Cardinals Rumors: Insiders confirm 2 St. Louis pitchers are on the trade block

With the trade deadline quickly approaching, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chaim Bloom have confirmed that a sell-off of assets is the strategy. That is no surprise when looking at preseason expectations, but with the Cardinals overperforming for most of the season, it is still a disappointment. According to a group of writers from The Athletic, Dustin May and Ryne Stanek are being shopped to contending teams.

Based on reporting and confirmed by team sources, Bloom is looking to cash in on his veteran pitching assets as the organization continues their rebuild. Both players are on expiring contracts, with May owning a mutual option and Stanek having a $6 million club option. Besides a few hiccups, May and Stanek have both been solid overall this season and could garner a decent return from a team needing pitching to bring them to the postseason.

Cardinals plan to cash in on Dustin May and Ryne Stanek's expiring contracts at the trade deadline

The St. Louis pitching staff, especially the bullpen, has been largely to blame for the Cardinals season moving in the wrong direction. To May and Stanek's credit, though, they have been a solid presence for Oli Marmol and the coaching staff. When May was brought in on a one-year deal, he looked like a low-risk signing who was looking to prove his health and abilities as a top-of-the-rotation arm. He has flashed that at times, throwing a complete-game shutout earlier in the year, but has settled into a mid-rotation piece for a contender. That is still likely to be valuable on the trade market as teams are always searching for arms to push them to the playoffs.

If and when Dustin May is dealt, the Cardinals will then have to turn to their organizational pitching depth to fill his rotation spot. The most likely option is Hunter Dobbins, although prospect Quinn Mathews has done everything in his power to be worthy of a call-up. The impending trade of May will be tough for fans to swallow since he has been one of the lone bright spots on the pitching staff, but moving him will open up more evaluation for the young arms and hopefully bring some exciting prospects back to the organization. He has stayed healthy for the second season in a row and is 5-7 with a 4.59 ERA, but his peripherals may show he has been slightly better than that.

In terms of Ryne Stanek's value, late-inning arms usually attract more suitors than starters which could drive up his price slightly. His role as a stopper may be specific to the Cardinals since their bullpen has been mediocre or worse all season, so a team acquiring Stanek may look to bring him in as more of a support reliever as opposed to a shutdown arm. Reliever ERA is always up for debate and the same goes for Stanek. Outside of a few tough outings, he has been solid enough to gain enough traction on the trade market.

The 35-year-old reliever has maintained his solid fastball velocity and strikeout stuff, but he allows far too many baserunners via free passes. That has been the case for much of his career and a main reason for why he has never settled into a closer role despite the high-powered fastball. Armed with a 98mph heater and solid breaking stuff, there may be more teams checking in on Stanek than with May, but a middle reliever will not bring as much back as a starter even with more teams being interested.

Dustin May and Ryne Stanek are just two of the players that we should expect to be on the move before the August 3 trade deadline. They have been confirmed to be on the block by team sources, but we may find more rumors showing up in the coming days around guys like injured reliever JoJo Romero, closer Riley O'Brien, revamped Andre Pallante, any of the organization's catchers not named Rainiel Rodriguez, and outfielder Lars Nootbaar.

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