10 realistic trade options for the Cardinals at the deadline

RHP Michael Kopech

Michael Kopech of the Chicago White Sox is another high-leverage reliever who will be enticing to plenty of teams. The White Sox are in a full-scale fire sale this year, and they should try and squeeze whatever value their players have in order to start a rebuild. With players like Luis Robert Jr., Garrett Crochet, and Erick Fedde likely gone, they can garner quite the haul of prospects.

Right-handed reliever Michael Kopech wouldn't net the Southsiders a top-100 prospect, but he provides little to no value to the team long-term. Therefore, he'll likely be traded this deadline as well in order to recoup some value. Kopech has one more year of arbitration before becoming a free agent in 2026. The 28-year-old has spent his entire career with the Chicago White Sox.

This year, Kopech has been the team's primary reliever. He has thrown 41 innings, recorded 9 saves, and he is striking out 12.3 batters per nine innings. The issue for Kopech, however, has been his general inability to limit runs. He has a 5.05 ERA and a 5.02 FIP. He's walking nearly 13% of batters he faces, and hitters are barreling up his pitches at a 12.4% clip, placing him in the 2nd percentile.

Kopech has one more year of arbitration, but his high ERA should lower his value a bit. The Cardinals may be able to skate by with a low-end major leaguer, a AAA player who is nearing the end of his prospect line, or a mid-tier prospect in the organization in a trade for the reliever. Honestly, reliever value is hard to determine at this point in the deadline saga.

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