players like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman despite lackluster results in 2025?

The decisions to not move Fedde and Helsley in the winter seemed to backfire. Both players posted worse results in 2025 than in 2024, which presumably led to lesser trade returns this summer than if they had been moved a few months earlier. Perhaps Bloom will look to avoid the same path with guys like Romero this winter, though his decisions should be impacted by the answers to the questions surrounding the franchise.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cardinals-notes-romero-king.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Place Victor Scott II On IL, Select Nathan Church

The Cardinals have selected the contract of outfielder Nathan Church, as noted by Katie Woo of The Athletic. St. Louis had multiple spots available on its 40-man roster, so there was no need to create space for Church’s addition. He’ll be taking the active roster spot of center fielder Victor Scott II, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left ankle sprain.

Scott, 24, has appeared in 116 games for the Cardinals this year while serving as the club’s primary center fielder. While his offensive numbers leave something to be desired (he’s hit .233/.311/.312 with a wRC+ of 81 this year), he’s improved substantially relative to last year’s 40 wRC+ thanks to much stronger plate discipline. His elite defense and 31-for-33 record on the bases has made him a two-win player according to both Baseball Reference’s and Fangraphs’ versions of WAR. He’s been used less often in recent weeks, with just 39 plate appearances since July 29, but the Cardinals have kept him as a regular presence in games even as his playing time has dwindled by using him as a pinch runner and defensive replacement.

That makes losing Scott for any amount of time a tough blow, particularly given that super utility man Brendan Donovan and first baseman Willson Contreras are both already out of the lineup with day-to-day injuries. All of this has created an opportunity for Church, who was an 11th-round pick by St. Louis back in 2022. He’s scaled the minor league ladder over the past few years in order to reach Triple-A this season, and he’s looked quite good at the level through 53 games. He’s hitting .335/.400/.521 in 242 plate appearances since being promoted, with nine steals and 22 extra-base hits, including seven homers. He’s also managed to walk (24) nearly as many times as he’s struck out (25). That impressive all-around profile is certainly intriguing, and now it appears to have been enough to earn him a look at the big league level.

Church has split his time between all three outfield spots in the minors fairly evenly, and it’s unclear where he’ll spend most of his time in the majors at this point. Jordan Walker is entrenched in right field, while Lars Nootbaar figures to handle either left field or center field on a regular basis but could switch between the two as needed. Burleson typically plays left field but has been handling first base in Contreras’s absence, which could create an opening for Church to get some playing time while Contreras nurses his injury. Once the rest of the roster is healthy, Church is likely to operate in mostly a bench role but his lefty bat could be used to spell the right-handed Walker in tougher matchups.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ctor-scott-ii-on-il-select-nathan-church.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Place Brendan Donovan On Injured List

The Cardinals placed Brendan Donovan on the 10-day injured list before tonight’s game against the Marlins. He’s dealing with a left groin strain. The placement is retroactive to August 15, so he’ll be eligible to return in a week. José Fermín is up from Triple-A Memphis to provide infield insurance in the interim.

Donovan has dealt with a seemingly minor groin issue over the past week or so. He was out of the lineup for a couple games two weekends ago. He returned for the early part of last week but sat out the entire series against the Yankees last weekend. IL stints can be backdated by a maximum of three days. Rather than continuing to play shorthanded, the Cards elected to sideline Donovan to get an extra infielder on the roster.

The 28-year-old Donovan is hitting .279/.348/.402 across 476 plate appearances. He has connected on nine homers and 25 doubles with his usual plus contact skills. After hitting in the three hole for the early part of the season, he has worked at the top of the lineup going back to the middle of June. Lars Nootbaar is now operating as the leadoff hitter, at least against right-handed pitching, while Thomas Saggese is drawing into the lineup at second base.

St. Louis was swept by the Yankees and has dropped five in a row. They’ve failed to capitalize on the Mets’ skid and are now 5.5 games back in the Wild Card picture. It increasingly looks like the race for the National League’s last postseason spot will come down to New York and Cincinnati. The Cards were soft sellers at the trade deadline and are more focused on getting looks at young players in the season’s final six weeks. With Nolan Arenado uncertain to return this season, the Cards are giving everyday third base reps to Nolan Gorman. Saggese, a rookie, hasn’t hit since April and now carries a .252/.286/.338 line through 147 plate appearances on the season.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cardinals-place-brendan-donovan-on-injured-list.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals To Select Cesar Prieto

The Cardinals are calling up César Prieto, reports Francys Romero. They’ll select his contract onto the 40-man roster tomorrow. St. Louis has a pair of openings on the 40-man, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding active roster transaction.

Prieto, a left-handed hitting infielder, gets his first big league opportunity at age 26. He didn’t begin his affiliated career until he was 22 years old. He’s a Cuba native who played four seasons in that nation’s top league before defecting while on an Olympic trip in 2021. He signed a $650K bonus with the Orioles and began his U.S. career with their High-A affiliate a year later.

