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

#4 - The Cardinals miss an opportunity to declutter their 40-man roster

The Cardinals have a fair bit of players on their 40-man roster right now that I do not think will have a role beyond 2025, and so it would be in their best interest to see if any other club would send a lottery ticket prospect or minor league depth.

Luken Baker, who the Cardinals had on their Opening Day roster as a DH option against left-handed pitching, just does not have a role in St. Louis long-term and could be someone that a rebuilding team would be interested in giving at-bats to in order to see what he is.

Michael Siani, who again, I don't see much of a role for in the future, especially with Nathan Church's presence, could be a fourth or fifth outfielder for a contending team, or maybe a rebuilding team would want to see if his bat can develop with consistent reps.

Jose Fermin has been really good in his very, very small sample size for St. Louis this year, but he was excellent in Triple-A this year as well, slashing .308/.431/.483, good for a 145 wRC+ in 55 games.

Matt Koperniak, who caught the eye of Cardinals fans during spring training, is 27 years old and also does not have a future with the club. After posting a 127 wRC+ in Memphis last year, Koperniak has been bad this year, slashing just .234/.292/.362 in 78 games.

I'm not trying to tell you these guys would fetch some incredible value, and even if they made one of these moves, it would likely go unnoticed by many fans, but there are deals made like this at deadlines all the time where players without a path toward an MLB debut are moved in a deal to a team that can create a spot for them.

It's worth trying to make a move with one of these players if the Cardinals can find a path to do so. They have a lot of prospects that need added to their 40-man roster this offseason, and you can now add Blaze Jordan to that list, who the Cardinals got in the Matz trade with Boston.