The St. Louis Cardinals are stuck in a tough spot as the trade deadline approaches. They’re still very much in the playoff mix—only 6.5 games behind the division-leading Cubs and just 1.5 games out of the final Wild Card position. But the season began with the expectation that the transition from John Mozeliak to Chaim Bloom would lead to selling off players not seen as part of the team’s long-term future. Now, with all of that in play, the Cardinals are facing a difficult and self-inflicted dilemma involving their star closer, Ryan Helsley.
Mozeliak had chances to trade Helsley last season or during the offseason, ahead of his final year before free agency in 2025. But for various reasons, he held onto him—and now that decision may come back to haunt the team, as one of their top trade chips has lost some of its potential value.
There’s still a path to dealing Helsley, and several insiders believe he could bring back a solid package of prospects, especially given how in-demand relievers are. Still, considering the Cardinals’ current situation, it’s hard to imagine them coming out of this feeling like they’ve truly come out ahead.
Cardinals can only blame themselves for Ryan Helsley trade disaster
Even though relievers are always in demand, teams looking to buy aren’t likely to give up much for a rental player they could lose in free agency after just a few months. That alone makes things tricky for the Cardinals. If they decide to keep Ryan Helsley and he walks in free agency, the draft pick they’d get in return might not be much different in value from the prospect they could land in a trade.
So you might think the smart move is to hold onto Helsley and take the draft compensation later. That could actually be the most logical choice—but it’s not that simple. First, Helsley hasn’t been quite as sharp this year. His 3.27 ERA, 3.84 FIP, and 1.424 WHIP would be the highest of his career, signaling he’s not been the shutdown closer Cardinals fans have been used to over the past few seasons.
Second, the true value of having a top closer is tied to being in playoff contention. While the Cardinals aren’t completely out of the race, they’re currently on the outside looking in. Some might even say they’ve overachieved to this point. So if the team fades out of the playoff picture and still hangs onto Helsley, the optics won’t be great.
Ideally, the Cardinals could go back in time and convince John Mozeliak to trade Helsley at last year’s deadline—because that’s probably when the return would’ve been best.
But since time travel isn’t an option, the Cardinals are in a tough spot. Unless they get lucky and find a team desperate enough to overpay, or they make a deep playoff push, any decision they make regarding Helsley is going to draw criticism. And that’s a tough position for any team to be in.