Cardinals' quiet free agent signing may signal coming fire sale at trade deadline

Minor league depth signings in the middle of the season don't typically have immediate ramifications on a big league roster, but they can signal a direction that a team is heading in. The St. Louis Cardinals may have just tipped their hand as to a deadline scenario they are preparing themselves for.

The Cardinals announced this morning that they are signing 36-year-old RHP Aaron Wilkerson to a minor league deal, and while that may seem like nothing of note, we did see the Cardinals make similar moves in 2023 before they traded away a bunch of pitchers at the trade deadline.

The Cardinals may be quietly preparing for a fire sale at the trade deadline with recent free agent signing.

Exactly two years ago today, the Cardinals signed RHP Casey Lawrence to a minor league deal and, within the next 12 days, traded away Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks, and Chris Stratton to capitalize on a seller's market that year.

While everyone and their mother knew that the Cardinals were going to have to sell by that point in 2023, the great debate among Cardinals fans, media, and even among national media and fans centers around whether St. Louis will buy, sell, hold, or do a mixture of those things by the time July 31st rolls around.

The signing of Wilkerson is especially notable because, like 2023, the Cardinals' main trade chips fall on the pitching side of things. Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, and Steven Matz are all on expiring contracts and would be coveted by teams around the league if made available. The club would even be wise to shop JoJo Romero around, given the lack of left-handed relievers available and how good he's been this year. Erick Fedde is likely to be traded or designated for assignment as well, putting the list of pitchers the Cardinals could move on from in under two weeks time at between 5-6 in total.

Now, will the Cardinals move all of those guys? That is yet to be determined and will likely require them continuing to stumble out of the gates to start the second half like they did last night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Cardinals could move on from just one or two guys, sell all of them, hold all of them, or even move some position players to add pitching that they subtract from.

Wilkerson most recently pitched with the Cincinnati Reds' Triple-A affiliate but opted out of his deal and has now landed with the Cardinals. He has experience pitching in both the KBO and JPCL in recent years, but the last time he logged big league innings was in 2019. For his career, Wilkerson has posted a 6.88 ERA in 35.1 innings pitched, all with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Considering the number of pitching injuries the Cardinals have suffered at Triple-A, Wilkerson also acts as helpful depth down there, even if they do not move arms at the deadline. He can fill innings for Memphis, especially as young arms are called upon to pitch in St. Louis, and he himself could be called upon by the Cardinals if desperately needed. If the Cardinals do trade away pitchers from their Major League roster, though, Wilkerson may fill a Casey Lawrence-type role in the second half if the staff starts looking rough and they need a veteran to shoulder innings.