Who's next? Cardinals' likeliest trade candidates for another offseason deal

The St. Louis Cardinals made their first trade of the season, sending Tyler O'Neill to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for reliever Nick Robertson and prospect Victor Santos. The Cardinals have been the most active team in baseball so far this winter, and there's a good chance they continue to be between now and Spring Training.

If the Cardinals want to make more trades, they certainly can. They have more pieces on their Major League roster than could be most around for starting pitching, bullpen help, or even strengthen the farm system further. Speaking of the farm system, they have interesting prospects that could move the needle for them in a significant trade as well.

The Cardinals will be looking at add at least one more arm to their bullpen this offseason, and remain connected to some of the best starting pitching talent on the trade market, namely Dylan Cease and Tyler Glasnow.

O'Neill was always going to be one of the pieces that they moved on from this winter, John Mozeliak even publicly confirmed their intention. Now the question is - who else could be moved as well?

All of that is circumstantial. Almost any player in the organization could be moved this offseason depending on the deal. But the question I want to dive into here is who are the likeliest names to move in a deal this offseason if the Cardinals swing another trade at some point?

I went ahead and put together the five likeliest pieces to be moved based on the Cardinals current needs, who they have been linked to, and what players make the most sense to move on from if they go the trade route. I wouldn't be surprised if any or all of these players are on the Cardinals roster in 2024, but I think it's safe to say they are the most likely to move of the bunch.

To start this list, the least likely of the top five happens to be the most valuable on the list as well.