The Cardinals could pluck two arms from yet another underperforming Angels team

With fewer than 100 games to go in the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are in the Wild Card lead despite the promise of a rebuild. Chaim Bloom has stayed committed to the long-term plan thus far, but he has also been aggressive with win-now moves within the current roster. That mentality could spill to the trade deadline, as Jeff Passan sees two Angels starters as fits for the Cardinals' rotation.

The Cardinals' rotation has done well in June, but the previous few months were a rollercoaster ride of performances. Outside of Dustin May flirting with history on multiple occasions, the rotation has been inconsistent in both quantity and quality of innings. Most recently, the third time through opponent lineups has given the starters headaches, and Oli Marmol could be looking for an outside solution to the internal problem.

The Cardinals could be fits for Angels starters Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano

Shocking to probably only Angels management, Los Angeles finds themselves in the cellar of the AL West after refusing to accept the reality their franchise is in. Maybe this is the summer they finally bite the bullet and sell off some of their valuable assets, such as starters Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano. If the Cardinals were to acquire even one of these pitchers, that would provide them some stability in a rotation with a lot of question marks in the near-term future.

Both pitchers are under team control through 2028 and enter the arbitration process this offseason. That could cause the Angels to pivot, cashing in on those arms before having to dip into the pocketbooks for another questionable season in California. With spots in the rotation on potentially rocky ground, the lefty Detmers or the breakout Soriano could both be had, but likely at a high prospect cost.

In Jeff Passan's top 2026 trade candidates article, the Cardinals were mentioned multiple times but not as sellers. In the 25 players mentioned, St. Louis was seen as a fit for nine of them in a variety of moves, ranging from win now to buying a future superstar to build around. For the Angels starters, beyond upgrading the rotation, even one of them could help to bolster the Cardinal bullpen by bumping a current starter out of the starting five. The likeliest candidate would be Kyle Leahy, who thrived out of the bullpen last year and had some struggles as a starter this year.

If the Cardinals had to choose between the two, Soriano would come at a higher cost because of his high-powered fastball and ability to stay healthy. The right-hander has a fastball that sits in the upper-90s that he pairs with a solid curveball and a nice splitter, an offering that was rumored to make the Cardinal rotation but has not been seen often at all. Soriano struggles with walks but has been able to limit the damage so far this season as he has a 2.79 ERA through 15 starts. The expected numbers paint a worse picture for Soriano, but he consistently gives the team a chance to win.

My personal choice would be for the Cardinals to go for Detmers even though he comes with durability concerns. After a move to the bullpen in 2025, the southpaw came back to the Angels rotation this year and has started to reach the level that made him the organization's top prospect in the early 2020s. Detmers has been on my radar for a while, and if he becomes available, the Cardinals should check in to see his price. His command has been the best of his career, and he is striking out well over a batter an inning with his four-pitch mix centered around his fastball and slider.

While other trades surrounding win-now moves have been rumored for the Cardinals, Chaim Bloom acquiring either of these arms could accomplish both a buy and sell deadline strategy. Both arms are likely to be connected to multiple contenders around the league, which could drive the price out of the Cardinals' range. If Bloom could figure out a way to deal from positions of depth and acquire a controllable top-three rotation arm, that could set the Cardinals up to see success sooner than later.

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