St. Louis Cardinals look to be handcuffed by veteran pitchers' decisions

The St. Louis Cardinals were swept in an completely uncompetitive series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in their first series out of the All-Star break, and that could put some things into motion. The team had been straddling the line between buying and selling all season, but their most recent struggles made the team's path more clear.

However, some of these seemingly easy decisions come with some hang-ups. Whether that is because of being poor fits on other teams (Nolan Arenado), young guys at their lowest value (Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman), or pesky no-trade clauses that hinder the team's ability to make deals without the player's approval. The last one has been and remains the case with two of their current starting pitchers.

Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas continue to state they will not waive their no-trade clause.

During the offseason, it was reported that the Cardinals approached their three players with no-trade clauses to determine their interest in being moved to a contender. None of Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, or Willson Contreras were ready to accept a trade out of St. Louis, so the offseason trade talks around those three were quickly extinguished. With the Cardinals not doing anything to shore up their rotation heading into the 2025 regular season, they appeared to be happy enough to trot out Gray, Mikolas, Erick Fedde, Andre Pallante, and Matthew Liberatore.

After some bright spots here and there, the rotation has predictably struggled to keep opposing teams in the ballpark and off the board, but it does not look as if fans will be getting any relief from those headaches anytime soon. Fedde and Pallante have continued to struggle, and, most recently, the Cardinals are skipping Liberatore's next start instead of either of the two prior. As the organization continues to argue that the lack of minor league depth is to blame for these non-moves, they should also pass that blame to the fact that they armed Mikolas and, to a lesser extent, Gray with full no-trade clauses on their contracts. In a recent USA Today article, Bob Nightengale reported that neither of those two pitchers is willing to waive their no-trade clause for a move out of St. Louis.

Gray continues to pitch like the Cardinals' number one pitcher, but that does not make him a bona fide ace around the league. He currently sits with a 9-4 record while playing the stopper many times this season but has a 4.04 ERA and has allowed 12 homers in 20 starts. He continues to mow down hitters at a high rate, with a 27.2% strikeout percentage, and has pushed his walks down to a career-low 4.2% on the season. The 35-year-old is signed through the 2026 season to finish out his three-year, $75 million contract, but he also has a $30 million club option for 2027 that would likely be declined if he remains in St. Louis that long.

Part of the allure to the Cardinals for Gray was the team's proximity to his home in Smyrna, Tennessee, and providing him with a no-trade clause allowed for Gray to be in complete control of keeping his family rooted in one spot after pitching for five teams in his career. Those factors did not relate to the other veteran with a full no-trade clause in Miles Mikolas, who was given a three-year, almost $56 million extension, despite having another year of team control at the time, that ends after this season.

Mikolas was a great reclamation piece for a couple seasons since returning from a stint in Japan but has been league-average or worse for the majority of his stay in St. Louis. After claiming that weak contact was the cause of his poor numbers, the past two seasons have taken that argument off the table, as he has allowed 43 homers and 297 hits over his last 268.2 innings since the start of 2024. He was viewed as an innings eater, but he is barely averaging more than five innings per start and is 15-18 with a 5.29 ERA over that span. Mikolas waiving his trade protection was likely not even a major concern, as the interest around the league is probably nonexistent as he finishes out his near-$18 million salary this year.

The team will have some tough decisions to make in the next week-plus, but some of the moves they can make appear to be easy on the surface. As the Cardinals weigh whom to deal before the trade deadline, Gray and Mikolas will be remaining in St. Louis.