Cardinals Quietly Landed Intriguing Hurler From Mets Farm System Prior To Opening Day

The St. Louis Cardinals completed an under-the-radar low-level trade with the New York Mets on Tuesday to bolster their farm system before beginning their 2025 season.

After missing the playoffs for a second consecutive year in 2024, St. Louis dedicated its future plans to rebuilding the franchise's broken player development system, which Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak's successor, Chaim Bloom, has already begun doing.

In a move that was likely influenced by Bloom's guidance, the Cardinals landed a former Mets right-handed pitcher who could have tremendous upside.

"The Mets traded (Sean) Harney to the Cardinals in exchange for cash considerations Tuesday," CBS Sports' RotoWire Staff wrote Thursday shortly before St. Louis' 2025 Opening Day matchup against the American League Central-rival Minnesota Twins. "Harney joined the Mets organization in December after being traded from the (Tampa Bay) Rays. It was believed that he could begin 2025 in Triple-A Syracuse for the Mets, but the Cardinals assigned him to Double-A Springfield following the trade."

Harney was selected by the Rays in the eighth round of the 2022 draft and pitched in their farm system for 2 1/2 seasons -- climbed his way up the ladder to Double-A Montgomery but never reached Triple-A.

The 26-year-old RHP logged a respectable 7-1 record with a 3.90 ERA, 124-to-44 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .231 batting average against and a 1.18 WHIP in 124 2/3 innings pitched throughout his time in Tampa Bay's minor-league system.

Although Harney doesn't have a large sample size to defend his worth, he's shown enough in the minors to solidify himself as a project worth pursuing, especially for the Cardinals, who recently committed to heavily focusing on improving their player development system.

It could be a while before Harney earns his big-league debut but hopefully, being traded to the Cardinals will someday prove to be a blessing in disguise for the Boston native and St. Louis.