最新杏吧原创

Will he concede the season and sell off talent? Will he sacrifice some prospects and/or young veterans to gain near-term help for the playoff push?

Or could he both buy and sell to realign the roster he will hand over to successor Chaim Bloom?

Over at The Athletic, Chad Jennings and Tim Britton project the latter option. They place the Cardinals in their 鈥淭ailor鈥� tier of teams ahead of the trade deadline:

This is our tier for teams threading the needle 鈥� both buying and selling 鈥� and our first Trade Tiers also listed three tailors, but we鈥檝e since moved the Red Sox up to the buy side and moved the Diamondbacks down toward the sellers. We鈥檝e kept the Cardinals in this tier, though it is perhaps against our better judgment. They鈥檙e a good week away from holding a wild-card spot, but the fact they approached this as a rebuilding year from the beginning suggests they might lean to the sell side unless absolutely compelled to buy. Could they trade closer Ryan Helsley without necessarily giving up on a late-season charge? Maybe.

Writing for , Will Leitch also saw the Cardinals as a bubble team:

The Cardinals have started to fade of late 鈥� potentially clarifying any sort of Trade Deadline plans they have 鈥� but until their rotation began its current erosion, they were one of the more pleasant surprises of the season so far. Neither Nolan Gorman nor Jordan Walker has been the breakthrough player the Cardinals were hoping for, but Iv谩n Herrera and Alec Burleson look like they may well be.

Writing for , Kiley McDaniel wondered if the Cardinals would deal from a prospect surplus:

The Cards are still right in the thick of the wild-card race and there is some real depth to the catching and starting pitching in the system, but it鈥檚 unclear if the organization will choose to push chips into the middle at the deadline or in aggressively promoting (Liam) Doyle to potentially help in the big leagues this summer.

USA Today鈥檚 Gabe Lacques offered another idea for instant help:

It鈥檚 been just a year since (JJ) Wetherholt donned a Western fit and shook commissioner Rob Manfred鈥檚 hand as the seventh overall pick in the 2024 draft, and just a week since he got promoted from Class AA Springfield to AAA Memphis.

Yet there are multiple forces that make Wetherholt an intriguing candidate for a 最新杏吧原创 summons: He鈥檚 tearing up the minor leagues, is unstoppable on the basepaths 鈥� and the Cardinals have defied all expectations of what 2025 would look like like by hanging in the playoff race.

While Wetherholt is a shortstop by trade and the Cardinals have Masyn Winn entrenched there, he could easily slide to second or third base. And, above all, his speed brings an element any contender could use.

While Wetherholt has just 16 steals in his 94-game pro career, he鈥檚 only been caught twice, an elite 88.9% success rate. That鈥檚 even better than his college exploits at West Virginia University, where he stole 57 bags in 73 tries.

Over at , Mike Axisa offered this sell-off prediction:

Tanner Scott has been a rollercoaster this year and the Dodgers figure to import bullpen help at the deadline, which makes them like every other contender. The Cardinals, at 51-46, are only 1 陆 games behind the third wild-card spot, so a full-on sell-off at the trade deadline won鈥檛 happen. Helsley will be a free agent after the season though and losing him for nothing but a draft pick (if 最新杏吧原创 even makes him the qualifying offer) would be tough to swallow. The Cardinals strike me as a prime candidate to buy and sell at the deadline. Trade Helsley while bringing in relief help elsewhere, that sort of thing. The Dodgers need late-inning help even with Blake Treinen on the mend. That much is clear. 最新杏吧原创 has a quality rental reliever to offer.

Here is what else folks have been writing about Our National Pastime:

Russell Dorsey, Yahoo! Sports: 鈥淭he Chicago Cubs are back. They鈥檝e been on a roll all season, with much of their success thanks to a high-octane offense that is top five in MLB in nearly every major offensive category. On an individual basis, they鈥檙e getting huge seasons from Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch, Seiya Suzuki and likely NL MVP finalist Pete Crow-Armstrong. But for as well as the Cubs (57-39) played in the first half, the Milwaukee Brewers haven鈥檛 gone anywhere. Since May 1, the Brewers have the best record in baseball, and they鈥檙e just one game behind the Cubs in the Central. The Cardinals and Reds are also not far behind, so this division is far from a done deal. Chicago鈥檚 one weak point is its starting rotation. Even with Shoto Imanaga and Matthew Boyd pitching at a high level, the Cubs desperately need one more rotation arm to go with what could be a World Series-caliber offense. And with this division anything but guaranteed, the Cubs have even more incentive to be aggressive at the trade deadline.鈥�

Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic: 鈥淭he AL Central is the division to call for controllable relievers. The Cleveland Guardians鈥� Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith are two trade candidates. The Minnesota Twins鈥� Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran are two others. But prying any of those pitchers loose might be difficult. Both the Twins and Guardians are below .500, but the Twins are only four games back in the wild-card race and the Guardians only 4 1/2, making it still too early to concede. The Twins鈥� schedule leading to the deadline (COL, LAD on road, WAS, BOS at home) is mixed. The Guardians鈥� schedule (home against Athletics, BAL; road against KC, home against COL) appears somewhat easier. But how much any of that will help remains to be seen. The other element is that the Guardians are extremely disciplined in trade talks, often frustrating potential partners. And where did Twins chief of baseball operations Derek Falvey begin his front-office career? Cleveland.鈥�

Matt Snyder, : “Sometimes you just need a little break, The Detroit Tigers limped into the All-Star break, losing four straight games for the first time this season. Still, they were well-represented at the All-Star Game and rightfully so, as they brought the best record in baseball into the break. This is the first time they’ve had the top record at the break since 2006. They remain on pace for their best record since that magical season that was 1984. The Los Angeles Dodgers just went through their longest losing streak since 2017, but they closed the break with two wins and sit in first by 5 ½ games with the best record in the National League. The Toronto Blue Jays were the hottest team in baseball and had a 3 ½-game lead in the AL East, only to end the first half with losses in three of their last four games — and those came against the A’s and White Sox. Still, they remain in first place and you can’t ask much more than that, especially considering they were once eight games out.”

Gabe Lacques, USA Today: 鈥淏oston is coming off a four-game sweep of Tampa Bay and opens the second half with a showdown at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. A pitching staff once strafed by injury and poor performance now has two right-handers, Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello, performing like reliable near-aces. Its lineup, bereft of Devers, has benefited from the quiet and focused rise of super rookie Roman Anthony, the recent activation of All-Star Alex Bregman and the star turn of center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela. Over his last 21 games, Rafaela has batted .347 with a 1.152 OPS, 10 doubles and eight home runs. Little wonder Boston has won 11 of 12 in July 鈥� and is continuing to rise as the trade deadline comes into sight.鈥�

Megaphone

鈥淚 wish more people could kind of hear what it鈥檚 like in our dugout. From a variety of people. Whether it鈥檚 the starting pitcher, pitchers that aren鈥檛 pitching or guys that aren鈥檛 starting. It鈥檚 a pretty cool atmosphere right now.鈥�

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider, on his team鈥檚 cohesion.