The O’s traded Prieto to St. Louis as part of a three-player return for Jack Flaherty at the 2023 trade deadline. His prospect stock dropped between 2023-24 as he posted unspectacular numbers at Triple-A. Prieto has performed well in his third season at the top minor league level. He’s batting .295/.359/.448 with nine homers and 11 steals across 449 plate appearances.

Prieto’s calling card is his plus contact ability. He hasn’t struck out in more than 15.2% of his plate appearances at any minor league stop. He has fanned just 13.4% of the time this season. Prieto has a very aggressive offensive approach and often expands the strike zone. He’s not going to take many walks or hit for much power, but the bat-to-ball skills should allow him to hit for average. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs ranked him the #25 prospect in the St. Louis system last month, projecting him as a utility infielder.

The Cardinals have used him at second base, third base and shortstop in the minors. Scouting reports suggest he’s a fringe defender who doesn’t have a huge arm. He probably fits best at the keystone but could see action throughout the infield. He would have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this offseason if the Cards didn’t add him to the 40-man roster. It appears they were planning to select his contract during the winter, so they’ll bring him up a bit ahead of time for his first exposure to big league pitching.

St. Louis is using Thomas Saggese, Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman from right to left on the infield. Winn has played through a sore left knee for much of the second half. He acknowledged earlier this week that he’d probably benefit from rest but said he wanted to remain in the lineup in hope of a long shot playoff berth (relayed by Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat). The Cardinals are 6.5 games back of the Mets with three teams to surpass in the Wild Card race. It’s not yet known if they’ll shut Winn down or simply swap Prieto in for one of Garrett Hampson or José Fermín on the bench.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cardinals-to-select-cesar-prieto.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals To Promote Jimmy Crooks

12:41pm: Pozo is indeed being placed on the 7-day concussion list, per Woo.

12:13pm: The Cardinals are promoting catcher Jimmy Crooks and infielder César Prieto, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Prieto news was reported yesterday. The Cardinals have two 40-man openings and won’t need to make corresponding moves to select either player’s contract from Triple-A Memphis. Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that first baseman/outfielder Alec Burleson will be placed on the 10-day injured list as one of the corresponding active roster moves. Goold suggests that catcher Yohel Pozo could also be IL bound after getting struck by a foul ball yesterday.

It’ll be the big league debut for both Crooks and Prieto. Crooks, in particular, holds appeal as one of the organization’s top-ranked prospects. He currently sits sixth at MLB.com and fifth at FanGraphs, where Crooks cracked the back half of their top-100 list.

Crooks, who turned 24 in July, is regarded as a plus defensive catcher, but he’s also posted at least average offensive numbers at every minor league stop he’s made. He’s spent the 2025 season in Triple-A, where he’s batting .274/.337/.441 with 14 home runs. He’s nabbed a strong 29.4% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him with Memphis, and Baseball Prospectus gives him excellent framing grades in his career (though he hasn’t been as sharp in that regard in 2025 specifically).

A fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma back in 2022, Crooks doesn’t have huge power but has reached double-digit homers in every full professional season thus far. His walk rate typically lands around 11%, though that’s down to 8.4% this season. He’s fanned at a 26.5% clip as well, but strikeouts generally haven’t been a major issue for him.

With the Cardinals moving Willson Contreras to first base and Ivan Herrera to the outfield, there’s a clear long-term opportunity for Crooks behind the plate. Pedro Pagés and the aforementioned Pozo have been shouldering the catching workload in St. Louis since Herrera was shifted off the position, but Pagés profiles more as a defensive-minded backup and Pozo is a 28-year-old journeyman who signed a minor league deal last offseason.

The Cardinals entered the year intent on taking a look at some younger players in larger opportunities. Following the position changes for Contreras and Herrera, the final month of the season can serve as a proving grounds for Crooks. One month of playing time isn’t going to decisively answer whether Crooks can handle the role in the long-term, but it’ll give the Cards some additional data to consider when weighing how heavily (if at all) to pursue catching help in the offseason.

Presumably, with Pagés standing as a plus defender who can at least provide modest pop, the Cards feel comfortable with Pagés and Crooks getting the first crack at playing time in 2026. Pozo can be controlled for six more years, won’t be arbitration-eligible this winter and has multiple minor league option years remaining, so the Cards could also keep him around if they’re satisfied with his performance to date.

As for Crooks, he’ll be controllable for at least six full seasons, all the way through 2031. The earliest he’ll be able to qualify for arbitration is in the 2028-29 offseason, although both that timeline and his free agent timetable can be pushed back if he’s optioned in the future.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cardinals-to-promote-jimmy-crooks.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Is Jordan Walker Still A Core Player In St. Louis?

The Cardinals have maintained this season is primarily about evaluating young players. It felt like a potential make-or-break year for Jordan Walker, in particular. Walker was viewed as an impact bat when he was a prospect. He impressed with a .276/.342/.445 showing with 16 homers as a 21-year-old rookie.

