Cardinals May Have Lost Potential Trade Chip This Week

This reliever may have lost some value.

Apr 24, 2022; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; A view of St. Louis Cardinals players hats and gloves in the dugout during a game with the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-Imagn Images | David Kohl-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals just lost a series to the Texas Rangers and will hope to avoid being swept on Wednesday. After tying the game late on Tuesday night, the Cardinals faltered in the top of the ninth inning and lost 7-4, dropping to third place in the National League Central.

Back in April, David Schoenfield of ESPN listed closer Riley O'Brien as somebody who could be a trade candidate for St. Louis, assuming that they sell at the deadline rather than buy or hold pat. However, he was the one that gave up the three runs in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, which could potentially hurt his value and force him off the list of trade candidates for St. Louis.

Cardinals May Have Lost a Trade Candidate

May 29, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Riley O'Brien (61) pitches against the Chicago Cubs during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

At the time of Schoenfield's article, O'Brien had been pitching well and was even rivaling Mason Miller. Now, the 31-year-old right-hander owns a 4.10 ERA on the season, and the Cardinals are struggling.

O'Brien has four years of club control remaining, which made him an interesting candidate when he was on his hot stretch. He could have potentially brought back a strong haul of prospects. While he could turn things around and allow that to happen for the Cardinals, his recent struggles cannot be ignored.

Relievers are volatile as it is, but if the Cardinals were thinking about trading O'Brien, they certainly now have less of a chance of trading him. That leaves the most obvious trade candidates as Dustin May and JoJo Romero, both of whom are on expiring contracts. That is often the approach teams take when they sell at the trade deadline.

But it might be a little bit harder to move O'Brien now that he is struggling, which could pose a problem for the Cardinals. They need pitching depth in their system, and if O'Brien was still dominating, they could have had him as a trade candidate and possibly brought back a haul of prospects for him.

However, he hasn't been himself in quite some time, and his ERA can't be ignored. It will be interesting to see what happens with him at the trade deadline, but as of now, it looks like the Cardinals are going to be stuck with him and unable to move him for the right price.

That leaves May and Romero as the obvious rental trade candidates. They could still bring back solid returns, however.