National writer's newest trade proposal could quickly revamp Cardinals starting staff

The St. Louis Cardinals have had a season that is tough to follow, and that confusion began all the way back in the offseason when President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak announced that the 2025 season would be a "reset" of sorts. After failing to do any of the items on their priority list, that term quickly changed to "transition," and fans are feeling the frustrating outcome of that inactivity dating back to the winter.

Hovering around the .500 mark would be an outcome that, depending on whom you read, could either create a situation where the Cardinals buy at the deadline or decide that enough is enough and sell their valuable pieces. However, one piece that may be better off being dealt regardless of the path the Cardinals take is closer Ryan Helsley, who has had some interesting usage patterns early in the season that may affect his overall value.

National writer Jim Bowden proposed Ryan Helsley to the Phillies for pitching prospect Mick Abel.

The Philadelphia Phillies are known to be in the reliever market after their bullpen has struggled to begin the 2025 season. They currently trail the Mets, whom the Cardinals just took a series from, in the NL East, which looked like a powerhouse division to start the year, but these two teams are the only ones over the .500 mark. Closer Jose Alvarado is a perfect six-for-six in save opportunities, but outside of the flamethrowing lefty, their relievers have combined to blow eight saves and have been on the hook for four losses. With Alvarado throwing from the left side, Helsley would make a great complement for the back end of the bullpen and help the Phillies shorten the game.

His usage has been tough to follow for Cardinals fans, as Helsley has the fewest appearances (12) out of any of their full-time bullpen pieces, and the vast majority of those have been in either save situations or tie games when the Cardinals are the home team. Not wanting to risk injury, he has yet to throw more than one inning in an appearance and has gone multiple days without appearing in a game a few other times. When he has pitched, he has been decent but not spectacular, tallying five saves in seven chances, but the command has not been there, as he has walked eight batters against 11 strikeouts. Without a consistent workload, it has to be hard for him to get his feel on the mound. With the Phillies looking to contend this year and beyond, he could be a quick fix to their largest problem.

Bowden believes that a fair deal for the Cardinals' end of the swap would be receiving 23-year-old pitching prospect Mick Abel, who was a first-round pick during the 2020 draft. With a big fastball, Abel has progressed to Triple-A, where he has already amassed over 100 innings at the level. The Cardinals would love to add a pitching prospect who boasts a mid-90s fastball with the potential for plus breaking stuff, as their current minor league depth has plenty of question marks. Michael McGreevy made an unreal season debut against the Mets, throwing 5.2 innings of shutout relief, but he will be waiting in Memphis for a more permanent spot in the rotation. Gordon Graceffo has been up and down twice already, having one outing to forget and another to build positive momentum off of. Beyond them, all of Quinn Mathews, Tink Hence, and Cooper Hjerpe are expected to be out for extended periods of time, with Hjerpe missing the entire season thanks to Tommy John surgery.

The current major league staff is nothing astonishing, either. Each of Miles Mikolas, Erick Fedde, and Steven Matz is playing out the final year of his deal, while Sonny Gray, despite rebuking trade talks early in the offseason, could open up to a change of scenery if the season goes south. Matthew Liberatore and Andre Pallante have held their own, but the future of the rotation is up in the air. Abel is an easy-to-project starter, standing at 6'5, and his ability to make hitters miss would be welcomed for a Cardinal rotation that is continuing to produce pitch-to-contact pitchers. So far in 2025, Abel has maintained a 25% strikeout rate while homing in his command for a 10.2% walk rate, which would be the lowest in his professional career. FanGraphs and MLB.com each predict that Abel could make his debut sometime in 2025.