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Willson Contreras’ Suspension Reduced To Four Games

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Willson Contreras’ suspension was reduced to four games on appeal, writes Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Cardinals first baseman had initially been hit with a six-game ban for his outburst towards umpire Derek Thomas after he was ejected from a game against the Pirates on August 25.

Contreras will need to begin serving the suspension tonight. He’ll miss this weekend’s series against the Giants and Monday’s opener in Seattle. The Cardinals are 5.5 games back in the Wild Card race. San Francisco has pulled within four games of a playoff spot after winning nine of their last 10. The Mariners are clinging to postseason position in the American League. These have the potential to be important games.

Nolan Gorman moves across the diamond from third base tonight against Giants’ righty Carson Seymour. The Cards kicked Thomas Saggese from second to third base. José Fermín draws into the lineup at the keystone as the #9 hitter. Contreras was suspended for an on-field violation, which means the Cardinals cannot replace him. They’ll play the next four games with a four-man bench while their opponents have a fifth position player with the expanded roster.

St. Louis made one additional move today. Catcher Yohel Pozo returns from the seven-day concussion list, so the Cards optioned rookie infielder César Prieto back to Triple-A Memphis. The Cardinals now have three catchers with Pozo returning to join Pedro Pages and rookie Jimmy Crooks. That might only be the arrangement through the weekend. Katie Woo of The Athletic notes that outfielder Alec Burleson is expected to be activated from the injured list when first eligible on Monday.

Is Jordan Walker Still A Core Player In St. Louis?

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The Cardinals have maintained this season is primarily about evaluating young players. It felt like a potential make-or-break year for Jordan Walker, in particular. Walker was viewed as an impact bat when he was a prospect. He impressed with a .276/.342/.445 showing with 16 homers as a 21-year-old rookie.

That promising debut feels like an increasingly distant memory. Walker regressed to a .201/.253/.366 line in 51 major league games last year. He spent a good portion of the season in Triple-A, where he was an average hitter. The Cards maintained that Walker would play every day in the majors this year. That’d give them more clarity on whether he projects as a core piece as John Mozeliak turns over baseball operations to Chaim Bloom going into 2026.

The audition has not gone well. Walker has battled a couple health issues. He missed a few weeks in early June with wrist inflammation, then lost around three weeks in the middle of the summer to appendicitis. He has been unproductive when healthy. Walker has managed just five home runs across 331 plate appearances. He’s batting .218/.272/.309 while striking out at a career-high 31.7% clip.

There are 249 hitters who have taken at least 300 trips to the plate. Walker is among the bottom ten in both on-base percentage and slugging. Most of the players with similarly poor numbers at least have defensive value to fall back upon. Walker is already in a corner outfield spot and grades as a well below-average right fielder. He hasn’t shown any sustained signs of figuring things out offensively. Walker carries a .229/.279/.328 line with poor strikeout and walk numbers in 37 games since his second injured list stint.

The Cardinals have continued playing him regularly, as they said they would coming into the season. That probably won’t carry into 2026 if Walker doesn’t make significant improvements. Hitting coach Brant Brown and manager Oli Marmol each had a blunt assessment of the 23-year-old on Tuesday.

“At some point in time, he’s going to have to devote more focus on preparation,” Brown told Bernie Miklasz of KMOX when asked what it’ll take for Walker to be more consistent (around 10:30 mark). “We’ve had long conversations with this. It’s not only looking at film on the (opposing) starter but also being able to come in on the first day of a series and taking a look at all the bullpen guys. All the information and video is available. Just so we’re not getting snuck up on when a guy comes in.” Brown then spoke more generally about the offense and suggested some hitters have had a tendency to press, especially when they’re going through slumps, and become overly focused on targeting specific pitches.

After Brown’s comments, Marmol spoke with Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I need to see Jordan have a sense of urgency for the things that need to take place in order to give him consistent results,” the skipper said in response to a question about the team’s short-term hope. “That goes with his move toward the ball, his preparation in the cage but also his approach in a game. … You have to start to see progress. It think it’s important as you are evaluating the next month, you need to start to see progress and consistency.”

