Cardinals Tried To Bring $60 Million Slugger To St. Louis: Report

The St. Louis Cardinals look like a team about to sell, but that wasn’t always the case.

At this point last season, the Cardinals were buying and it seemed like that would be the case again a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the Cardinals have struggled in the second half of the season.

Right now, pretty much everything you’re going to see is about who the Cardinals could trade away. But, there was a time things were different. In fact, Derrick Good of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed that the club pursued Athletics All-Star slugger Brent Rooker last year.

"At this trade deadline -- or just in general? At this deadline, that does not appear to be a goal, unless they seek the potential of one in return for a pitcher, and that would be a longer-range acquisition," Goold said. "In general, they like the chances of (Iván Herrera) qualifying as that kind of hitter. They obviously are still investing the time in seeing if Jordan Walker will be.

"There are fewer and fewer of those types of hitters available via trade and they're pricey on the open market. At one point a year or so ago it sure seemed like Brent Rooker would be the answer for the Cardinals via trade, but that never developed because he signed an extension to stay an A and the Cardinals pivoted away from that approach that worked for them in the past."

Now, this is interesting. Rooker signed a five-year, $60 million deal to stick around with the Athletics. Last year, there was plenty of buzz about Rooker ahead of the trade deadline. He finished the 2024 season slashing .293/.365/.562 with 39 homers and 112 RBIs. This year, he earned his second All-Star nod and is slashing .272/.347/.492 with 21 homers and 58 RBIs in 109 games played.

Getting that type of production certainly would've helped the Cardinals out. Unfortunately, a deal didn't get done.