How Cardinals can stick to their plan without conceding 2026

It's been a fun summer so far for the Cardinals. After all the trades made in the offseason, the Cardinals have somehow performed better than almost all of the teams they did business with over the winter. In fact, they lead the NL wild card race at the moment. It remains to be seen if that will last, but we're three months into the season, and they are still exceeding expectations.

The Cardinals have been here before over the past few years, only to slip in the standings down the stretch. As was the case last year and in 2024, fans all over social media are pitching trade ideas for the Cardinals that give them true impact players. Meanwhile, I was in favor of selling because I felt that the roster was set up better for that possibility than to buy.

While it's fun to think about, I think it's safe to say that those ideas are highly unlikely. Don't get me wrong. This team is a lot of fun and exciting to watch, and I can confidently say for the first time in several years that I'm really enjoying watching this team play.

However, as the title of this article suggests, the Cardinals still need to stick to their plan. I'm sorry to be a party pooper here, but I am once again advocating for the Cardinals to be sellers at the trade deadline. Even Derrick Goold states that they want to stay true to their plan.

But contrary to 2024 and 2025, I am not advocating for the Cardinals to give up on this season. Strangely enough, there's a way to sell, but also stay competitive. I'll explain below.

Cardinals must sell, but not concede

There are a couple of examples of this working in fact. In 2024, the Tigers traded away all their players on expiring contracts and were even under .500 in the month of August. But out of nowhere, they got hot. They were fortunate enough to clear spots for younger players and get pieces that were ready to be plugged into roles on the big league roster right away, and thanks to those moves, the Tigers ended up earning a wild card spot.

The Guardians did the same last year. They weren't out of the mix, but they were 15 1/2 games back in the AL Central. Yet they too got hot and ultimately won the division after an improbable comeback that mirrored that of the Cardinals in 2011.

So how do the Cardinals sell and stay in the race, you ask? Well, what they can and should do is sell high on all of their assets. I'm not so sure the returns for JoJo Romero and Ryne Stanek are going to be anything substantial, but for Dustin May and Riley O'Brien, they could be. So, the Cardinals can do two things here. They can sell high on those assets but also ask for pieces that are major league-ready in exchange. In a sense, it's addition by subtraction, or as I like to call it, the Michael Wacha effect. They can have somebody ready to step into roles immediately after trading away some of their assets that make them better for the long-term, but also can help in the short-term.

The situation with Wacha in 2013 was a little bit different, but fans may recall that the Cardinals were granted draft pick compensation after losing Albert Pujols to the Angels. With that pick in the 2012 draft, they grabbed Wacha. He came up late in 2013 and helped carry the Cardinals to the World Series. He was even the NLCS MVP. If Pujols stayed and the Cardinals didn't have Wacha for that run, they likely wouldn't have even reached the World Series.

That's obviously a lot different from selling at the trade deadline, but they had somebody that could be plugged into a role right away that made a huge difference. If they can add some high-upside starting pitching prospects that are MLB-ready by selling high on their assets, they could still stay in the race.

It's important to remember that, like Wacha in 2013, the vast majority of the league has not seen some of these young pitchers. Wacha was so dominant that year because teams were unfamiliar with him. Having more than one pitcher like that in the rotation could be big for the Cardinals.

So, yes. The Cardinals can sell at the deadline and stay in the playoff hunt, as long as they do it right. They can also make this rebuild go a lot quicker than expected if they get the right players in return, making the future even brighter in St. Louis.

While selling typically indicates waiving the white flag for a team well under .500, that wouldn't be the case for the Cardinals. Adding more young talent to this group could bring more energy while keeping the main core intact for the future.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow