Cardinals-Yankees Reportedly Held Pre-Deadline Blockbuster Trade Talks

The St. Louis Cardinals traded away one of the better closers in baseball ahead of the 2025 Major League Baseball trade deadline.

St. Louis traded Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets after spending the first six-plus seasons of his career with the Cardinals. At the time of the trade, Helsley had a 3.00 ERA in 36 appearances with the Cardinals and 21 saves. He is the reigning Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award winner but has struggled with the Mets. Helsley has appeared in 21 games with the Mets and has a 7.58 ERA and 21-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 19 innings pitched.

Clearly, the Cardinals made the right move. They were able to move Helsley before his struggles really hit in the second half of the season.

Now, Helsley is going to head to free agency this upcoming offseason and his situation is completely different than it was heading into the 2025 season.

The New York Yankees were interested in Ryan Helsley

Apr 7, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; New York Yankees baseball hats and gloves in the dugout out in the eighth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images | David Reginek-Imagn Images

It will be interesting to see if teams bet on the massive upside that he has, or looks at this stretch with the Mets as a negative sign. Around the trade deadline, there was more interest in Helsley than just the Mets. On Saturday, Andy Martino of SNY reported that the New York Yankees were another team that showed interest in Helsley.

"On the day before the deadline, the Mets gave the Yankees a scare by paying more than the Yankees were willing for Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley," Martino said. "The Yanks had spoken to the Giants and Cardinals, respectively, about those players, and were not comfortable with the prices. Once the Mets went there, the Yankees thought that bullpen help might not be attainable this year. But on deadline day itself, prices became more reasonable.

"The Yankees were able to acquire closer David Bednar (a home run), Camilo Doval (a project with upside) and Jake Bird (since optioned to Triple-A), in addition to McMahon and bench pieces Jose Cabellero, Amed Rosario and Austin Slater. Not all of these players have helped, but taken together, those lifted the team’s floor."

At the end of the day, the Cardinals got a solid return for the two-time All-Star at the perfect time.

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