For the last two years, I have been advocating for the Cardinals to sell at the trade deadline and cash in on the value of key players to build for the future, the reason being that I don’t see the Cardinals winning a World Series title as currently constructed. If you’re not competing for a World Series title, then there isn’t much sense in buying. Or is there?
Yesterday, Jeff Passan of ESPN listed a perfect trade fit for each team currently above the .500 mark as the deadline approaches. The Cardinals, being 50-44 on the season, were of course included on this list.
Over the past few weeks, it has become increasingly obvious that the starting rotation has been their achilles heel. Beyond Sonny Gray and Matthew Liberatore, there isn’t much to be excited about. But Passan had an interesting trade match for the Cardinals. He proposed the idea of St. Louis acquiring Taj Bradley from the Rays.
And so, I decided I’d give my thoughts on that and what it could mean for the Cardinals now and in the future. Acquiring Bradley from Tampa Bay would be a buying move.
This year, Bradley is 5-6 with a 4.60 ERA in 19 starts. The stats aren’t great, but unlike Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas, Bradley is 24 years old. He’s still young, and there is time for him to develop into a good pitcher.
For that reason alone, this is a buying move I would actually be okay with this year. I still don’t think it’s wise to push the chips for a run in 2025. They need to have the future in mind and focus on acquiring young players rather than aging veterans on expiring contracts. But that’s exactly what this move would be.
The focus would be on the future here. Bradley has several years of club control left, and he is somebody that the Cardinals could plug into their rotation immediately and still have in the rotation when 2026 comes around.
This is a move that would make the Cardinals better in 2025 and allow them to move one or both of Mikolas and Fedde out of the rotation, but also set them up well for the future.
I wrote a piece a while back saying that if the Cardinals do any buying, they need to focus on cost-controlled pieces rather than rental pieces. That’s exactly what this is, and they wouldn’t even have to trade any of their players on expiring contracts to make it happen.
Passan stated that the Cardinals could deal from their stache of young catchers, which would fill a need for the Rays, who lack catching depth. The Cardinals need more pitching depth, and this would give them just that.
This isn’t a move that makes them a championship contender. Even a big swing won’t do that this year. But it would be a departure from their usual line of thought at the trade deadline and would set them up well for the long haul.
If they don’t sell, which I still think they should, this is a move that should indeed be made.