That promising debut feels like an increasingly distant memory. Walker regressed to a .201/.253/.366 line in 51 major league games last year. He spent a good portion of the season in Triple-A, where he was an average hitter. The Cards maintained that Walker would play every day in the majors this year. That’d give them more clarity on whether he projects as a core piece as John Mozeliak turns over baseball operations to Chaim Bloom going into 2026.

The audition has not gone well. Walker has battled a couple health issues. He missed a few weeks in early June with wrist inflammation, then lost around three weeks in the middle of the summer to appendicitis. He has been unproductive when healthy. Walker has managed just five home runs across 331 plate appearances. He’s batting .218/.272/.309 while striking out at a career-high 31.7% clip.

There are 249 hitters who have taken at least 300 trips to the plate. Walker is among the bottom ten in both on-base percentage and slugging. Most of the players with similarly poor numbers at least have defensive value to fall back upon. Walker is already in a corner outfield spot and grades as a well below-average right fielder. He hasn’t shown any sustained signs of figuring things out offensively. Walker carries a .229/.279/.328 line with poor strikeout and walk numbers in 37 games since his second injured list stint.

The Cardinals have continued playing him regularly, as they said they would coming into the season. That probably won’t carry into 2026 if Walker doesn’t make significant improvements. Hitting coach Brant Brown and manager Oli Marmol each had a blunt assessment of the 23-year-old on Tuesday.

“At some point in time, he’s going to have to devote more focus on preparation,” Brown told Bernie Miklasz of KMOX when asked what it’ll take for Walker to be more consistent (around 10:30 mark). “We’ve had long conversations with this. It’s not only looking at film on the (opposing) starter but also being able to come in on the first day of a series and taking a look at all the bullpen guys. All the information and video is available. Just so we’re not getting snuck up on when a guy comes in.” Brown then spoke more generally about the offense and suggested some hitters have had a tendency to press, especially when they’re going through slumps, and become overly focused on targeting specific pitches.

After Brown’s comments, Marmol spoke with Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I need to see Jordan have a sense of urgency for the things that need to take place in order to give him consistent results,” the skipper said in response to a question about the team’s short-term hope. “That goes with his move toward the ball, his preparation in the cage but also his approach in a game. … You have to start to see progress. It think it’s important as you are evaluating the next month, you need to start to see progress and consistency.”

Walker addressed Marmol’s comments yesterday. He said he “(doesn’t) quite understand the urgency part” of the manager’s statement (link via Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat). Walker pointed to his best stretch of the season, when he hit .304 with a .373 on-base percentage in the first two weeks out of the All-Star Break. He said he felt comfortable with his approach during that run and was working with Brown to get back to that feel.

The coaches maintained they believe Walker can have a bright future. “There’s a combination of talent but also I do feel there’s going to be buy-in. There’s a level of aptitude there that’ll allow for it,” Marmol told KMOX. “He’s young. … Walker did have a little bit of success when he first came up here. Once they know how to pitch you, they just double down on that until you prove that you can combat it. He hasn’t shown the ability to do that yet.

There’s enough talent there that I’m nowhere close to giving up on Jordan Walker,” Marmol continued. “There are adjustments to be made. There’s a commitment to the pregame work that can get to a better level, and Brownie spoke to that earlier. … I feel like he has an opportunity to make these adjustments and be the type of player that we were hoping for when he first got up here.”

That may well be the case, but the Cardinals will be hard-pressed to commit to Walker as an everyday player if they more seriously hope to compete for a playoff spot in 2026. Bloom was not part of the front office when Walker was drafted or developed into a top prospect. It’s not clear how bullish he is on the player.

Walker still has a minor league option remaining, so the Cards could send him back to Triple-A Memphis next season. That’d buy them another development season but runs the risk of completely tanking his trade value if he doesn’t improve. There’d surely be teams willing to take a flier on Walker this offseason if the Cardinals wanted to move on in a sell-low trade. They’ll face a similar question on third baseman/second baseman Nolan Gorman, who has been better than Walker but a league average hitter overall.

St. Louis also has an increasingly crowded corner outfield. Lars Nootbaar remains a solid everyday left fielder. Alec Burleson, who is currently sidelined by a wrist issue, has a career-best .286/.337/.451 slash. Brown raved about Burleson’s improved approach. Iván Herrera has been one of the team’s top hitters. The Cardinals haven’t played him at catcher in two months, pushing him mostly to designated hitter with occasional left field work. That probably points to Walker beginning next season in Triple-A (if everyone’s healthy out of camp) unless the Cardinals trade someone over the offseason.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/is-jordan-walker-still-a-core-player-in-st-louis.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Willson Contreras’ Suspension Reduced To Four Games

Willson Contreras’ suspension was reduced to four games on appeal, writes Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Cardinals first baseman had initially been hit with a six-game ban for his outburst towards umpire Derek Thomas after he was ejected from a game against the Pirates on August 25.

