Cardinals have reached their breaking point with veteran stalwart

The St. Louis Cardinals are in a rebuild as they await Chaim Bloom's complete takeover of the front office, and they proved as such during the trade deadline.

The team offloaded a trio of rental relievers, bringing in a haul of prospects with varying timelines. It's the kind of sell-off that smart teams do, and it's nice to have confirmation that Bloom has been involved in much of the decision-making process.

Still, even in a gap year, the Cardinals have managed to remain respectable. They sit just a game below .500 heading into their series finale with the Dodgers, and their roster continues to churn out solid performances from most players.

Of course, the key phrase there is "most players." After his latest blow up outing against the Dodgers, it's becoming increasingly apparent that Miles Mikolas no longer has a place on this team.

Miles Mikolas' performance against Dodgers should be his swan song in a Cardinals uniform.

Mikolas has been an abject disaster all season long, recording a 5.11 ERA (4.90 FIP) and -0.1 bWAR in 111 innings. His Baseball Savant page is bluer than the sky on a cloudless day, and his latest performance might as well have put the bow on his 2025 performance.

On August 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 36-year-old gave up five earned runs in three innings, including three home runs. He faced just 16 batters during the outing.

He has now allowed multiple home runs in four of his last seven starts, including that all-time clunker against the Cubs in July, when he surrendered six.

Look, there was no world where the Cardinals found a taker for Mikolas and his $17.7 million salary ($18.6 million AAV for luxury tax purposes). Somehow offloading Erick Fedde onto the Braves for cash was wizardry itself; it would have taken all of the organization's "devil magic" to coerce another team to assume employment of Mikolas.

Even then, though, cutting bait is the right move. The Cardinals aren't necessarily trying to win every game right now—and if they have been, they've been doing a very poor job of it—but there has to be a sense of pride somewhere that's rapping at John Mozeliak's or Chaim Bloom's chamber door.

Mikolas has been a staple in St. Louis over the last seven years, and that 2018 comeback performance after four years away from the big leagues will live in the annals of baseball history forever. However, Father Time comes for all, and it appears it has claimed the veteran right-hander as its next victim.

Unless the Cardinals are ready to commit to a full-on "tankathon" over the next two months, it's time to bid Mikolas adieu.