Walker addressed Marmol’s comments yesterday. He said he “(doesn’t) quite understand the urgency part” of the manager’s statement (link via Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat). Walker pointed to his best stretch of the season, when he hit .304 with a .373 on-base percentage in the first two weeks out of the All-Star Break. He said he felt comfortable with his approach during that run and was working with Brown to get back to that feel.

The coaches maintained they believe Walker can have a bright future. “There’s a combination of talent but also I do feel there’s going to be buy-in. There’s a level of aptitude there that’ll allow for it,” Marmol told KMOX. “He’s young. … Walker did have a little bit of success when he first came up here. Once they know how to pitch you, they just double down on that until you prove that you can combat it. He hasn’t shown the ability to do that yet.

There’s enough talent there that I’m nowhere close to giving up on Jordan Walker,” Marmol continued. “There are adjustments to be made. There’s a commitment to the pregame work that can get to a better level, and Brownie spoke to that earlier. … I feel like he has an opportunity to make these adjustments and be the type of player that we were hoping for when he first got up here.”

That may well be the case, but the Cardinals will be hard-pressed to commit to Walker as an everyday player if they more seriously hope to compete for a playoff spot in 2026. Bloom was not part of the front office when Walker was drafted or developed into a top prospect. It’s not clear how bullish he is on the player.

Walker still has a minor league option remaining, so the Cards could send him back to Triple-A Memphis next season. That’d buy them another development season but runs the risk of completely tanking his trade value if he doesn’t improve. There’d surely be teams willing to take a flier on Walker this offseason if the Cardinals wanted to move on in a sell-low trade. They’ll face a similar question on third baseman/second baseman Nolan Gorman, who has been better than Walker but a league average hitter overall.

St. Louis also has an increasingly crowded corner outfield. Lars Nootbaar remains a solid everyday left fielder. Alec Burleson, who is currently sidelined by a wrist issue, has a career-best .286/.337/.451 slash. Brown raved about Burleson’s improved approach. Iván Herrera has been one of the team’s top hitters. The Cardinals haven’t played him at catcher in two months, pushing him mostly to designated hitter with occasional left field work. That probably points to Walker beginning next season in Triple-A (if everyone’s healthy out of camp) unless the Cardinals trade someone over the offseason.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images.

Cardinals To Promote Jimmy Crooks

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12:41pm: Pozo is indeed being placed on the 7-day concussion list, per Woo.

12:13pm: The Cardinals are promoting catcher Jimmy Crooks and infielder César Prieto, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Prieto news was reported yesterday. The Cardinals have two 40-man openings and won’t need to make corresponding moves to select either player’s contract from Triple-A Memphis. Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that first baseman/outfielder Alec Burleson will be placed on the 10-day injured list as one of the corresponding active roster moves. Goold suggests that catcher Yohel Pozo could also be IL bound after getting struck by a foul ball yesterday.

It’ll be the big league debut for both Crooks and Prieto. Crooks, in particular, holds appeal as one of the organization’s top-ranked prospects. He currently sits sixth at MLB.com and fifth at FanGraphs, where Crooks cracked the back half of their top-100 list.

Crooks, who turned 24 in July, is regarded as a plus defensive catcher, but he’s also posted at least average offensive numbers at every minor league stop he’s made. He’s spent the 2025 season in Triple-A, where he’s batting .274/.337/.441 with 14 home runs. He’s nabbed a strong 29.4% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him with Memphis, and Baseball Prospectus gives him excellent framing grades in his career (though he hasn’t been as sharp in that regard in 2025 specifically).

A fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma back in 2022, Crooks doesn’t have huge power but has reached double-digit homers in every full professional season thus far. His walk rate typically lands around 11%, though that’s down to 8.4% this season. He’s fanned at a 26.5% clip as well, but strikeouts generally haven’t been a major issue for him.

With the Cardinals moving Willson Contreras to first base and Ivan Herrera to the outfield, there’s a clear long-term opportunity for Crooks behind the plate. Pedro Pagés and the aforementioned Pozo have been shouldering the catching workload in St. Louis since Herrera was shifted off the position, but Pagés profiles more as a defensive-minded backup and Pozo is a 28-year-old journeyman who signed a minor league deal last offseason.

