Reacting to the Cardinals' top 7 trade candidates ranking from MLBTR

It's officially the Major League Baseball offseason! The St. Louis Cardinals find themselves in unfamiliar waters this winter, moving toward a "reset" in 2025, one that prioritizes the youth on their roster, rather than making win-now moves.

Because of this, it is no surprise to see the Cardinals have their name in a variety of rumors this offseason, specifically "seller" types of trades. Steven Adams of MLB Trade Rumors posted their top 35 trade candidates of the offseason on Thursday. I encourage you to check out his full list, as it gives you a good idea of the trade landscape this offseason. On that list, Adams had seven different Cardinals as trade candidates.

Yes, you read that right. They identified seven different names they saw as potentially moving this offseason, and I saw this as a great opportunity for us to look at how a neutral outlet saw the Cardinals roster, what players they think could be on the move, and what their value would be like.

Some names that were added to this list I agreed with, while others I felt were stretches or not realistic. I agreed with some of their rankings on the overall top 35, while others I felt were misranked.

Adams stated that his methodology for this ranking was not strictly based on a player's trade value or the likelihood of them being dealt, but instead was an attempt to balance both things. Keep that in mind as we go through each name on the list.

Here are my thoughts on the top 7 Cardinals' trade candidates and where they rank among all names potentially available this offseason, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

Ryan Helsley - (#1 Cardinals trade candidate, #2 overall)

To no one's surprise, Ryan Helsley landed at number one on Adams' list among Cardinals who could potentially be traded and only ranked behind White Sox's starter Garrett Crochet on the overall list.

While Adams did not mention how much he thought the Cardinals could get in return for Helsley, it stands to reason that he would fetch St. Louis quite the return. While another elite reliever in Devin Williams made his list as well, I think there is a strong case that Helsley will be the best reliever available in trades. Helsley has one more year of team control remaining and led all of baseball with his 49 saves in 2024, so I think teams will be jumping at the chance to add Helsley and his flamethrower stuff to their bullpen.

Based on Adams' methodology, I totally agree with this ranking. Helsley is the strongest mix of the likelihood of being traded and actual trade value on the Cardinals' roster this offseason. While you could argue that someone like Sonny Gray could fetch more in return, he is a more complicated candidate due to his large contract and a no-trade clause.

No complaints from me on this ranking.