Cardinals make first trade deadline move that has shades of famous Moneyball meme

The Cardinals have made their first official move of the trade deadline season, and while it's not something that will swipe many headlines, fans of the book and movie Moneyball will get a good chuckle out of it. St. Louis sent reliever Scott Blewett, who was recently designated for assignment, to the Athletics for cash considerations.

Immediately after the move was announced, @thebmoc95 on X replied to the official Cardinals Player Development account with a reference to the classic trade negotiations during Moneyball, saying that "Oakland will consider stocking the Cardinals soda machines for 3 years." Since most know the movie better than the book, Brad Pitt, who plays Athletics general manager Billy Beane, insisted to Tigers' GM Dave Dombrowski that he didn't want his guys paying for the soda machines anymore, and demanded that the team stock the clubhouse vending machine for free for three years as part of a trade they were making. Just for the record, that did not actually happen in real life, but it's a funny scene!

The Athletics side of this really set the meme up, but considering how much St. Louis slashed payroll over the last 12 months, it's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek-reference to the state of the Cardinals as well. It's all in good fun, but the bigger storyline is how this move is likely just the first of potentially many trades to come this week.

The Cardinals trading Scott Blewett is just the first trade of a busy week for Chaim Bloom

While the Athletics acquired some immediate bullpen help in this deal, the Cardinals are likely prepping to move multiple other relievers, as well as some other players on their roster, to acquire more prospects as they continue building for the future.

Blewett was added to the Cardinals' 40-man roster after the All-Star Break after he exercised an option in his contract that allowed him to become a free agent if St. Louis did not do so. He pitched in one game for St. Louis, allowing no runs over two innings of work, before being designated for assignment.

Riley O'Brien, JoJo Romero, and Ryne Stanek are all clear trade candidates who would fetch varying levels of returns for St. Louis, but all three should be able to bring the Cardinals back actual player(s) in return. O'Brien was an All-Star this year and has multiple years of control remaining, while Romero and Stanek are both veteran relievers who can bolster a contender's bullpen.

If the Cardinals end up swinging multiple trades of relievers this week, their already struggling bullpen could really implode for the remainder of the season. They have a lot of interesting arms, but St. Louis just has not gotten consistent production from many of their relievers this season.

We'll continue to monitor the trade status of those relievers as well as names like Dustin May, Lars Nootbaar, and possibly other Cardinals who could be on the move over the next week. The Cardinals are likely to be sellers in this market, and with a ton of teams looking to buy, that could very much play into their favor.

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