The St. Louis Cardinals have made two key trades as part of their trade deadline sale. On Wednesday, they sent Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets and traded Steven Matz to the Boston Red Sox.
There is one player left on an expiring contract that has not been traded yet. Phil Maton was the team's lone free agent signing last offseason, and he is likely next in line.
The Cardinals have received interest in other players such as Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar and Alec Burleson, but don't appear inclined to trade any of their position players, per Katie Woo of The Athletic.
In fact, according to Woo, Maton is expected to be the last trade they make. Once that trade is done, St. Louis will likely not be making any more moves.
"Phil Maton is expected to be the final trade for the Cardinals. Teams have inquired about Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson and Lars Nootbaar to varying degrees, but St. Louis has "not entertained that up to this point" according to a team source. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak said twice in July that if the Cardinals sold, it would likely be limited to players on expiring deals — similar to how the organization operated when it last did so in 2023. Ryan Helsley, Steven Matz and Maton are all pending free agents," Woo wrote on Thursday.
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Maton is 1-3 with a 2.35 ERA in 40 appearances with the Cardinals in 2025. The team gave him a one-year, $2 million contract last offseason.
Maton could bring back a solid haul, similar to what the San Francisco Giants received for Tyler Rogers. St. Louis has a lot of injuries at Triple-A Memphis on the pitching side, and adding enough pitchers to get through the next two years will be important.
It appears that St. Louis will enter a rebuild this coming offseason. There likely won't be any major additions.
However, even if Maton brings back a good haul, it might be smart for them to consider trading JoJo Romero to a contender, as his value is currently high thanks to an extra year of team control.
It will be interesting to see what St. Louis does in the next few hours.
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