4 final trade predictions for the St. Louis Cardinals on deadline day

The St. Louis Cardinals got in on the MLB trade deadline action on Wednesday night, sending two-time All-Star closer Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets in one of the biggest deals we've seen at this year's deadline. They later finalized a late-night deal to send Steven Matz to the Boston Red Sox!

The Cardinals still have multiple trade assets on their hands that rival teams want to get their hands on, but with time ticking between now and the 5 pm CT deadline, they'll need to act swiftly and decisively to get each of the deals done that they would like to accomplish.

Here are my final 5 predictions for the Cardinals on trade deadline day

#1- Phil Maton brings the Cardinals a return that matches some of the "overpays" we saw this week

If you kept up with some of the trades made over the last 24 hours, you may notice that some relievers, like Seranthony Dominguez and especially Tyler Rogers, netted their teams quite a return compared to what people expected they would bring in on the open market.

Rogers, who was traded by the San Francisco Giants to the New York Mets, brought the Giants back RHP José Buttó, RHP Blade Tidwell, and OF Drew Gilbert. No, they aren't top prospects in baseball, but it's quite a bit of value for a rental reliever that doesn't have the pedigree of guys like Helsley, but Rogers' on-field production this year made him a very attractive trade candidate.

Rogers, in 53 appearances for the Giants this year, has posted a 1.80 ERA, 2.13 FIP, and 0.9 fWAR. He's been a highly impactful reliever, doing so in one of the most unorthodox ways in all of baseball. He's not your typical high velocity reliever, but he sure knows how to get outs.

Just like Phil Maton.

Maton, in 40 appearances for St. Louis, has a 2.35 ERA and 2.49 FIP, posting a 1.0 fWAR while striking out 30.4% of the batters he faces. While both Rogers and Maton rank among the best relievers in baseball in xERA, Barrel%, Hard-Hit%, GB%, and average exit velocity, Maton has far more swing and miss in his game. Rogers induces whiffs at just a 19.9% rate and strikes out batters just 20.2% of the time, while Maton's 30.4 K% ranks in the 91st percentile, and his 34.7 whiff% is in the 95th percentile.

Maton has pitched in the postseason every year since 2020, including being a major part of the Houston Astros' World Series championship in 2022. Maton has been traded midseason three different times in his career already, and actually got significantly better with his new team two of those times.

Contenders should be dying to add Maton to the back of their bullpen, as he's a reliever who has great success against both right-handed and left-handed pitching, a crucial skill to have once the postseason comes around. Maton also only makes $2 million this year, so acquiring him won't cost an ownership group much financially, which we know matters to those guys.

If the Giants got that kind of return for Rogers, the Cardinals should be hoping for something similar for Maton's services, and that would be a very, very nice jolt to the Cardinals' deadline haul on top of what they already got for Ryan Helsley.