Cardinals prospect's social media hints at frustration with front office's decision

The St. Louis Cardinals made a barrage of moves ahead of Nov. 18's rostering deadline, protecting four top prospects from Rule 5 draft eligibility while designating reliever Jorge Alcala for assignment.

Among those protected were starting pitchers Brycen Mautz and Cooper Hjerpe, as well as catcher Leonardo Bernal and outfielder Joshua Baez. The latter was acquired at the trade deadline as part of the return for closer Ryan Helsley, and Baez looks like he could challenge Jordan Walker for the starting right field job in the majors sooner rather than later.

However, one trade deadline acquisition who wasn't protected was Blaze Jordan, the power-hitting infielder the Cardinals got in return for Steven Matz. The former Boston Red Sox farmhand once appeared to be a lock to receive Rule 5 shelter, but after posting a scant 53 wRC+ after joining the Memphis Redbirds, Chaim Bloom and company ultimately decided to take their chance and leave him unprotected.

Suffice it to say, Jordan wasn't happy with that choice.

Blaze Jordan likes anti-Cardinals post, stirring up prospect protection controversy

In case you can't make out what's going on in that tweet, Jordan liked a post from a Cardinals fan lamenting his exclusion from the 40-man roster. In full, the post he liked reads: "Can’t wait for Blaze Jordan to go to the Reds and be an All-Star."

Of course, liking random social media posts in the heat of a disappointing moment isn't exactly demanding a trade and booking a one-way ticket out of town. Still, it's a frustrating development after he arrived in Memphis with so much prospect fanfare.

Prior to the trade, Jordan was hitting .308/.377/.395 across two levels in Boston's system. He had a 167 wRC+ in Double-A and a 110 wRC+ in Triple-A.

Then, he hit a wall after arriving in the Cardinals' system, batting just .198/.242/.366 (53 wRC+). He maintained his elite strikeout rate (11.8%) and hit seven home runs in 41 games, but his performance after the trade deadline was ugly to say the least.

Of course, amidst all this drama, it shouldn't go unnoticed that the Cardinals' 40-man roster is now completely full after selecting the contracts of each of the four aforementioned prospects. They already had to DFA Alcala just to make room for that quartet, and they would've had to let someone else go to place Jordan on the roster. And that, of course, doesn't account for any outside additions made to the major league roster over the offseason.

At this point, the Cardinals can do nothing but hope that Jordan isn't taken by an overzealous team in the Rule 5 draft. If he is, that team will need to keep him on their 26-man active roster for the duration of the 2026 season in order to hold onto him.