MLB Trade Deadline August 3 6 PM ET

[WAR God]

#ImWithBloom

[heyzeus]

Yikes, that sounds like a quote from a player who doesn't exactly love his GM.

He should look at his owners then. They're the ones who decided not to spend any money to try to compete this year.

And they didn't because nobody expected this team to be competitive at all. I get it from Winn's perspective though. This is basically a wasted year of his career.

[ghostrunner]

Full article from Jones with that quote from Winn and a few more. Seems a little less pointed with the rest of the context.

There is a persistent belief that lingers around Major League clubhouses this time of year that perhaps one more winning streak, a few more good games, a handful of solid at bats could be enough to demonstrate to the front office that a team deserves some help to stay in the race. Everyone would rather be part of a buyer than a seller, and realistic or not, there’s something to be said for the reckless optimism of knowing the minds which control the collective immediate futures could be changed.

Or, the belief lingers around some clubhouses, anyway.

“I think [the front office] have their mind made up on whether they want to trade or not,” said Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn, speaking frankly about the reality of the coming week. “I don’t think how we’ve played this year would’ve changed that. Chaim [Bloom] had a plan coming into the season. I think he’s been very open and transparent. He’s got a plan for this organization, and he wants to go through with it.

“We could win every game for the rest of the year, and he’d still trade guys.”

That belief represents a jarringly frank assessment from one of the team’s most important young players and most vocal clubhouse personalities. Others were more circumspect, but the reality is undeniable. On Monday night, a loss to the Cubs dropped the Cardinals to 53-53, falling to even .500 for the first time since they were 8-8. They spent a stretch of 90 games with more wins than losses, and they may well reclaim that position before the end of the season, but the combination of a recent swoon and the predestined path is bringing the deadline reaper to the clubhouse door.

“I don’t think that’s kind of at the forefront,” said first baseman Alec Burleson. “I think we know we haven’t been playing our brand of baseball, and we want to get back to what we were doing earlier. I wouldn’t say we’re trying to do it to get the front office to do anything. But if we do, and we can change their minds over the next less than a week now, we’re gonna do everything we can.”

“I don’t think there’s really been a thought that far into the future,” added starter Matthew Liberatore. “I feel like one of our strengths this year has just been our ability to show up and commit to winning today. Tomorrow’s going to be dealt with tomorrow, and we’re just going to do everything in our power to make sure that we give ourselves an opportunity today to win a baseball game.”

All of Dustin May, JoJo Romero and Ryne Stanek are set to reach free agency this winter, and it would be a surprise if any of the three was still a Cardinal after business closes on August 3. Ramón Urías will also be available if healthy enough to contribute, and the Cardinals believe he avoided any serious repercussions after being hit on the elbow with a pitch at the outset of his rehab assignment over the weekend.

There will be very few players around whom they won’t entertain at least some conversation, though popular options with some remaining team control — Lars Nootbaar, Riley O’Brien and Pedro Pagés perhaps chief among them — will likely draw the most interest. The Cardinals are looking to supplement a growing core, not subtract from it, and their eyes are on building a post-deadline team which can continue to grow in the same direction.

“I would like to think that the group that we’re wanting to do this for a long time with and build around isn’t going to be gone next week,” Burleson said. “I don’t know what their thoughts are right now, so we could be looking at the same clubhouse [makeup] in two weeks.”

Winn was considerably less circumspect, or perhaps just less bashful, about his expectations for the coming days.

“I think the plan coming into it was, OK, D-May did well, and then trade him off to get some pieces,” he opined. “I’m assuming Stanek, I’m assuming JoJo, just kind of who you would expect it to be. I don’t think anybody’s really been thinking about it throughout the year, but it just is what it is.”

The selloff in 2023 opened roster spots which meant increased opportunity for each of those three players to grow into, and all three were torn between acknowledging what those opportunities meant to them and the broader challenge of competing every day when the team, at the highest level, had waved the white flag. All three also drew firm distinctions between that situation and this one; that team was not expected to collapse, and the feeling of sending established teammates out the door was unfamiliar. This team, with eyes wide open, has been communicated with clearly regarding expectations and paths forward, and are now somewhat more prepared to reap the whirlwind.

“It’s never fun to see teammates leave, whether that be because you’re winning and you’re trying to trade up to make a run, or you’re selling off because you’re out of it,” Liberatore said. “Selling off hurts a little bit more because I think everybody in here takes some accountability for feeling like we’re the reason we have to say goodbye to those guys. That’s certainly not a fun feeling. When a guy that you spend every day with for the last six months has to go, in this world that might be the last time we ever cross paths with somebody. That makes it tough, whether it’s for the betterment or worse for the team. It’s just…it’s a weird time.”