The Cardinals entered the year intent on taking a look at some younger players in larger opportunities. Following the position changes for Contreras and Herrera, the final month of the season can serve as a proving grounds for Crooks. One month of playing time isn’t going to decisively answer whether Crooks can handle the role in the long-term, but it’ll give the Cards some additional data to consider when weighing how heavily (if at all) to pursue catching help in the offseason.

Presumably, with Pagés standing as a plus defender who can at least provide modest pop, the Cards feel comfortable with Pagés and Crooks getting the first crack at playing time in 2026. Pozo can be controlled for six more years, won’t be arbitration-eligible this winter and has multiple minor league option years remaining, so the Cards could also keep him around if they’re satisfied with his performance to date.

As for Crooks, he’ll be controllable for at least six full seasons, all the way through 2031. The earliest he’ll be able to qualify for arbitration is in the 2028-29 offseason, although both that timeline and his free agent timetable can be pushed back if he’s optioned in the future.

Cardinals To Select Cesar Prieto

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The Cardinals are calling up César Prieto, reports Francys Romero. They’ll select his contract onto the 40-man roster tomorrow. St. Louis has a pair of openings on the 40-man, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding active roster transaction.

Prieto, a left-handed hitting infielder, gets his first big league opportunity at age 26. He didn’t begin his affiliated career until he was 22 years old. He’s a Cuba native who played four seasons in that nation’s top league before defecting while on an Olympic trip in 2021. He signed a $650K bonus with the Orioles and began his U.S. career with their High-A affiliate a year later.

The O’s traded Prieto to St. Louis as part of a three-player return for Jack Flaherty at the 2023 trade deadline. His prospect stock dropped between 2023-24 as he posted unspectacular numbers at Triple-A. Prieto has performed well in his third season at the top minor league level. He’s batting .295/.359/.448 with nine homers and 11 steals across 449 plate appearances.

Prieto’s calling card is his plus contact ability. He hasn’t struck out in more than 15.2% of his plate appearances at any minor league stop. He has fanned just 13.4% of the time this season. Prieto has a very aggressive offensive approach and often expands the strike zone. He’s not going to take many walks or hit for much power, but the bat-to-ball skills should allow him to hit for average. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs ranked him the #25 prospect in the St. Louis system last month, projecting him as a utility infielder.

The Cardinals have used him at second base, third base and shortstop in the minors. Scouting reports suggest he’s a fringe defender who doesn’t have a huge arm. He probably fits best at the keystone but could see action throughout the infield. He would have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this offseason if the Cards didn’t add him to the 40-man roster. It appears they were planning to select his contract during the winter, so they’ll bring him up a bit ahead of time for his first exposure to big league pitching.

St. Louis is using Thomas Saggese, Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman from right to left on the infield. Winn has played through a sore left knee for much of the second half. He acknowledged earlier this week that he’d probably benefit from rest but said he wanted to remain in the lineup in hope of a long shot playoff berth (relayed by Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat). The Cardinals are 6.5 games back of the Mets with three teams to surpass in the Wild Card race. It’s not yet known if they’ll shut Winn down or simply swap Prieto in for one of Garrett Hampson or José Fermín on the bench.

Willson Contreras Issued Six-Game Suspension

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Major League Baseball has announced that Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras has received a six-game suspension and an undisclosed fine in relation to his behavior during last night’s game. Contreras is appealing the suspension, so he can continue playing with the club until that process has been completed.

Contreras got into an argument with the home plate umpire Derek Thomas during last night’s game, as seen in this clip from MLB.com. After getting ejected, Contreras was obviously furious and had to be held back by his fellow Cardinals. While departing the field, he tossed his bat in the general direction of the umpire, though it hit hitting coach Brant Brown instead.

It’s not surprising that Contreras has been suspended, nor is it a shock that he is appealing. It’s quite common for players to appeal when given a suspension. The calendar also gives him a few reasons to want to avoid serving the penalty right away. For one thing, the Cards are still hanging around the playoff race, just 5.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot in the National League. Appealing the suspension allows him to keep playing as the club tries to stay alive.

