The St. Louis Cardinals lost four straight coming into Sunday’s series finale against the Marlins. It’s too early for full-blown panic — St. Louis is still four games above .500 and in the thick of the NL Wild Card hunt — but the warning signs are difficult to ignore. This is a St. Louis team with a very beatable rotation and a top-heavy, largely inexperienced lineup.
If the Cardinals continue their downward spiral, we know Chaim Bloom won’t hesitate to kick the can down the road. It’s what he is best at. St. Louis already cashed in on a number of veterans last offseason in an effort to rebuild. Barring a turnaround, these Cardinals could join the exit procession.
RHP Dustin May
As we all expected, the Cardinals’ best pitcher this season is… Dustin May? Inked to a one-year, $12 million contract in free agency, the longtime struggle bus patron has turned it around in St. Louis. The surface-level numbers aren’t great (4.30 ERA), but May hit the Padres with a complete game, one-hit shutout a couple weeks ago. His expected ERA (3.69) points to bad luck, which should turn in his favor down the stretch.
The Cardinals basically reinvented May’s approach, deprioritizing his sweeper in favor of his fastball, which is more potent than ever. In fact, the turnaround has already begun. May has a 3.57 ERA and 2.62 FIP across four starts in the month of June, with 26 strikeouts in 22.2 innings.
Every contender needs quality rotation depth. No team is going to view May as their 1A, but if he can handle pitch high-leverage innings in October and help a team buffer against injuries, that’s a win. For St. Louis, this is a chance to spin a low-stakes offseason signing into real value at the farm level.
RHP Riley O’Brien
The whole “Is Riley O’Brien secretly better than Mason Miller?” debate died out fairly quickly and predictably. He’s fine. He probably shouldn’t pitch in high-leverage spots on a contender, but he has done a serviceable job as St. Louis’ closer, with troubling lows but extremely high highs.
O’Brien already has 19 saves on the season (by far a career high), with a 4.05 ERA and 3.44 FIP through 33.1 innings. There is no more universal need for trade deadline buyers than quality relievers. O’Brien, at 31 years old, is still in the early stages of arbitration, under team control through 2030. That extended window of control could spike his value, even if he’s not producing at an elite level.
Bullpen arms clearly aren’t a dime a dozen — thus the frenzied push to acquire them around the league every August — but they are more expendable than other positions, especially for a team keeping the longview in mind. If the Cardinals fall out of contention and are able to flip a late-blooming, lower-ceiling reliever like O’Brien for meaningful prospect capital, Bloom has to consider it.
RHP Andre Pallante
Andre Pallante also has a credible claim to the “Best Pitcher” mantle in St. Louis this season. The 27-year-old has rebounded nicely from a down 2025 campaign, with a 3.83 ERA and 1.23 WHIP across 16 starts and 89.1 innings.
Pallante is by no means an ace, but he does offer the allure of stability as a fourth or fifth starter. He has produced a groundball rate in the 93rd percentile this season. His fastball is vulnerable when it creeps up in the zone, but his sinker does its job and opponents hit .190 with a 31.6 percent whiff rate against his slider. Pallante’s off-speed stuff has always been his superpower; his splitter is hard to get to and the knuckle curve puts hitters on their back feet.
He’s durable (162.2 innings pitched last season, despite his struggles) and he should look extra effective in front of an elite defense, if a team like the Cubs were to come knocking. Under club control through 2028, Pallante should net the Cardinals a decent haul if he’s put on the block. He would also clear a spot for the next wave of St. Louis farmhands, with Liam Doyle, Jurrangelo Cijntje and Tekoah Roby among those trending toward 2027 debuts.
OF Lars Nootbaar
Lars Nootbaar is on an absolute heater since his return from injury, with a whole lot of red on his Baseball Savant page and a sterling .903 OPS. It it sustainable? Probably not at this level, but the 28-year-old’s value could be peaking at the right time. Nootbaar is a longtime fan favorite with an extremely positive reputation across the league. He also has an extra year left on his contract.
There would be a bittersweet quality to trading Nootbaar, but the Cardinals are beginning to welcome the next generation en masse. Joshua Baez, St. Louis’ No. 3 prospect at MLB Pipeline, should debut before the year is out.
A lot of contenders need extra thump in the outfield. Nootbaar, on balance, is a very solid defender in the corner outfield. His age and contract situation means St. Louis could wait until the offseason to consider alternatives, but in reality, now is the time to cash in — especially if the Cardinals don’t like their chances in the postseason race.
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