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With the St. Louis Cardinals prioritizing the future this offseason, there is even more intrigue than usual surrounding who the club will protect ahead of tonight's Rule 5 protection deadline at 6pm EST, especially with the number of names for whom you could make an argument.
The Cardinals got to work earlier this offseason, clearing 40-man roster space, as they currently have three open spots after passing various players through waivers and adding OF Bryan Torres to the 40-man roster.
There are still names out there that I expect the Cardinals to add to their 40-man roster ahead of tonight's deadline to ensure they will remain with the organization in 2026, so here are my predictions for who they will be adding or making space for this evening.
LHP Brycen Mautz
After being selected by the Cardinals in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft, Brycen Mautz had a solid debut season in 2023, followed by big-time struggles in 2024, making his 2025 campaign a major milestone when it came to standing with the organization.
Mautz responded with a big year in 2025, posting a 2.98 ERA in 25 starts for their Double-A affiliate, striking out 134 batters in 114.2 innings of work and holding opposing hitters to just a .219 average, easily the best ratios of his career to date.
While Mautz isn't a big-time pitching prospect, he has certainly shown enough for the Cardinals to believe he could have a future as a big league starter or valuable left-handed reliever. I expect him to be one of the names they add to their 40-man roster this evening for that very reason.
While the Cardinals' pitching prospect pool has dramatically improved recently, I don't really think they are in a position to let someone like Mautz be subject to the Rule 5 draft later this winter. Now, the Cardinals are running into a bit of a sticky situation when it comes to how many MiLB arms they will have on their 40-man roster who are either hurt or haven't made an MLB Debut, but that's a problem to be managed. Maybe they think he'd be safe from the draft, but I wouldn't take any chances.