Also, rosters expand on September 1st, from 26 to 28. That’s notable in this instance as a team has to play shorthanded when a player is suspended for an on-field infraction such as this. If the suspension were to be served now, the Cards would have to play with a 25-man roster. If it is served in September, then they could play with 27 guys.

The Cards are using Iván Herrera as the designated hitter almost every day, with Contreras at first most of the time. That means Alec Burleson is often in left field, where he’s not a great defender. Whenever Contreras serves his suspension, Burleson could spend more time at first base, which could open more outfield playing time for Nathan Church, José Fermín or Garrett Hampson. It’s also possible that Victor Scott II could be reinstated from the IL when roster expand.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images

Cardinals Place Brendan Donovan On Injured List

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The Cardinals placed Brendan Donovan on the 10-day injured list before tonight’s game against the Marlins. He’s dealing with a left groin strain. The placement is retroactive to August 15, so he’ll be eligible to return in a week. José Fermín is up from Triple-A Memphis to provide infield insurance in the interim.

Donovan has dealt with a seemingly minor groin issue over the past week or so. He was out of the lineup for a couple games two weekends ago. He returned for the early part of last week but sat out the entire series against the Yankees last weekend. IL stints can be backdated by a maximum of three days. Rather than continuing to play shorthanded, the Cards elected to sideline Donovan to get an extra infielder on the roster.

The 28-year-old Donovan is hitting .279/.348/.402 across 476 plate appearances. He has connected on nine homers and 25 doubles with his usual plus contact skills. After hitting in the three hole for the early part of the season, he has worked at the top of the lineup going back to the middle of June. Lars Nootbaar is now operating as the leadoff hitter, at least against right-handed pitching, while Thomas Saggese is drawing into the lineup at second base.

St. Louis was swept by the Yankees and has dropped five in a row. They’ve failed to capitalize on the Mets’ skid and are now 5.5 games back in the Wild Card picture. It increasingly looks like the race for the National League’s last postseason spot will come down to New York and Cincinnati. The Cards were soft sellers at the trade deadline and are more focused on getting looks at young players in the season’s final six weeks. With Nolan Arenado uncertain to return this season, the Cards are giving everyday third base reps to Nolan Gorman. Saggese, a rookie, hasn’t hit since April and now carries a .252/.286/.338 line through 147 plate appearances on the season.

Cardinals Place Victor Scott II On IL, Select Nathan Church

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The Cardinals have selected the contract of outfielder Nathan Church, as noted by Katie Woo of The Athletic. St. Louis had multiple spots available on its 40-man roster, so there was no need to create space for Church’s addition. He’ll be taking the active roster spot of center fielder Victor Scott II, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left ankle sprain.

Scott, 24, has appeared in 116 games for the Cardinals this year while serving as the club’s primary center fielder. While his offensive numbers leave something to be desired (he’s hit .233/.311/.312 with a wRC+ of 81 this year), he’s improved substantially relative to last year’s 40 wRC+ thanks to much stronger plate discipline. His elite defense and 31-for-33 record on the bases has made him a two-win player according to both Baseball Reference’s and Fangraphs’ versions of WAR. He’s been used less often in recent weeks, with just 39 plate appearances since July 29, but the Cardinals have kept him as a regular presence in games even as his playing time has dwindled by using him as a pinch runner and defensive replacement.

That makes losing Scott for any amount of time a tough blow, particularly given that super utility man Brendan Donovan and first baseman Willson Contreras are both already out of the lineup with day-to-day injuries. All of this has created an opportunity for Church, who was an 11th-round pick by St. Louis back in 2022. He’s scaled the minor league ladder over the past few years in order to reach Triple-A this season, and he’s looked quite good at the level through 53 games. He’s hitting .335/.400/.521 in 242 plate appearances since being promoted, with nine steals and 22 extra-base hits, including seven homers. He’s also managed to walk (24) nearly as many times as he’s struck out (25). That impressive all-around profile is certainly intriguing, and now it appears to have been enough to earn him a look at the big league level.