Contreras will need to begin serving the suspension tonight. He’ll miss this weekend’s series against the Giants and Monday’s opener in Seattle. The Cardinals are 5.5 games back in the Wild Card race. San Francisco has pulled within four games of a playoff spot after winning nine of their last 10. The Mariners are clinging to postseason position in the American League. These have the potential to be important games.

Nolan Gorman moves across the diamond from third base tonight against Giants’ righty Carson Seymour. The Cards kicked Thomas Saggese from second to third base. José Fermín draws into the lineup at the keystone as the #9 hitter. Contreras was suspended for an on-field violation, which means the Cardinals cannot replace him. They’ll play the next four games with a four-man bench while their opponents have a fifth position player with the expanded roster.

St. Louis made one additional move today. Catcher Yohel Pozo returns from the seven-day concussion list, so the Cards optioned rookie infielder César Prieto back to Triple-A Memphis. The Cardinals now have three catchers with Pozo returning to join Pedro Pages and rookie Jimmy Crooks. That might only be the arrangement through the weekend. Katie Woo of The Athletic notes that outfielder Alec Burleson is expected to be activated from the injured list when first eligible on Monday.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/willson-contreras-suspension-reduced-to-four-games.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Giants Expected To Show Interest In Sonny Gray This Offseason

Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray took home the win in today’s game against the Giants, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote this afternoon following the game that San Francisco may have an especially close eye on the 35-year-old right-hander. That’s because Gray is, in Slusser’s words, “on the Giants’ radar” and “very much a potential target” for the club this offseason.

It’s not hard to see why San Francisco might be interested in bringing in a pitcher like Gray. After all, Logan Webb and Robbie Ray are the only two players locked into the Giants’ 2026 rotation. Veteran right-hander Justin Verlander is ticketed for free agency, and while it’s possible than Landen Roupp has done enough to earn himself a spot in the rotation with 22 solid starts for the Giants this year, Kyle Harrison’s work in 24 starts with San Francisco last year wasn’t enough to keep a rotation spot headed into the 2025 campaign. With Harrison and Jordan Hicks both having been dealt to Boston as part of the Rafael Devers trade, it stands to reason that the Giants will look to add at least one starter this offseason. Two wouldn’t even be far-fetched for the club, particularly if Verlander walks in free agency.

It’s against that backdrop that the Giants are likely, at least in Slusser’s view, to check in on Gray. The veteran hasn’t looked quite the same as he did when he finished second behind Gerrit Cole in AL Cy Young award voting back in 2023 with the Twins during his two years in St. Louis, but he’s generally been a quality arm for the Cardinals all the same. In 56 starts since joining the organization, Gray sports a 4.13 ERA with an exactly league average ERA+ of 100. That could be construed as Gray being little more than a back-of-the-rotation arm at this point in his career, but a 3.30 FIP, a 3.17 SIERA, and a 2.97 xFIP tell a different story.

Since arriving in St. Louis, Gray has struck out an incredible 28.3% of his opponents while issuing free passes at a clip of just 5.3%. That’s good for the sixth-best K-BB% in baseball among qualified starters over the past two seasons; only Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, Paul Skenes, Logan Gilbert, and Zack Wheeler have been better in that regard. That’s impressive company to keep, and Gray has been somewhat held back by poor luck on batted balls and sequencing issues. His .314 BABIP and 68.3% strand rate are both far worse than his career norms. Not all of his poor results have been bad luck, as Gray’s 9.4% barrel rate over the past two years is the 11th-highest in the majors among qualified starters, and that’s led to a major spike in home runs. San Francisco’s Oracle Park is one of the best in baseball at suppressing homers, however, meaning that Gray’s issues with the long ball would be tamped down significantly if he were to be dealt to San Francisco.

That all leaves him looking like a strong fit to join Webb and Ray in the 2026 rotation on paper, but it’s fair to point out that a solid on-paper fit doesn’t necessarily mean that a deal will get done or is even particularly likely. Gray has been in the rumor mill as a potential trade candidate frequently over the past year but has routinely declined the opportunity to waive his no-trade clause in search of greener pastures. The Cardinals have indicated a willingness to move him both this past offseason and at this summer’s trade deadline, but Gray has rebuffed those efforts on both occasions. That doesn’t mean his feelings on the matter can’t change this offseason with the Cardinals likely to miss the postseason and a new head of baseball operations in Chaim Bloom slated to take over following John Mozeliak’s impending retirement, but as of now Gray has shown no desire to leave St. Louis behind.

Getting Gray to agree to a trade may be easier for the Giants than it would be for other clubs. As Slusser notes, Gray is very familiar with the Bay Area after spending the first four-and-a-half seasons of his career pitching for the A’s in Oakland, and during that time he played for and grew close with current Giants manager Bob Melvin. Slusser writes that Melvin and Gray have remained close in the years since their time together in Oakland, and it’s not hard to imagine that a homecoming to the place where he started his career to play for a manager he’s fond of would be a tempting offer for Gray. That’s particularly true if the Cardinals don’t look especially likely to compete in 2026 after what’s likely to be three consecutive seasons without a playoff berth.

