Ken Rosenthal Shares Strong Take on Cardinals Trade Deadline Outlook

The St. Louis Cardinals have had a surprisingly good season to date. They finished the first half 50-45 and just one game back in the National League wild card race. This season was meant to be a rebuilding year for a team that usually prides itself on contending, but the Cardinals are firmly in the postseason race.

This may lead to Chaim Bloom having to make some tough calls at the trade deadline in the coming weeks. The deadline falls on August 3 this year, and the Cardinals still find themselves in the mix.

With the Cardinals in the thick of it, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic shared his take on what could happen for them at the deadline.

"The Cardinals are one game out in the wild card race in the National League. They're five games over .500," Rosenthal said. "I don't know that they have enough pitching to one, make the playoffs and two, win a playoff series, but it's not as if they can sell here. They need to at least try to supplement what they have."

The Cardinals don’t have enough for a playoff push but are going to go for it pic.twitter.com/XIJAyDlTqc
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) July 16, 2026

What will the Cardinals do?

The Cardinals normally wouldn't be a seller under these circumstances, and they may not end up doing that at the deadline. However, it's important to remember that they are in the middle of a rebuild.

Perhaps their success will help them speed along the process and get back into contention next year depending on the potential lockout. However, it's tough to see the Cardinals actually deciding to go for it this year.

They still need to supplement the farm system, and they have several players that can be considered trade chips, including three pitchers that are on expiring contracts: Dustin May, JoJo Romero and Ryne Stanek.

Even though they are in the thick of the race, they have started to slide a little bit, and one bad week could take them out of contention. Regardless of that though, it makes more sense for them to sell rather than buy simply because Bloom has said that he doesn't want to sacrifice the future for short-term fixes.

The Cardinals have a good plan in place, and the best course of action would be to stick with it and not deviate from it. The Cardinals have overachieved to this point, but the plan must be their priority, and changing course would not be a good idea for the organization after several years of missteps from John Mozeliak.

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