Church has split his time between all three outfield spots in the minors fairly evenly, and it’s unclear where he’ll spend most of his time in the majors at this point. Jordan Walker is entrenched in right field, while Lars Nootbaar figures to handle either left field or center field on a regular basis but could switch between the two as needed. Burleson typically plays left field but has been handling first base in Contreras’s absence, which could create an opening for Church to get some playing time while Contreras nurses his injury. Once the rest of the roster is healthy, Church is likely to operate in mostly a bench role but his lefty bat could be used to spell the right-handed Walker in tougher matchups.

Cardinals Notes: Romero, King

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Cardinals left-hander JoJo Romero was a logical trade candidate this summer but wasn’t moved. In a chat with readers this week, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that “at least one team” was in touch with the Cardinals, looking for a lefty reliever. However, Goold relays that the Cards let that team know they would be willing to listen to offers on John King, seemingly preferring to make him available as opposed to Romero.

The interest in Romero is understandable. His career strikeout and walk rates of 23% and 8.3%, respectively, are both pretty close to league average. His 53.1% ground ball rate is quite strong. He has a 3.70 earned run average in his career and that number is down to 1.98 here in 2025. He is making just $2.26MM this year and can be retained via arbitration for 2026. The Padres were connected to Romero prior to the deadline but there were likely plenty of other clubs interested without that interest being made public.

It seems the Cards didn’t have much interest in making him available, as they tried to put King out there as an alternative. King is somewhat akin to Romero as a lefty grounder specialist, but his numbers aren’t quite as strong. His 62.2% ground ball rate is better than Romero’s but he has only punched out 15.1% of opponents. That’s a notable difference, especially in the modern era where front offices love strikeouts. King has a 3.87 ERA in his career but is at 5.18 this year. He is making $1.605MM this year and can be controlled via arbitration for two more seasons. That’s one extra year compared to Romero but King is two years older, about to turn 31 while Romero is almost 29. King landed on the IL with a strained oblique just before the deadline.

Ultimately, neither player moved, so the Cardinals presumably didn’t get an offer they considered compelling enough in either case. What will be interesting to monitor going forward is if there will be a shift once their regime change takes the next step.

It was almost a year ago, in late September of 2024, that the impending front office change was announced. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak would stay through 2025 before handing the reins over the Chaim Bloom. In the interim, Bloom would be focusing on the club’s player development systems, occasionally advising on front office moves as well.

The Cards were also open about 2025 being a transition year where they would be less focused on investing in the big league roster, with more of an emphasis on those player development elements. It was widely expected that they would make veteran players available last offseason, particularly the expensive ones. However, guys like Willson Contreras, Miles Mikolas and Sonny Gray showed little to no interest in waiving their respective no-trade clauses. Nolan Arenado was more open to trade possibilities but blocked a deal to the Astros and ultimately wasn’t moved.

The club could have then pivoted to trading other guys in the offseason, such as Erick Fedde or Ryan Helsley, but ended up mostly staying pat. Their most notable move of the winter was signing Phil Maton for one year and $2MM.

Their deadline, too, was modest. They made a few trades but only moved impending free agents like Fedde, Helsley, Maton and Steven Matz. They reportedly got interest in controllable guys like Romero, Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan but held all of them.

What remains to be seen is if those decisions were a function of the weird limbo year. Perhaps Mozeliak preferred to leave the decisions on those controllable guys to his successor. If so, then maybe it’s possible those guys will be more available this winter once the keys are handed over to Bloom.

It also depends on various other factors. What sort of payroll parameters will Bloom get from ownership? Will the club wait for expensive contracts to expire before spending on the team again? How does Bloom feel about the system he’s been monitoring for the past year? Does the club still want to keep giving playing time to players like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman despite lackluster results in 2025?

The decisions to not move Fedde and Helsley in the winter seemed to backfire. Both players posted worse results in 2025 than in 2024, which presumably led to lesser trade returns this summer than if they had been moved a few months earlier. Perhaps Bloom will look to avoid the same path with guys like Romero this winter, though his decisions should be impacted by the answers to the questions surrounding the franchise.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

Cardinals Claim Jorge Alcalá

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Today: The Cardinals have formally added Alcalá to their active roster ahead of this evening’s game against the Cubs. In a corresponding move, Gordon Graceffo was optioned to Triple-A.

