3 players the Cardinals should waive before the end of the season

Going into the 2025 season, it looked as if the St. Louis Cardinals were going to embrace a rebuild, with Nolan Arenado trade rumors (including a blocked deal to the Houston Astros) running rampant. However, as the Cardinals struggled to find a trade partner that was to Arenado's liking, the season began, and the Cardinals hung around the playoff periphery.

A rejuvenated Arenado quelled his own trade rumors, but by the time the deadline rolled around, it was clear that the Cardinals were more pretenders than contenders, as they sold off short-term assets that didn't have a future with the club.

Now it's time for St. Louis to make some tough choices with the leftovers who didn't have a market at the trade deadline as they look to give younger players opportunities and plot a path forward for 2026. These three players should be waived as August turns to September in an attempt to further prepare for the future.

Three players the Cardinals should waive by season's end

Starting Pitcher Miles Mikolas

Things haven't gone the way Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals had hoped when the two sides came to terms on a second contract extension ahead of the 2023 season. An All-Star with the Redbirds in 2018 and 2022, Mikolas regressed hard in 2023 with a 4.78 ERA. 2024 was even worse with a 5.35 mark, and the 37-year-old hasn't rebounded at all in 2025, posting a 5.17 ERA in the final year of his deal.

With youngsters like Quinn Mathews looking promising down at Triple-A Memphis, it's time to expedite the divorce between the organization and Mikolas and give the veteran a head start on deciding what his future holds.

Utility man Garrett Hampson

Garrett Hampson certainly brings versatility to the table, spending time at every position except first base and catcher this season. While that has some value, there isn't much upside to be had by keeping the 30-year-old around.

Never known for his bat, the light-hitting Hampson put together the best season of his career back in 2023 with the Miami Marlins, hitting .276/.349/.380. That season was very much an outlier for him, and in 2025, he's reached new levels of futility at the dish, slashing just .147/.256/.173 with a 31.5% strikeout rate.

There's a reason why the Cardinals are Hampson's third team this season alone, and the smart move would be to move on and let him find another opportunity elsewhere.

Reliever Jorge Alcala

Like Hampson, Alcala has been well-traveled in 2025, with his Twins tenure coming to an end, resulting in a layover in Boston before making his way to St. Louis earlier this month. Unlike the others, Alcala has shown reasons to be optimistic about his future over the past few weeks.

As a Cardinal, the 30-year-old righty has pitched to a 1.69 ERA in an albeit limited sample of just 5.1 innings. He also did a serviceable job for the Red Sox with a 3.31 ERA over 16.1 innings of work in Beantown. Yet the bulk of his run this year came with the Twins, where he bled runs, posting an 8.88 ERA over 24.1 frames.

The up-and-down nature of his 2025 campaign has been a microcosm of his entire career. Alcala seemed to have some promise with a 2.63 ERA in limited action in 2020, which was then followed by a serviceable if not spectacular 3.92 mark in 2021. However, an elbow injury wiped out nearly his entire 2022 campaign. He struggled while again pitching sparingly in 2023, posting a 6.23 ERA in 17.1 innings, and then seemingly returned to form in 2024 with 58.1 innings of 3.24 ERA ball.

However, the regression in 2025, combined with him entering his final year of arbitration, makes him an expendable middle innings piece. St. Louis can find an arm to fill those innings with either more upside or a cheaper price tag next season. Therefore, it makes sense to get a jump on that search and cut Alcala loose before the end of the season.