“When I got called up, we were 20 games under .500. Guys had already given up on the season,” Winn acknowledged. “Guys didn’t want to be around, didn’t really want to be there. I think part of that is whenever you trade good guys, good teammates, it’s definitely going to hurt a clubhouse, and I think everybody knows that. You try not to think about it. You try to get past it, just keep playing.”

There is a dreariness to what seems to be waiting around the bend for this group, a vague sense of dread that playing out the string is a fait accompli. Having experienced it in years past, it will be the responsibility of the veteran leadership, young though they may be, to keep that in proper perspective and keep building toward a more successful future.

It’s not a given that any or all of them will be a part of that future, whenever it may arrive. That does not elide their responsibility, and it requires them to shut out those possibilities as they balance then with now.

“We’re going to go out there and try to win,” Winn emphasized. “Whoever’s here after the deadline is here, and we’re gonna keep balling.”

[CardsofSTL]

Sounds like Winn is just being realistic. Also sounds like Bloom has been good at communicating the overall strategy to the team.

[ghostrunner]

I'm really fine either way at this point. I think the pitching could be good enough with just a couple moves, but even that isn't certain. Right as we're approaching the deadline:

Jojo is hurt
Libby is dead meat as a starter.
McGreevy and Leahy are likely to regress.
The top 4 of the lineup in July has fallen to 23rd in OPS, 25th in SLG, 20th in wOBA, and 22nd in wRC+, after being in the top 5 or 10 in those categories previously. The team as a whole is last in all but one of those categories.

I don't think it's all bad. May looks better than his recent results would suggest, and Pallante's been pretty solid across the board. I don't think the offense will remain this bad either, especially not the top 4. It's just not a situation where any team is likely to invest further, at least not in the interest of this season. Way too much to fix with short term trade returns given who we'd want to trade and who we'd need to keep to stay in contention.

On the flip side, not sure how tradable the most likely suspects are at this point. May is probably fine, Jojo being hurt doesn't help, Noot's doing poorly. Stanek might fetch a somewhat decent return for what he is.

[Famous Mortimer]

I thought the context to that quote was pretty obvious. Jeff Jones trying to juice his click numbers, is all.

[CardsofSTL]

I'm really fine either way at this point. I think the pitching could be good enough with just a couple moves, but even that isn't certain. Right as we're approaching the deadline:

Jojo is hurt
Libby is dead meat as a starter.
McGreevy and Leahy are likely to regress.
The top 4 of the lineup in July has fallen to 23rd in OPS, 25th in SLG, 20th in wOBA, and 22nd in wRC+, after being in the top 5 or 10 in those categories previously. The team as a whole is last in all but one of those categories.

I don't think it's all bad. May looks better than his recent results would suggest, and Pallante's been pretty solid across the board. I don't think the offense will remain this bad either, especially not the top 4. It's just not a situation where any team is likely to invest further, at least not in the interest of this season. Way too much to fix with short term trade returns given who we'd want to trade and who we'd need to keep to stay in contention.

On the flip side, not sure how tradable the most likely suspects are at this point. May is probably fine, Jojo being hurt doesn't help, Noot's doing poorly. Stanek might fetch a somewhat decent return for what he is.

JoJo had appendicitis; so he could still be someone that draws interest since it is not an arm issue and he should be ready by the stretch run and playoffs.

May, Stanek might get some interest but not for any real high end talented prospects.

The interesting part would be if Bloom would want to move one of the less likely pieces; like Pallante or Winn or Herrera.

[ghostrunner]

Mentioned by Goold yesterday - if May isn't traded and rejects the qualifying offer, the Cards get a compensation pick. So whatever they're offered basically has to beat whatever that pick is or I suppose beat the value of May accepting it. So that helps a little.

[cardsfantx]

Mentioned by Goold yesterday - if May isn't traded and rejects the qualifying offer, the Cards get a compensation pick. So whatever they're offered basically has to beat whatever that pick is or I suppose beat the value of May accepting it. So that helps a little.

not really, as there is a ZERO percent chance he is given a QO

the QO for this year was 22 million, so will be higher this offseason, and May would 100% accept that....and he's not worth 22+ mil. He only got $12 this year and hasn't been great.

[Fan_In_NY]

Mentioned by Goold yesterday - if May isn't traded and rejects the qualifying offer, the Cards get a compensation pick. So whatever they're offered basically has to beat whatever that pick is or I suppose beat the value of May accepting it. So that helps a little.

not really, as there is a ZERO percent chance he is given a QO

the QO for this year was 22 million, so will be higher this offseason, and May would 100% accept that....and he's not worth 22+ mil. He only got $12 this year and hasn't been great.

Also we have no idea with the new CBA if QOs will actually be a thing. If May kept that hot stretch he had going for him then he could have been a candidate to offer the QO and have him reject because he would be a candidate for a long term deal. But he's cooled down enough that I think he would jump at accepting $22M for another season.