After an agonisingly poor start to 2024, the St. Louis Cardinals appeared to be a team doomed to be sellers at the trade deadline for a second straight season. The future doesn’t seem as bleak now that the Cardinals have won 13 of their past 16 games, and some are starting to wonder whether the team would try to acquire this summer—possibly even reuniting with a former St. Louis pitcher.
There are still two months until the July 30 trade deadline, and a lot can go wrong in that time. By the conclusion of the season, two of the Cardinals’ star players may be on different teams if they are unable to maintain their winning streak.
“But this is a team that needs to try again in terms of overhauling its starting rotation while potentially considering trade offers for (Paul) Goldschmidt and closer Ryan Helsley if it doesn’t go on a heater in the coming weeks,” Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly wrote Thursday.
Goldschmidt becomes a free agent after this winter and has struggled at 37 years old this season. Considering how expensive re-signing him would be combined with his age, it might be best to entertain trade offers and look ahead to the future.
However, over Goldschmidt’s last seven games, he’s logged a .321/.387/.750 slash line with three home runs, nine hits and six RBIs in 28 at-bats. It’ll be tough to deal the seven-time All-Star away, especially if he continues to hit the way he has recently.
Helsley is under club control through 2025 but there are already a plethora of potential playoff contenders looking to trade for him to bolster their bullpen before heading into the months before the postseason.
The flamethrower has been one of the most dominant closers this season and would likely give the Cardinals a haul of high-quality prospects if traded.
It’ll be interesting to see where the Cardinals go from here. Hopefully, St. Louis can continue to win and set themselves up as buyers instead of sellers at the deadline.
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