Cardinals Untouchables With Trade Deadline Coming Fast

The St. Louis Cardinals are building something great down in the minor leagues right now.

St. Louis' farm system has been trending up over the last two years, thanks in large part to selecting JJ Wetherholt in the first round of the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft. He was unsurprisingly the Cardinals' No. 1 overall prospect before making his big league debut this season. Right now, young catcher Rainiel Rodriguez is the Cardinals' No. 1 overall prospect with flamethrower Liam Doyle at No. 2 and outfielder Joshua Báez at No. 3.

When Chaim Bloom took over as the club's president of baseball operations before the 2026 season, he immediately got to work and traded Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras to bring prospects back to town, headlined by No. 6 prospect Brandon Clarke, No. 8 prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje, and No. 9 prospect Yhoiker Fajardo. St. Louis entered the season with the second-best farm system in baseball, per Baseball America.

The Cardinals Should Stay Patient

St. Louis Cardinals executive Chaim Bloom — Aug 28, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Chaim Bloom, Chief Baseball Officer of the Boston Red Sox on the field before the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

The Cardinals have the second-youngest roster in the majors and one of the best farm systems in baseball and they still have been very solid this season. If the Cardinals stay patient and continue to let the young guys develop and add more firepower to the farm system, this team is going to contend in the near future. Frankly, every top prospect should be off limits this summer before the trade deadline, unless a star is coming back to town. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel specifically pointed to Rodriguez and Doyle as the club's most untouchable prospects.

"Their untouchables: I don't think Chaim Bloom, president of baseball operations, wants to move top prospects, but C Rainiel Rodriguez and Doyle might be the only two he wouldn't want to discuss even in big concepts," McDaniel wrote.

McDaniel surprisingly mentioned Báez as someone to deal if they are looking to make a splash, but that shouldn't be the case. This is year No. 1 under Bloom. If the Cardinals go out and trade from the top of the farm system, it would be more of the same.

Unless some sort of star would be coming to town with years of control, the Cardinals should stay patient. Rodriguez and Doyle absolutely should be untouchable. But that should be the case for Báez and the rest of the top handful of prospects for the club too.

St. Louis has taken a big step forward this season. That is true. But they're going to be even better over the next year or two if they stay the course.

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