St. Louis Cardinals should approach the 2025 trade deadline using this strategy

2025 has been a very fun season for the young and hungry St. Louis Cardinals. But if memory recalls, this team was not projected to have fun this season. In what was marketed as a retool season for the roster, the team gave the runway to young players to play every day to develop here in St Louis instead of shuffling around in the system. But the "youngry" Redbirds proved that they were slept on and disrespected, and now in June, the Cardinals find themselves in the Wild Card hunt. So, given that the team is aiming towards the future but showcasing a winning product in 2025, how do they approach the deadline? The answer is combining the strategies used in 2023 and 2024.

2023 trade deadline

Everyone remembers the nightmare season. Even with the disdain it brought to fans and the organization, it was a major learning moment within all of Cardinals history. This season was the cumulation of Mozeliak's expiration as the POBO and eventually led to him announcing 2025 being his last season.One thing to give credit to Mozeliak for is how he handled the trade deadline being a first-time seller. Waiving the white flag on the season in July is very rare air in St. Louis, but Mozeliak held conviction and announced it to the baseball world. He understood that this team was not coming back from this and he needed to shift his focus into improving the future product on the field. With expiring contracts able to be dealt, Mozeliak got busy with his fire sale.

Paul DeJong, Jordan Hicks, Jack Flaherty, and Jordan Montgomery were all traded with the main focus to resupply the farm system with potential. Two years later, it looks like Mozeliak accomplished just that. Notable names acquired in these trades were Tekoah Roby, Thomas Saggese, and Matt Svanson. Roby, who was recently promoted to Memphis, looks to be a potential front-line starter in St. Louis. Saggese has been a fan favorite when playing in St. Louis, and fans want him called up. Svanson has been shifted around Memphis and St. Louis but looks to be an effective reliever for the bullpen going forward.

The Cardinals can accomplish this yet again in 2025. They have several potential trade pieces that they can deal to get prospect overhauls. All-Star closer Ryan Helsley is the most notable name who would bring back the biggest package of any trade asset in the recent decade. With every contending team looking to acquire a highly effective back-end bullpen arm at the deadline, Helsley will be a very hot commodity. Pitching remains the theme, as the veterans of the team make up the pitching staff. Steven Matz and Erick Fedde could also be potentially shopped at the deadline. Matz will be viewed as a hybrid pitcher where he can be used as a starter or reliever, given the perspective of a contending team and what their bigger desired need is.

Regardless, anytime a pitcher displays the talent to be effective in both roles, that will garner attention from teams who are aggressive to reach October. Fedde will provide much value in return, given that he is still a highly effective starter. Knowing we dealt Tommy Edman to acquire him still hurts, but let's not act like Fedde is not a reliable starter every fifth day. He has posted a 1.3 WAR with a 3.65 ERA and 1.278 WHIP over 79 IP in 2025. He was acquired on a cheap contract, which already gives the Cardinals the return on their investment, and will only increase their equity when a contending team will deal 2-3 young prospects to acquire him.

2024 trade deadline

The Cardinals found themselves on the bounce-back in 2024. The team had a winning record heading into the trade deadline and were in close enough contention for the Wild Card to buy in July. In order to do so, they continued their trend to sell off an expiring contract to supplement the roster. In arguably the biggest trade made, the Cardinals made a major change to help their playoff push. Longtime Cardinal and fan favorite Tommy Edman was traded to the Dodgers in a three-team swap that landed the Cardinals starting pitcher Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham from the White Sox. Edman at the time was battling a lingering wrist injury and had little to no hope to return in a contributing way for the Cardinals.

They decided to patch the weakness in the rotation with Fedde and add a right-handed bat to platoon the outfield to help with balancing the lineup match-ups. The trade ended up not helping the Cardinals, as the team failed to make the postseason and ended up releasing Pham weeks later. Edman would find his way back into regular playing time with the Dodgers and ended up becoming a postseason hero for them in their 2024 World Series run. Many fans are still upset about the overall results of this trade, but business is business.

With this deadline outlook, how can the Cardinals replicate this strategy for 2025? The quickest answer, which was mentioned prior, is trading All-Star closer Ryan Helsley. He has the most value of any asset on the roster and is in his walk year. The time has never been better to deal Helsley, especially with contending teams desperate to add a high-leverage reliever to carry them through the postseason. The Cardinals can use Helsley similarly to the Edman deal, where they get MLB pieces in return to supplement their 2025 team to continue to compete. Or they can receive prospect capital aiming towards the future, which is the organization's main focus. Another route would be finding a deal for Nolan Arenado.

After several attempts to deal him fell through, they can reattempt negotiations with teams looking to add a future Hall of Fame third baseman. After seeing the results of the Rafael Devers trade, the return might not be as strong as it could've been during this past offseason. Freeing up third base for young players to continue developing and shedding the remaining contract for Arenado would be a positive outlook for the team going forward. Even if the return ends up being several lower-tier minor league prospects, they can still develop within the Cardinals system with the chance to contribute over a longer period of time.

2025 approach

By combining the deadline approach from 2023 and 2024, the Cardinals can use two different strategies that become a win/win scenario for the front office and for fans. The organization can move on from veteran players who are not going to be a part of the future core, and can in return receive young cost-prospects who will develop and become contributors to the next core. Fans can also expect that the players moved will bring back supplemental pieces for the current team that can keep pushing the win column forward heading into October.

Neither strategy will be franchise-altering moves in either direction. But it is momentum towards improving both facets that still allows the current roster to be provided playing time and prove themselves in the platform season. Waiving the white flag is never an ideal situation for any team, and the Cardinals learned the negative outcomes from this after 2023. Remaining competitive in 2025 while also aiming towards improving the future can be achievable with the current assets on the roster. With the theme being to let the young guys play, there might not be much activity from the Cardinals at the deadline. But Mozeliak is encouraged by the recent team success to put himself in a tough spot to make some decisions. The organization wants this, fans want this, and any baseball fan wants the historic franchise to return to its normal identity.

Given this takes much work to accomplish, will it be mostly John Mozeliak making the decisions? In his final season as President of Baseball Operations, it has been indicated that he is fully in charge of baseball decisions for the 2025 season. But any moves that impact the future of the franchise will need some sort of handling from Chaim Bloom, as it will be his roster to work with going forward. The dynamic between the present and the future will be interesting to see if the Cardinals remain competitive heading into the trade deadline. It could become a very creative working space between the two executives that the team is not familiar with. It could also become a very disgruntled situation where the two become frustrated with each other over processes and decisions made. Very little is known about the current working dynamic between the two, but this point in the season will be the true test between their ideologies.

Either way, standing idle in this current market would be foolish from a baseball operations perspective. If they decide to go the 2023 route, they can accomplish building towards the future with Chaim Bloom. If they decide to go the 2024 route, they can accomplish winning in 2025 with John Mozeliak. Or they can combine both to overall improve the current health of the organization.