Of course, even if Gray agrees to a deal with San Francisco, there’s still the matter of actually working out a trade with the Cardinals. St. Louis surely knows that Gray is an attractive asset and would hope to market him to more clubs than just the Giants if he agrees to be dealt, though Gray would be able to curate the list of teams he’d be willing to accept a deal to. Plenty of teams might be put off trading for the right-hander by the massive $35MM salary he’s owed in 2026 by virtue of his back-loaded contract with St. Louis, to say nothing of the $5MM buyout that will most likely be owed on a 2027 mutual option.

That’s effectively a $40MM investment on a pitcher who is more projection than production over the past two years, and Slusser suggests that the Giants would likely only be willing to offer a meaningful return for Gray’s services if the Cardinals at a significant portion of his salary. That’s certainly not an unreasonable stance, but for a Cardinals club without much money on the books for 2026 they might prefer to just hold onto Gray in hopes he can help them compete next year or pitch well enough to command a larger return next summer if they can’t get much other than salary relief for his services.

Gray, of course, isn’t the only player who could feasibly be targeted by the Giants this winter. Slusser suggests that Luis Castillo could be made available by the Mariners this winter after the Giants pursued him last year, and perhaps one of the heavily-discussed arms from the deadline who didn’t move like Sandy Alcantara or Joe Ryan could be dealt as well. As for free agency, a number of interesting arms are set to be available including Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Brandon Woodruff, and Zac Gallen. That, of course, is in addition to Verlander, who has a 3.18 ERA with a 2.75 FIP since the All-Star break and may be a preferred option to bring back for the Giants given his second-half performance.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ow-interest-in-sonny-gray-this-offseason.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Expected To Designate Garrett Hampson For Assignment

The Cardinals are expected to designate utility man Garrett Hampson for assignment in a series of roster moves slated to become official tomorrow, according to a report from Katie Woo of The Athletic. Hampson’s active roster spot will go to Alec Burleson, who is slated to be activated from the injured list tomorrow. Hampson’s 40-man roster spot will go to left-hander Nick Raquet, who will have his contract selected to the major league roster tomorrow. Raquet will take the 40-man spot of right-hander Andre Granillo, who is expected to be optioned to Triple-A.

Hampson, 31 next month, opened the season as a member of the Diamondbacks after signing with the club on a minor league deal during the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster but ultimately appeared in just 18 games for the club before being designated for assignment in early May. Later that month, he was signed by the Reds to a major league deal and stuck with the organization until late June, when he was designated for assignment once again and plucked off waivers by the Cardinals.

Hampson was hitting just .167/.310/.188 across 24 games in the majors this year when he arrived in St. Louis, and his offense hasn’t really improved during his ten weeks with the organization. In fact, they’ve trended in the wrong direction, as he’ll finish his Cardinals career with a .103/.133/.138 slash line across 31 plate appearances. Hampson got less work at the dish in with St. Louis than he did with Arizona and Cincinnati, but he did actually end up appearing in more games due to his role as a defensive replacement and pinch runner late in games. He appeared in all three outfield spots for the Cardinals during his tenure with the organization and also played second base, third base, and shortstop.

That versatility has generally been Hampson’s calling card over the years. While he’s a career .235/.298/.353 hitter in spite of his offensive numbers being inflated by five years at Coors Field, he’s managed to generally stay in the majors thanks to his value as a versatile bench player. Prior to his three-team tour around the National League this year, he had played for the Marlins and Royals since leaving Colorado. Going forward, the Cardinals will have seven days after the move becomes official to try and pass Hampson through waivers. Perhaps he’ll be claimed by a team in need of bench depth down the stretch, but if he clears waivers he’ll have the option to either accept an outright assignment to Triple-A for the final few weeks of the season or elect free agency.

Hampson’s departure makes room for the return of Burleson, who last played on August 28 due to a bout of wrist inflammation. Burleson has enjoyed something of a breakout season with the Cardinals this year, as the 26-year-old has hit a solid .286/.337/.451 with 16 home runs in just 122 games. That’s far and away the best triple slash of his career, and while that won’t be enough to push the Cardinals into the postseason this year Burleson figures to once again split time between first base, DH, and the outfield corners with St. Louis next season.

As for Raquet, the 29-year-old lefty will actually be making his big league debut if he gets into a game with the Cardinals. A third-round pick by the Nationals all the way back in 2017, Raquet worked in the lower minors with the Nationals through the end of the 2019 season but fell off the map after the canceled minor league season in 2020 before resurfacing as a professional in the independent Atlantic League back in 2023. He posted a 3.71 ERA in 24 starts with the York Revolution that year, and caught on with the Cardinals on a minor league deal last season.

