最新杏吧原创

Last year, following a dismal season, I wrote a column making the case that during a tough season filled with losses, Helsley provided a bright spot for discouraged fans. (鈥�Helsley gives battered Cards鈥� fans something to cheer for. Don鈥檛 trade him.鈥� Dec. 3.)

The tides have turned since the 2024 season. The Cardinals now have a winning record with a winning percentage above .500. And now, even more than back then, there is more reason to keep Helsley in a Cardinals uniform.

This was supposed to be a transition year for the Cardinals, with a focus on developing young players for winning seasons in the future. But this scrappy team has managed to spring to life on their own without waiting for tomorrow.

This has led to a palpable vibe shift in Busch Stadium. Hope, which was sorely missing during the previous two seasons, now hangs in the air. Hopefully this new level of optimism will translate into filling more seats again and bringing attendance numbers back up.

In May alone, the Cards racked up 19 wins and only 8 losses. ESPN reported that this was their best record in the month of May since 2013, their last World Series season, when they went 20-7.

Helsley has certainly done his part in putting the wins on the board. As of this writing, his ERA is 3.00 for this current season. For reference, an ERA below 4.00 is considered good.

During the 2024 season, the National League Reliever of the Year Helsley recorded a 2.04 ERA with 79 strikeouts over 66 1/3 innings. He set a single season record for a Cardinals closer and topped the Major League leaderboard with 49 saves in 53 opportunities.

Now for the bad news: Helsley is on an expiring contract with the Cardinals and trade rumors are swirling.

Athlon News reported that Helsley is listed among top 10 pre-trade deadline candidates. On May 31, Sports Illustrated reported: 鈥淏raves Predicted to Pursue Huge Trade for Cardinals $81 Million Star.鈥�

My hope, as a fan, is that the Cardinals鈥� management will offer Helsley a competitive contract extension to keep him in the Lou.

The whole situation is like if a baker finally found a cake recipe that bakes up a beautiful and delicious cake. Everyone who eats the cake enjoys it. Despite your recipe鈥檚 success, you decide to take a risk and swap out one of the ingredients with the hopes that a different combination of ingredients will make an ever better tasting cake.

This is usually a mistake. Any baker will tell you not to mess with a winning recipe. So it can be in sports.

If the Cardinals end up trading Helsley, they are likely to obtain some other successful players, but the change is likely to mess up the team鈥檚 newfound cohesiveness. The current team of players seems happy to be playing baseball together and are visibly having fun. Perhaps most importantly, this togetherness is delivering more wins than losses.

I fully admit that I am not a sportswriter nor am I privy to the organization鈥檚 long-term strategic or financial goals. But I am a fan, and as a Cardinal baseball devotee, I would hate to rob from Peter (the current team) to pay Paul (a future one).

For many of us living in the 最新杏吧原创 region, Cardinal baseball is one of our favorite things about summer. The icing on the above-mentioned cake is when Helsley emerges from the center field fence during the ninth inning. The lights dim, except for the Jumbotron with Helsley鈥檚 name emblazoned with flames, AC/DC鈥檚 鈥淗ells Bells鈥� play over the speakers, and then baseball fans get to enjoy the 100-plus-mph hour pitches crossing the plate.

The closest experience to this was back during the 2022 season when Albert Pujols came back to 最新杏吧原创 for his final season and was in hot pursuit of homerun number 700. There was the same level of excitement every time Pujols got up to bat.

So far, the 2025 season is turning out to be a surprisingly positive one. Let鈥檚 not forsake the present鈥檚 successes for the future鈥檚 possibilities and keep number 56 in a Cardinal uniform.