5 Cardinals who could be waived before today's deadline

With the trade deadline already passed, the ways in which teams can remove players from their rosters is limited. No trades are allowed at this point in the season, but teams can still waive players, thus making them available for other teams to pick up.

There are a few benefits and hurdles to waiving a player or two (or three). First, the team that cuts the player could be free of the remaining 1/6th of the salary or so. For this to happen, another team has to sign that player. Additionally, the team that cuts the player opens up a roster spot for a young prospect to see major league time. The waived player must join another team's active roster by September 1st to be eligible to be on the postseason roster.

Last year, the Los Angeles Angels cut an unprecedented amount of players prior to the deadline. Lucas Giolito, Randal Grichuk, Matt Moore, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dominic Leone were all waived and became available for opposing teams to sign.

On August 28th of this year, the San Francisco Giants made some major cuts as well. Taylor Rogers, Tyler Matzek, and Thairo Estrada were all placed on waivers. These moves will save the team millions of dollars down the stretch.

The St. Louis Cardinals aren't close to the luxury tax threshold, so they don't have to worry about the financial penalties associated with surpassing that mark. Waiving players will simply save the organization some money this year while clearing space for young players like Jordan Walker, Michael McGreevy, and Gordon Graceffo, among others, to see major league innings in the month of September.

The Cardinals have already started this process when they granted Brandon Crawford his outright release a couple of weeks ago and waived relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong. Armstrong, whom the Cardinals acquired at the trade deadline for Dylan Carlson, will likely be picked up by a playoff team. Crawford probably won't be. More players are likely to be waived in the coming days if the Cardinals are out of the playoff race.

These 5 players could be waived by the Cardinals.