Raquet has been working his way up the minor league ladder ever since, and now that he’s posted a 1.68 ERA between Double- and Triple-A as a reliever for the Cardinals this year he’ll get the opportunity to show what he can do at the big league level. As for Granillo, the rookie right-hander has just 14 MLB appearances under his belt while working as a multi-inning reliever, with a 4.71 ERA in 21 innings of work. He’ll head to Triple-A, where he has a sterling 1.50 ERA in 24 outings, to wait for his next big league opportunity to arrive.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...designate-garrett-hampson-for-assignment.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Masyn Winn Playing Through Torn Meniscus

Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn has a torn meniscus in his right knee. He will require arthroscopic surgery at some point but is going to attempt to play through the ailment for the rest of the year. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Katie Woo of The Athletic relayed the details of the situation. Goold says that Winn has actually been playing with the tear for months.

On the surface, it seems like an odd decision. But the way it’s framed, Winn has been assured that he’s unlikely make the issue any worse by continue to run out there, so there’s no risk of exacerbating the issue. Once he goes under the knife, the recovery period will be short enough that his 2026 season won’t be impacted. Even if he delays the procedure through the end of the season, he can still be healthy by spring training.

Since there’s nothing much to be gained by having the surgery now and no apparent harm in delaying things, he’ll try to help the Cards as they hover on the fringes of the playoff race. They are currently 72-74, which puts them 4.5 games back of the floundering Mets, who currently hold the final National League Wild Card spot.

“I feel like I owe it to these guys to finish the year strong,” Winn said. “I definitely don’t want to cash it in this early. We technically still have a shot (at the playoffs). I want to go out there and compete for that. But I want to do it for my pitchers, really. I know these guys want me out there at shortstop. I want to be there. So I’m going to have time in the offseason to recover. I feel like I can play this one out.”

Though he can tolerate the pain somewhat, he may still need some days off. “One of those days that it doesn’t feel as good as others,” manager Oli Marmol said of Winn not playing on Tuesday. “So, no reason to push through it. We’ve agreed to if it’s not feeling good enough to go then we would give him the day. And he’s amazing at communicating that.”

Winn is having a strong season in terms of his shortstop defense. He has been credited with four Defensive Runs Saved and a huge tally of 22 Outs Above Average. The former figure puts him in the top ten of shortstops this year, while the latter figure is the best in the majors regardless of position.

The offense has been a bit less impressive. He has hit .253/.310/.363 for a 91 wRC+ this year, a drop from last year’s .267/.314/.416 line and 104 wRC+. It’s possible the knee issue has been holding him back at the plate. He was hitting .276/.352/.435 for a 123 wRC+ through the end of May but has a .240/.287/.324 line and 73 wRC+ since the start of June.

Winn is still under club control for four more seasons after this one. He won’t qualify for arbitration until after the 2026 season. Perhaps a healthier knee will help him take a step forward at the plate next year, but he’s still a valuable player now thanks to his excellent glovework.

When Winn is not playing, Thomas Saggese has taken some time at short and will likely continue to do so. Some extra infield help is on the way, as Goold and Woo note that Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado are each nearing returns from the injured list.

One thing that is not under consideration is a promotion of shortstop prospect JJ Wetherholt. He has good numbers in his first 38 Triple-A games but Woo notes that he has missed the five most recent contests due to soreness from a non-baseball ailment. Even though he’s returning to action this week, the Cards will seemingly keep him on the farm. He won’t be Rule 5 eligible until December of 2027, so delaying his promotion means that the Cards won’t need to have him on the 40-man this winter.

He has dabbled at second base and third base in the minors. Given Winn’s elite defense, perhaps Wetherholt will be moved to one of those positions going forward. The Cards have Arenado signed through 2027 and he’s still a good defender but his offense has been subpar this year. Moving his contract may be tough, especially with his no-trade clause, so perhaps he will be at the hot corner again next year. Second base is a bit more open. Guys like Saggese, Donovan and Nolan Gorman are in the mix there but they can play other positions.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/masyn-winn-playing-through-torn-meniscus.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Release Garrett Hampson

The Cardinals released Garrett Hampson, according to the utilityman’s MLB.com profile page. Hampson was designated for assignment earlier this week, and while he had the option of declining an outright assignment in favor of free agency, it appears the Cards just streamlined by the process with a release as soon as Hampson cleared waivers.

It is possible Hampson could sign elsewhere before the 2025 season ends, should a team want some versatile depth in the minors or on a big league bench. However, Hampson has rarely brought much with his bat during his eight Major League seasons, and his offense has sunk to a career-worst .143/.250/.169 over 91 plate appearances in 2025.

The nomadic nature of Hampton’s season didn’t help him get into any kind of groove at the dish. Beginning the season on a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks, he was released for the first time this year in May after appearing in 18 MLB games for Arizona. A stint in Cincinnati didn’t go any better, as the Reds designated Hampson for assignment after about a month, but St. Louis then claimed Hampson off waivers near the end of June.

