3 Cardinals who won't be on the roster by July 1

As things continue to slide for the 30-43 St. Louis Cardinals, a whole lot of roster reconstruction may be on the horizon. Entering the day, the last place Cardinals have a 15 percent chance of making the playoffs per FanGraphs, a number that hurts more and more by the day.

With the trade deadline looming and the Cards being one of many teams to be on the fence about what their stance is at the deadline, there could be many, many moving parts on this roster in the coming weeks.

While looking at the active roster, one can quickly identify which players will not be going anywhere, but there are a few candidates with futures much less certain. Even though the deadline is not officially until the end of July, there could be pieces beginning to move around the league at virtually any moment.

Let's identify 3 Cardinals players who won't be on the roster by July 1.

Óscar Mercado

Starting with the low-hanging fruit, Oscar Mercado has swung a decent bat through his first 17 games on the Cardinals, but he does not feel like a player who is long for the roster.

The 28-year-old has bounced around a bit after spending the first four years of his big league career in the Cleveland Guardians organization. After signing a minor league contract with the Cardinals in November of 2022, he began the current campaign in Triple-A Memphis and swung the bat well.

In 34 games, he hit a pair of home runs, drove in 12, stole 15 bases, and had a .278 average paired with a .782 OPS. These numbers, paired with some injuries arising to other members of the outfield, forced the team to select Mercado's contract.

For as long as Mercado is on the active roster, three of the four bench spots are occupied by players who strictly play the outfield. Point blank, he needs to spend time in Triple-A while more flexible options occupy bench spots on the 26-man active roster.