Cardinals May Have to Wait a While on Dustin May Trade

The St. Louis Cardinals are coming apart at the seams, which indicates that they will be sellers by Monday's trade deadline. There are only a few days remaining until it arrives, and the Cardinals have a couple of clear trade chips.

One of them is right-hander Dustin May, who pitched five scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night in what is likely to be his last start in St. Louis. He's on an expiring deal, so he makes sense as a trade candidate.

However, his market may depend on that of Tarik Skubal's, and according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, there hasn't been much movement there, which means St. Louis may have to wait a while longer to deal him.

The Detroit Tigers have yet to seriously engage with teams in trade talks for Tarik Skubal, according to executives from rival teams who have interest in the two-time Cy Young winner.
That is expected to change by Sunday, but as of Saturday morning, no offers have been exchanged.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 1, 2026

Cardinals May Have to Wait on Dustin May Trade

If there is no movement in Skubal's market and he ultimately stays in Detroit, perhaps this could lead to May remaining in St. Louis past the deadline. Skubal's market seems to be connected to the rest of the starters that are available this summer.

Keeping May would not be the worst thing for St. Louis, as he does have a mutual option for 2027 and has stated that he wants to remain a Cardinal if possible. The Cardinals can also still move other trade chips such as Lars Nootbaar, Ryne Stanek, JoJo Romero and potentially even Riley O'Brien.

So, if May stays, it doesn't completely derail Chaim Bloom's deadline plans, but the Cardinals would benefit from the opportunity to capitalize on his value while they still can. May is 5-7 with a 4.38 ERA in 21 starts this season. He has recorded 106 strikeouts over 109 innings of work.

There is still value in his arm, and the Cardinals could get a decent haul for him if they do ship him out. But it seems like a lot currently depends on what the market looks like for Skubal. If the Tigers have yet to seriously engage with teams, then perhaps the market is going to stall for pitchers such as May as well.

The Cardinals are somehow just three games back of the third wild card spot, but trading May makes sense based on the way they played in the month of July and the fact that they are now below .500 with two months remaining on the schedule.

We'll see where May's market goes in the coming days.

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