The release officially ends Hampson’s Cards tenure at 35 games, and he has gotten into 62 contests as a whole this year spread over his three different teams. This marks the least amount of action Hampson has received during a regulation-length MLB season since his 2018 rookie year, when he debuted with 24 games with the Rockies. His ability to play all over the diamond should keep getting Hampson looks on minor league contracts, even if it may be hard for him to escape the proverbial “last man on the roster” status.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/cardinals-release-garrett-hampson.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals To Activate Nolan Arenado On Monday

The Cardinals are activating veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado ahead of tomorrow night’s game against the Reds, as noted by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Arenado is on the ten-day injured list, meaning the a corresponding move will only be needed to clear space for him on the club’s active roster.

Arenado, 34, was perhaps the most frequently speculated upon trade candidate of the 2024-25 offseason. Although multiple teams, including the Astros and Red Sox, were reportedly involved in negotiations to deal for him, Arenado remained in St. Louis for the 2025 season after blocking a trade to Houston and Boston’s decision to pivot towards signing Alex Bregman. Unfortunately for St. Louis, Arenado’s fifth season with the Cardinals figures to go down as the worst of his career. In 96 games this year, Arenado has hit just .235/.294/.366 with ten home runs.

That’s undeniably lackluster offensive production for an everyday player in the big leagues, and it’s surely all the more frustrating to produce at that level for an eight-time All-Star and multi-time MVP finalist like Arenado. The veteran’s bat slipping has been accompanied by a similar decline in his defense. The stalwart who once won ten consecutive NL Gold Glove awards at third base was worth just +2 Outs Above Average on the infield this year. His +6 Defensive Runs Saved is a bit more impressive than that, but still leaves him in a three-way tie for eighth in the majors among third basemen.

Arenado’s disappointing season has come alongside an equally disappointing one for the Cardinals. With a 72-77 record, St. Louis finds itself in fourth place in the division and seems unlikely to even reach .500 this year, marking their second sub-.500 campaign in three years after they pushed just over .500 with an 83-79 record last season. The team’s future is in flux somewhat with longtime president of baseball operations John Mozeliak set to step aside after this season and hand the reins of the organization off to Chaim Bloom, former chief baseball officer of the Red Sox who was announced as Mozeliak’s successor in St. Louis last year.

With a new head of baseball operations set to take over, the Cardinals are surely hoping to finish on a solid note. Those efforts will now include Arenado, who was sidelined by a shoulder strain in late July and has been on the shelf ever since. Nolan Gorman has handled every day duties at the hot corner in Arenado’s absence, but with the veteran set to return tomorrow it seems as though Gorman will move into a timeshare with super utility man Brendan Donovan at second base and perhaps pull occasional starts away from Ivan Herrera at DH. Gorman has a 95 wRC+ overall this year after he was sidelined by an injury around the All-Star break, and since his return in August has found himself mired in a slump on offense.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/cardinals-to-activate-nolan-arenado-on-monday.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Notes: Arenado, Donovan, Leahy

Nolan Arenado is back in the Cardinals’ lineup after a six-week shoulder injury. He has started at third base each of the past two nights. He’ll probably be in the lineup for most or all of the final 10 games of the season, but the real source of intrigue will turn up again in the offseason.

Arenado is under contract for two more seasons. He’s slated for a $27MM salary next year. The Rockies are covering $5MM and another $6MM is deferred. His salary drops to $15MM for 2027, when the Rox will finally be off the hook for any portion of the deal. St. Louis would love to shed a percentage of the remaining two years and $37MM. Arenado has a full no-trade clause, and it’s a lot of money for a player whose offense has sharply declined.

Lining up a trade will be easier said than done. Arenado nevertheless acknowledged yesterday that he has thought about the possibility that this week’s homestand could be his final at Busch Stadium (via Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat). The 34-year-old noted that the organization is “heading toward young players, letting them (play).” He said he expects the upcoming offseason to be similar to last winter’s in terms of trade rumors.

Arenado did not tip his hand on his plans for the no-trade clause. He famously killed a deal to Houston last winter when he wanted more time to evaluate their direction after trading Kyle Tucker. It was believed that he only wished to go to the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Padres or potentially Astros when he better understood their competitive outlook.

The Yankees never showed much interest and have acquired Arenado’s old teammate Ryan McMahon to play third base. The Dodgers and Padres still have Max Muncy (via club option) and Manny Machado, respectively, under contract. Boston could lose Alex Bregman to free agency, but they’ll surely make a push to re-sign him before considering trading for Arenado. The 10-time Gold Glove winner remains a plus defender but has hit .238/.296/.370 in nearly 400 trips to the plate. It’s his worst offensive production in a 162-game season since he was a rookie.

St. Louis wouldn’t have any issue finding interest if they shopped Brendan Donovan. The lefty hitter is also controllable for two more seasons. He’s going through arbitration and will earn a raise on this year’s $2.85MM salary. He’ll presumably make something like $15MM over the next two seasons. That’s well below market value for a Gold Glove utility player who carries a .283/.351/.409 line across 492 trips to the plate.

