7 players facing their last stand with the Cardinals heading out of All-Star break

Phil Maton

The Cardinals' lone free agent signing this offseason came in the final stretch of spring training, when they signed veteran reliever Phil Maton to a $2 million deal to help bolster their bullpen for the 2025 season.

Maton has done nothing but smash expectations since signing that deal.

Many considered Maton an All-Star snub, as he sported a sub-2.00 ERA when the roster was announced, only recently seeing this ERA jump up to 2.55 after surrendering his first home run of the year on a three-run blast by Sean Murphy last weekend.

In total, Maton has pitched in 37 games for the Cardinals this year, posting that 2.55 ERA and a 2.52 FIP while striking out 30.4% of the batters he has faced. He is another name that teams would love to add to their bullpens down the stretch, and it's really just up to the Cardinals as to whether they shop him.

I am very curious about how they handle Maton specifically. If the Cardinals want to toe the line at this deadline and teams really value Ryan Helsley as highly as insiders say they do, could the Cardinals look to flip Helsley and move Maton to the closer role? That could be the best way to keep their momentum down the stretch while also adding real value for the future.

If they'd rather shop Maton, he should net them something interesting as well, but it is hard to know what that could be. Considering they signed him for just $2 million at the end of spring training, Maton would be an A++ signing if he gets them a nice return on top of the value he provided up until a potential trade.

With Maton being the third and final reliever on this list, I do want to address the possibility that the Cardinals hold onto all of their bullpen pieces at this deadline. I do think that would be a mistake, but it is one they may consider if they perform well out of the gates between now and July 31st. Part of the reason the club has been so successful this year has been this bullpen, so subtracting from it only hurts their chances.

I would argue that they can afford to lose one or two, and while it would make things harder for sure, that's where they tap on the shoulders of young arms like Matt Svanson, Andre Granillo, Gordon Graceffo, Ryan Fernandez, and others to see if they can pick up the slack. Runway, some would call it. Could it epically fail? Sure, it could. But so could this season have been when they went into camp only subtracting from their roster, so they've proven they can defy the odds before.