Despite another season where the St. Louis Cardinals struggled in June, the team still sits in postseason contention as the second half begins. The past two weeks of the month made things feel worse than they actually are, but being five games above .500 in a rebuild season, things are not too bad in St. Louis.
*Disclaimer: I am writing this on Thursday afternoon due to the holiday so some stats/thoughts may be outdated by Sunday’s post*
The entire offense struggled at the same time which was unfortunate
as the starting pitching started to right the ship at times. Series losses to the Marlins and Diamondbacks made the vibes a little worse for the Cardinals. As we continue to discuss buy vs. sell at this year’s deadline, the end of June made it clear that the best course of action is likely subtraction from the 26-man roster. While disappointing, Chaim Bloom committing to the plan he set out since being named POBO will still create plenty of exciting storylines for the rest of the season, even if the postseason slips out of grasp.
A sell off will create opportunity for Cardinals prospects to flourish
To avoid going too far into the “buy or sell” conversation that we continue to beat into the ground, I am going to guess that at least three spots on the major league roster will be opened up via trade. While a rebuild usually entails Johnny No-Name getting playing time after the deadline, the Cardinals’ farm system has talent that is close enough to the major leagues to warrant a look. With Chaim Bloom creating excitement and optimism among fans with his work in the front office, even a losing second half could be fun to watch, for lack of a better word.
According to FanGraphs, the Cardinals have the 10th-best farm system and a lot of that talent is at Double-A or better already. If and when Bloom makes deals from the major league roster, the returns will hopefully continue to push that ranking into the single digits. Assuming the players coming to St. Louis are not established big leaguers, Bloom is more likely to give the big league promotions to the minor leaguers with a track record in the organization. The first of these would likely be one of Bloom’s offseason acquisitions in Hunter Dobbins.
Dobbins has been solid overall this season, notching a 6-1 record and an ERA under 4.00 in 16 games between Memphis and St. Louis. The righty profiles as a mid-rotation arm who can have some spectacular outings mixed in with a consistent run of quality starts. There will be plenty of innings available next season and Dobbins will have one of the lengthier auditions for a role heading into the 2027 season.
If the injury luck continues for the Cardinals’ rotation, then seeing prospects like Brycen Mautz and Quinn Mathews make a prolonged major league stay may only happen in a relief or swingman role. JoJo Romero is my pick for most likely to be dealt, creating an instant need for a lefty option alongside Justin Bruihl. Mautz is on the 40-man already and has one game under his belt while Mathews would need to be added to the roster count. Mathews must be added to the 40-man this offseason to be protected in the Rule 5 draft. Trades for minor leaguers will keep those roster spots open, so there would be no issue with activating the lefty to the roster.
Before moving to the position player side, it would be plausible to see Cooper Hjerpe get a late season opportunity. The lefty was just activated from the 60-day IL and will be pitching in Double-A as he works his way back to full strength. Along with Hjerpe, I would like to see Tink Hence get a shot, but that could be wishing against hope. When we asked Chaim Bloom about Tink, it was not very encouraging to hear his uncertainty with what the former top prospect needs to fix. The clock is ticking on his time with the organization and a relief role is the only way he is going to get a call.
To the hitters, we all know about Joshua Baez and what he has done to minor league pitching this year. The outfielder slugged his 28th homer of the year but has yet to move past the chase rate concerns that are constantly brought up. Focusing on what he can do, Baez provides pop the lineup is missing, the speed to cause chaos on the bases, and a decent enough fielding tool to play all three outfield spots. I do not personally know if he is “ready” for the bigs, but it makes sense to see what the guy can do against major league pitching, even if it is just to give him exposure like the organization did with Masyn Winn and Jimmy Crooks.
In my less exciting but still fun category, I expect to see Luis Gastelum in this disaster of a bullpen at some point before the end of the season. His strong season has continued in Memphis as his season ERA sits at 2.38 while striking out more than a batter per inning. Mason Molina was just bumped up to Triple-A and he could earn consideration for a promotion, but he is further down the pecking order than the other arms.
And finally, how the demoted Cardinals handle the last half of the season will be another note I will be keeping an eye on through September. Victor Scott II, Nolan Gorman, and Thomas Saggese were all demoted to provide new opportunity for others on the roster and their path to returning to St. Louis is cloudy at best. Of the trio, unfortunately Saggese has been the best thus far in Memphis, but that is nothing to brag about at this point. I want all three of them to become regular contributors on the Cardinals’ major league roster, but they need to make something happen in Triple-A first.
While there are times where the team has been frustratingly flat, I am really most excited about watching a Cardinals team that seems to care on a nightly basis. That is an immeasurable observation and surely every player on every team wants to win every night, but with a roster of young guys who still need to prove their worth, we are more likely than not to see a hard nine innings of baseball.
Let me know what you’re most excited about for the second half. If you think its a deep playoff run, great! If you want to see an endless cycle of prospects getting a cup of coffee in the majors, also cool! I’ll be seeing the Cardinals up close these next two weekends. Sunday, I will unfortunately head to Wrigley to take advantage of a friend’s company tickets behind home plate. Then I will be heading to St. Louis next weekend for our annual family trip and hope to see some good baseball from the stands. I will likely go Tarps Off.
Thanks as always!
