5 players the Cardinals should have traded before their trade value dipped

One of the hardest things to do in all of sports is to know when to "sell high" on your own talent. Teams like the St. Louis Cardinals will always want to believe that their own talent will continue to ascend, but sometimes, players peak early or don't actually have that "extra gear" the club is hoping for.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals have instead decided to trade away players that have not had the opportunity to prove themselves, like Randy Arozarnea, Adolis Garcia, Zac Gallen, and Sandy Alcantara. None of those four were given a significant run as Cardinals and then went on to get opportunities elsewhere and flourish.

The Cardinals are rightfully hesitant to make those same mistakes again, but in the process have held onto other assets far long than they should have for the value they hold around the league. There are various assets that St. Louis has that, if they had traded them earlier, would have fetched them a lot of value in a deal. For a variety of reasons, each of these guys has seen their trade value dip since then.

No team is perfect at this, but it has become increasingly frustrating to watch this Cardinals' organization hold their cards far too long on the wrong players, and then fold quickly on guys who would end up being the better talents. This has to change moving forward in order for this team to turn things around.

Here are five players who the Cardinals waited too long to trade away

Tyler O'Neill

Some people saw this coming, while others, like myself, thought 2021 was the beginning of big things for Tyler O'Neill.

Since his .912 OPS season where he won a Gold Glove and finished 8th in MVP voting, O'Neill has played in just 125 games over the last two seasons, slashing just .228/.303/.480 with 16 HR and 64 RBI.

I don't blame the Cardinals for holding onto O'Neill after the 2021 season. He made notable changes to his approach, being uber-aggressive on pitches in his "wheelhouse", making harder contact, and cutting down his strikeout rate. O'Neill looked like a legit star at the plate and was playing elite defense in left field. You do not trade that kind of player...if he's going to continue that run of excellence.

After his injury-plagued 2022 season, I'm not sure there was a reason to deal him unless there was more interest in O'Neill than we were told. It was basically an open secret that the Cardinals were more than willing to trade O'Neill this past offseason, but since they didn't it's clear they were not getting a great offer for him.

So, in hindsight, the Cardinals could have moved on from O'Neill after 2021 to get prime trade value.

Dylan Carlson

I think Dylan Carlson should be an everyday outfielder in this league. I think he'll end up being a very good one too. Does he have star potential? No. But have the Cardinals stunted his growth as a player? I believe so.

That's what happens when you have so many players you want to give playing time to. You can argue the opportunities they kept giving to O'Neill and Alec Burleson this year were a big miss on the team's end. Carlson has not gotten a fair shake as an outfielder for the team. But honestly, I don't think he's been as "mistreated" as many have cried out.

Carlson has played in 370 games, amassed 1429 plate appearances, and has slashed .247/.327/.403 with a 104 wRC+ and is a career 5.7 WAR player. He's just 24 years old and almost everyone can see the potential that is still there with him, so I'm not at all trying to diminish him as a player.

Over his last 30 games, Carlson is slashing .263/.433/.400 and has played excellent defense. #EveryDayDylan (that was for those of you Carlson "stans" on Twitter), is alive and well as of late.

The issue here is the Cardinals. If they aren't going to give Carlson a fair run as a starting outfielder, that is a total misfire on their own end. Teams were calling them last summer with great interest in Carlson. He was a prized prospect not too long ago. Relegating him to the fourth outfielder role now and paving the way for a "break up" was just really poor management on the Cardinals' end.

Ryan Helsley

This past offseason, the Cardinals were offering Ryan Helsley to the Toronto Blue Jays in trade negotiations for catcher Danny Jansen.

That threw off a lot of fans. Why would they be willing to trade a closer as good as Helsley was last year? Well, the ever-volatile position of closer is why.

This year, Helsley has battled injuries this year and just isn't the same guy he was in 2022. Helsley is still a really good reliever, so I'm not saying there's an issue there. But he probably doesn't have the same value that he had before.

Helsley is a sneaky trade candidate this deadline, as contenders would surely love to add the flame thrower to their playoff bullpens, especially with him being under team control through 2025.

If the Cardinals don't get good value for Helsley though, they might as well wait and see if he can recapture some of his form from 2022 before making a trade.

Giovanny Gallegos

Entering the 2023 season, Giovanny Gallegos had been one of the best relievers in all of baseball since coming over to St. Louis. He was well worth the extension he got from the Cardinals, but the better move may have been to capitalize on his value.

If there was an argument to trade Helsley after last season, then there was an even stronger argument to "sell high" on Gallegos. Relievers just rarely have consistent quality seasons over the kind of stretch that Gallegos has.

He should still have decent value, as again, he's on a very affordable contract and has still been fine this year. Chances are he bounces back at some point. But with almost all relievers, when the bottom falls out, it does quickly. That's going to be a major concern with Gallegos.