The Cardinals never seemed to get close on a deal involving Donovan at the trade deadline. That’s despite reported interest from the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers (surely among others). Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic floats the possibility of Donovan being an offseason trade candidate. Chaim Bloom will take over baseball operations from John Mozeliak at the beginning of the offseason. He’s probably not going to tear things all the way down, but there’s a case for more earnestly trying to move arbitration-eligible players like Donovan and Lars Nootbaar.

That’d especially be the case if ownership is reluctant to spend on significant rotation upgrades. They have the makings of a potentially competitive lineup. There’s a lot more work to be done on the pitching side. Matthew Liberatore leads the rotation with a 4.30 earned run average. Sonny Gray still has peripherals that look far better than his 4.43 mark, but he’s their only starter who reliably misses bats.

Liberatore’s numbers have fallen off in the second half. Michael McGreevy has a 4.44 ERA with a 14.2% strikeout rate in 79 innings. Miles Mikolas has allowed almost five earned runs per nine; they’ll probably let him walk in free agency. Ground-ball specialist Andre Pallante has had a terrible second half and should probably be in relief.

A lot of the organization’s most talented minor league arms have gone backwards this season. Quinn Mathews could get a look next year but will need to show far better command than he has in Triple-A. Tekoah Roby and Sem Robberse have each undergone Tommy John surgery. Tink Hence has yet to show that he can stay healthy. Fifth overall pick Liam Doyle is now the organization’s clear top pitching prospect but probably won’t be on the MLB radar until the middle of next season at the earliest.

The Cardinals aren’t likely to acquire four starting pitchers over the winter. They’ll need some internal arms to step up. One outside the box candidate could be Kyle Leahy. The 28-year-old has been a full-time reliever over parts of three MLB seasons. Leahy has had a breakout year while working multiple innings, tossing 81 frames of 3.33 ERA ball across 58 appearances. He has made a handful of 2-3 inning outings as one of Oli Marmol’s more trusted arms in the second half.

Katie Woo of The Athletic writes that the Cardinals have been impressed enough with Leahy that they may seriously consider him as a rotation option next season. The 6’4″ righty was a starter early in his minor league career, but he topped out at Double-A in that role. He has been a reliever since the end of the 2022 season.

Leahy is still using a six-pitch mix and has above-average control. He has been better against right-handed hitters but has limited damage reasonably well (.262/.349/.385) versus lefties. It’s not out of the question that he could succeed as a back-end starter. The Cardinals would need to weigh whether the upside of giving him that opportunity is worth removing one of the better pieces from an inexperienced bullpen with Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton and Steven Matz out of the picture.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/cardinals-notes-arenado-donovan-leahy.html

 

[St. Louis Cardinals]

Cardinals Shut Willson Contreras Down For Remainder Of Season

10:58am: Manager Oli Marmol confirmed to the team’s beat that Contreras is done for the season (via Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat). The expectation is that rest will allow Contreras’ strain to heal, and the team did not want to risk him playing through the issue and further aggravating it.

10:43am: The Cardinals announced Wednesday that first baseman Willson Contreras has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder strain. Infielder Jose Fermin is up from Triple-A Memphis to take his spot on the roster. While there’s technically still enough time on the calendar for him to return for the team’s final series (the IL move is retroactive to yesterday), Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that this IL placement will end the season for Contreras.

Assuming that’s the case, it’s been yet another solid year for the 33-year-old Contreras. The catcher-turned-first-baseman hit .257/.344/.447 (123 wRC+) with 20 homers, 31 doubles and a triple in 563 turns at the plate. His first full year at a new position has generally gone well, too. Defensive Runs Saved (+1) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (+6) both feel that Contreras has been not only passable at first base but better than average. One would imagine that his defensive chops could continue to improve as he further acclimates to his new home on the diamond, though he’ll also play next season at age 34, so there’ll be a give-and-take between Contreras getting more experience at first base but also slowing down as he ages into his mid-30s.

Contreras joined the Cardinals in the 2022-23 offseason, signing a five-year, $87.5MM contract in free agency. He’s still guaranteed $41.5MM over the remaining two seasons of that contract, which will be paid out in the form of an $18MM salary in 2026, an $18.5MM salary in 2027 and a $5MM buyout on a $17.5MM club option for the 2028 campaign. If he continues to play quality defense at first base and produce like he has at the plate through the first three seasons of this contract, there’s a good chance the Cards would exercise that option, given that it’s a net $12.5MM decision once factoring in the buyout.

It’ll be another offseason punctuated by rumblings about potential trades of veterans in St. Louis this winter. Nolan Arenado candidly acknowledged as much this week, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal suggested just yesterday that Brendan Donovan’s name is likely to pop up in offseason rumors as well. Contreras has complete control over his own fate, however, by virtue of the full no-trade clause that was negotiated into that free agent contract.

Contreras made clear last offseason that he wasn’t keen on waiving that clause, so it’s fair to expect that’ll be the case again this offseason as well. It’s always possible that trades of other players on the roster and/or changes to the coaching staff could lead to a change of heart, but there’s been no indication thus far that Contreras would green-light a trade out of St. Louis.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/cardinals-place-willson-contreras-on-injured-list.html