Cardinals Trade Deadline Firesale Is Just Beginning: Insider

The St. Louis Cardinals had a wild week.

The 2025 Major League Baseball trade deadline passed on July 31st and it was a clear sign of the club’s plans moving forward.

Last offseason, it seemed like trades were coming, but the Cardinals surprised and stayed the course for the most part despite discussing a “reset.” 

Earlier in the season, it seemed like the Cardinals could push off some of those tough decisions to the offseason. The Cardinals did push off a few of the questions, but also did sell off. The Cardinals traded Ryan Helsley, Steven Matz, and Phil Maton away. 

The Cardinals made it clear that the time is now to transition into the future. With Nolan Arenado on the Injured List, it’s another opportunity for some young guys to get a look as well. 

St. Louis is building and The Athletic’s Katie Woo noted that the club’s deadline decisions are a clear sign that the team knows they need to fully rebuild.

"To me, this deadline is much different from when the Cardinals sold in 2023," Woo said. "Yes, in 2023, the Cardinals also only traded guys on expiring deals, same as this year. But, what they targeted in 2023 was pitching depth, specifically in the upper minor league system and soon to be major league-ready talent. In 2023, the reason why the front office looked for that specifically in a return was because they wanted to return to contention soon. They wanted to compete in 2024. They thought maybe they could get away one more year of building a team, possibly good enough to contend for a Wild Card spot and maybe get in. They wanted to avoid a rebuild.

"This year, they have seemed to acknowledge that is not going to be possible. They went and they got a ton of High-A guys. Blaze Jordan is the only one in Double-A or above right now...That to me signals...that this is going to be a multi-year transition. The point of the 2025 year was to see how long this reset...would take. The Cardinals seemed resigned to the fact that this is going to be a multi-year project."