August 7: The Cardinals announce that they have claimed right-hander Jorge Alcalá off waivers from the Red Sox. Boston designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Cards had several 40-man roster openings from their deadline dealings. Alcalá is out of options, so the Cards will need to make a corresponding active roster move once he reports to the team.

Alcalá, 30, has a decent overall track record but is having a rough season. From 2019 to 2024, he pitched 163 1/3 innings for the Twins with a 3.64 earned run average. He struck out 25.4% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.3% clip. He earned one save and 28 holds in that time.

But as mentioned, this year has been a struggle. He posted some poor numbers earlier in the year and got flipped to the Red Sox in June. Between Minnesota and Boston, he has thrown 40 2/3 innings with a 6.64 ERA. His 24.2% strikeout rate is still a good number but he has given out free passes to 12.1% of opponents.

For the Cards, they’re only 5.5 games out of a playoff spot but clearly have their sights set on next season. They had planned for 2025 to be a reset year from the beginning. Even though they hung around the playoff race, they sold off impending free agents ahead of the deadline. That included three relievers, with Ryan Helsley traded to the Mets, Phil Maton to the Rangers and Steven Matz to the Red Sox.

Those trades left them with some openings on the roster. This is their second waiver claim since those deals. They grabbed Anthony Veneziano from the Marlins a few days ago and now have added Alcalá into the mix.

Alcalá is making $1.5MM this year and can be retained for 2026 via arbitration. His poor results this year will prevent him from earning a big raise. The Cards can get a close-up look at him for a few weeks and decide if they want to tender him a contract.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images

Poll: Who Had The Best Deadline In The NL Central?

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The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Over the next week-plus, MLBTR will be running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. Yesterday, the Phillies came out on top in the NL East with about half the vote. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the NL Central. A look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers have the best record in baseball but had a fairly quiet deadline. Perhaps their most impactful move of the summer came last month, when they traded away Aaron Civale to land former top prospect Andrew Vaughn from the White Sox. Vaughn had struggled in Chicago for years but has caught fire with the Brewers and has proven to be an anchor for a lineup that’s without Rhys Hoskins and Jackson Chourio. Looking at deals made closer to the deadline, Milwaukee swapped out another big league starter to add a hitter when they shipped Nestor Cortes to the Padres alongside infield prospect Jorge Quintana and cash in order to bring in outfielder Brandon Lockridge.

Another unusual trade for Milwaukee was acquiring injured closer Shelby Miller and injured lefty Jordan Montgomery in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Montgomery won’t pitch this year, so the deal essentially saw the Brewers buy Miller off of the Diamondbacks in exchange for eating some of Montgomery’s salary. Perhaps the only typical buy-side addition was catcher Danny Jansen, who they acquired from the Rays to back up William Contreras. Dealing away Cortes and Civale hasn’t seemed to hurt the team much, but their additions are fairly modest on paper.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have fallen behind the Brewers after posting a somewhat pedestrian 29-25 record since the start of June, and entered trade season in clear need of upgrades. Perhaps their most impactful addition was utility man Willi Castro, a switch-hitter who can help take pressure off of rookie Matt Shaw at third base while upgrading the bench to make giving regulars like Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ days off more feasible. Deals with the Orioles and Pirates to acquire veteran setup man Andrew Kittredge and southpaw Taylor Rogers should help bolster a bullpen that had been relying on reclamation projects like Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz to this point, as well.

Despite those generally solid additions, the Cubs did not substantially address their biggest need this summer: starting pitching. It was no secret that adding rotation help was a top priority for Chicago with Justin Steele done for the year, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad both on the injured list, and both Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd in uncharted territory in terms of innings. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they were unable to find much help in that regard on the market. Michael Soroka was added in a trade with the Nationals in order to pitch in, but his velocity was down in his last few outings with the Nats and now he’s headed for the injured list with shoulder discomfort. While the club’s bench and bullpen additions were solid, it’s unclear if that will be enough to outweigh the lack of impactful rotation help down the stretch.

