Tier ranking the St. Louis Cardinals' players and prospects for the trade deadline

Here is how the Cardinals' players and prospects should be grouped together when it comes to value
St. Louis Cardinals v Washington Nationals
St. Louis Cardinals v Washington Nationals / Greg Fiume/GettyImages
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Too complicated to move on from

Willson Contreras, Miles Mikolas, and Adam Wainwright

These veterans in theory could be moved to pave the way for better talent, but I don't see how the Cardinals part with any of them for various reasons

Let's be honest, the Cardinals just aren't going to move on from any of these guys, and I really don't know how they could in a way where they get enough talent in return to justify it.

I've already seen some people say that Willson Contreras should be moved off of now to avoid a Dexter Fowler situation. Our own Andrew Heckroth sees parallels with how the Cardinals treated the two former Cubs, but neither of us thinks Contreras will fall off as Fowler did. Contreas was batting an awful .152/.264/.333 over his last 30 games, but over the last 7 games, he's gotten his OPS up to .807, and a lot like the hitter the Cardinals thought he would be.

Miles Mikolas is not above being moved talent-wise, but I see him as a guy who's more valuable to the Cardinals than he would be to someone else. And with the lack of clarity in the rotation for next season, I'm not sure they can afford to move on from him at the moment.

I know Adam Wainwright's contract is bad. I've said that many times. But they can't go back and change that, and shaving his salary from the books this year doesn't help the team this year or next year. He's a Cardinal, and I really don't think anyone wants to see him pitch anywhere else.