The St. Louis Cardinals are expected to remain active between now and the Major League Baseball Trade Deadline at 5 pm central time this evening. You can follow along with me and the rest of the Dealin' the Cards podcast on our Trade Deadline live stream that begins at 3 pm today (or whenever the Cardinals make their next move).
After appearing to fleece the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tommy Edman for Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham three-team deal yesterday, the Cardinals are hoping to move a few players off of their roster as well as acquire more help for the stretch run. While their moves today may not be as big as Monday's, I still anticipate meaningful action.
With that being said, here are my final predictions for how deadline day will go for the Cardinals, and the ramifications of those moves.
Dylan Carlson is traded, but not for a reliever
The writing has been on the wall for a while now, and frankly, John Mozeliak did nothing to change that narrative with his comments regarding Dylan Carlson on Monday.
Carlson will not be on the Cardinals's active roster for their game against the Texas Rangers tonight. The question really just boils down to whether or not he is traded, demoted, or designated for an assignment.
My guess is that Carlson will be traded by the Cardinals. Other clubs around baseball are reportedly interested in acquiring Carlson, so there should be some suitors. However, I am predicting that the Cardinals will not acquire the reliever they are looking for in this deal, but rather, get a lower-end prospect who won't need to be added to their 40-man roster following the deal.
In my head, it would be very similar to one of the deals the Cardinals made with the Blue Jays at least year's deadline, shipping out shortstop Paul DeJong for relief prospect Matt Svanson. I think they can get a hair more than that for Carlson, but I'm not expecting much.
It will be an unceremonious ending to Carlson's career with the Cardinals, but the breakup is something both sides will benefit from.