Cincinnati Reds

The 59-54 Reds currently sit just three games out of a Wild Card spot in the NL, and that was enough to convince them to go for it this summer. They made three trades to round out their roster. They picked up right-hander Zack Littell from the Rays in a three-team deal that sent righty Brian Van Belle to Tampa and lefty Adam Serwinowski to the Dodgers. They added Miguel Andujar to their bench in a deal with the A’s and, most interestingly, they picked up third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the Pirates in exchange for Rogers (who was later traded to the Cubs) and shortstop prospect Sammy Stafura.

Littell should provide some depth for an already-strong rotation that has a history of struggling to stay healthy (as was reinforced by Nick Lodolo’s departure from yesterday’s game after just 1 2/3 innings of work). Andujar provides a lefty-mashing bench bat to a club that has struggled badly against southpaws this year, but Hayes is the most interesting addition of the bunch. A former top prospect and Gold Glove award winner at third base, Hayes is one of the most talented defenders in the sport but hit just .236/.279/.290 (57 wRC+) in 100 games with the Pirates this year and has a career wRC+ of just 84. His relatively pricey contract makes bringing him in a gamble, but if he can float a slash line even close to league average, he should be a 3-win player when healthy.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals sold at the deadline for the second time in three years, but in doing so they only traded veterans on expiring contracts. Right-hander Erick Fedde was the first domino to fall, as the veteran starter was shipped to the Braves for a player to be named later or cash amid a disappointing season that saw him designated for assignment just before the deal. Veteran setup man Phil Maton netted a pair of prospects from the Rangers, one of whom is now St. Louis’s #26 ranked prospect at MLB Pipeline, and swingman Steven Matz was shipped to the Red Sox in a deal that brought back power-hitting first baseman Blaze Jordan (#18 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline).

The team’s biggest deal this summer, however, was shipping out closer Ryan Helsley to the Mets. Even in the midst of a down season by his standards, Helsley brought back a trio of talented players: infield prospect Jesus Baez (#6 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline), righty pitching prospect Nate Dohm (#15), and right-handed prospect Frank Elissalt (unranked). It’s a solid group of talent to bring in for a handful of rentals on expiring deals and the moves should help set incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom up for success as John Mozeliak departs the club at the end of the season.

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates also sold off pieces this summer, although their deadline was quiet for a club that entered July with Paul Skenes and Andrew McCutchen as their only two untouchable players. Not only did widely-speculated trade candidate Mitch Keller stay put despite a market starved for controllable rotation talent, but a number of rental players for whom the Pirates have little use did not end up getting cashed in for prospects and/or salary relief. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham, Andrew Heaney, and Tim Mayza all remain in town. And some deals they did make, such as the David Bednar swap with the Yankees, produced underwhelming returns.

That’s not to say everything about the club’s deadline was disappointing, however. The Pirates did manage to get out from under the Hayes contract, and then flipped Rogers to get an additional prospect from the Cubs. Lefty Caleb Ferguson and infielder Adam Frazier both were successfully cashed in for prospect talent and the Bucs received a return led by intriguing MLB-ready reliever Evan Sisk when they looked to sell on back-end starter Bailey Falter. Some of those young players acquired should help the Pirates going forward, and getting Hayes off the books should make adding offense easier for 2026 and beyond. Even so, it’s fair to wonder if this deadline represents a missed opportunity in Pittsburgh.

The NL Central was one of the quieter divisions in baseball this deadline, with only a handful of non-rental players changing hands and no blockbusters. With that being said, three teams did make an effort to get better for 2025, while the Cardinals and Pirates picked up a number of pieces for their futures. Which club did the best of this quintet? Have your say in the poll below:

Which NL Central team had the best deadline?
Cincinnati Reds 32.32% (1,464 votes)
Milwaukee Brewers 26.56% (1,203 votes)
St. Louis Cardinals 22.12% (1,002 votes)
Chicago Cubs 11.32% (513 votes)
Pittsburgh Pirates 7.68% (348 votes)
Total Votes: 4,530
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