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MLBTR Podcast: Roki Sasaki, Cole’s Non-Opt-Out, And Cardinals Rumors

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

The Cardinals’ Trio Of Bullpen Trade Candidates

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The Cardinals’ direction is one of the key storylines of the offseason. The franchise has made clear they’re prioritizing the future while giving more playing time to young players in 2025. They’ve pushed back on initial chatter about a complete teardown, at least in part because a couple veterans with no-trade clauses prefer to see things through in St. Louis.

Even if they’re not in a complete rebuild, the Cardinals should gauge interest on players with limited windows of contractual control. That’s especially true in the bullpen. Their star closer will get the most calls from other teams, but St. Louis has a few relievers who could come up in talks. Projected salaries are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

  • Ryan Helsley (eligible for arbitration through 2025, $6.9MM projected salary)

The Cards are down to one year of control over Helsley. If they’re not all-in for 2025, he should move either this winter or at next summer’s deadline. An offseason deal would give an acquiring team a few extra months of Helsley’s services and allow them to consider a qualifying offer when he hits free agency.

Katie Woo of the Athletic wrote last week that the Cardinals were already receiving quite a bit of interest. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggested the Cards may need to be “overwhelmed” to deal the righty, but they should be able to weigh multiple compelling offers.

Helsley is among the best few relievers in MLB. He’s coming off three straight fantastic seasons. Helsley broke out with a 1.25 earned run average across 64 2/3 innings in 2022. A forearm strain wiped out a few months of his ’23 campaign, but he posted a 2.45 ERA through 36 2/3 frames when able to take the mound. Helsley’s arm held up over a completely healthy season this year. He fired a career-best 66 1/3 innings with a 2.04 mark over 65 appearances.

After beginning his career in a setup role, Helsley proved himself an elite closer this past season. He led the majors with 49 saves while surrendering only four leads. He paced the National League with 62 games finished. Helsley punched out nearly 30% of opposing hitters against a tolerable 8.6% walk rate. Going back to the start of the ’22 season, he carries a 1.83 ERA with a huge 34.6% strikeout percentage through 167 2/3 innings.

Helsley has the kind of overpowering arsenal teams want in the late innings. His four-seam fastball sits above 99 MPH. Opponents had a surprising amount of success against that heater this year, but the ability to reach back for triple digit heaters makes it tough for hitters to adjust to his wipeout slider. Opponents whiffed on more than half their swings against the Helsley slider in 2024. He got swinging strikes at a 17.3% clip overall, a top 15 mark among relievers with at least 20 innings.

Alongside Devin Williams, Helsley is one of this winter’s top two bullpen trade candidates. He’d fit for any contender. Teams that already have a closer could push him into the eighth inning. Clubs like the Phillies, Rangers and Red Sox have seen their closers hit free agency. The Blue Jays, Yankees, Orioles, Royals and Diamondbacks are other potential suitors.

  • JoJo Romero (eligible for arbitration through 2026, $1.9MM projected salary)

Romero has had a nice two-plus year run at Busch Stadium. Acquired from the Phillies at the 2022 deadline for utility player Edmundo Sosa, Romero has emerged as skipper Oli Marmol’s top lefty reliever. He has posted consecutive seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA, turning in a career-best 3.36 mark through 59 innings this year.

There are some concerns. After striking out 28.6% of batters faced in 2023, he posted a middling 21% strikeout rate this year. Romero had a much more difficult time missing bats within the zone in 2024. That’s an issue for a pitcher who has never excelled at getting batters to chase off the plate. Romero has intriguing stuff, pairing a 94 MPH sinker with a slider and changeup. The breaking ball is by far his best offering and served as the putaway pitch for 40 of his 51 strikeouts this year.

As one might expect given that profile, Romero has been much better against same-handed hitters. Lefties have a .172/.267/.270 slash against him in his career, while right-handed hitters have teed off at a .280/.337/.472 clip. His 2024 platoon splits are just as extreme. Romero might be best suited for a situational role, but perhaps another team feels there’s a tweak they can make to get better production against righty hitters. While Romero has increased the usage on his slider in every season since 2021, he still only used it about a third of the time this year.

Romero finished the year on the injured list due to forearm inflammation. The Cardinals announced that he isn’t expected to require surgery and should have a normal offseason. Assuming that’s the case, he should attract interest.

John King (eligible for arbitration through 2027, $1.5MM projected salary)

The 30-year-old King isn’t as well known as Helsley or Romero, but he’s coming off a nice season. The southpaw turned in a 2.85 ERA through a career-high 60 innings spanning 56 appearances. King is a pure ground-ball specialist. He kept the ball on the ground at a massive 61.7% rate this year and has a career rate just north of 62%. Among the 160 relievers who threw at least 50 innings, only three (Tim Hill, Clay Holmes and Yennier Cano) had a higher grounder percentage.

King doesn’t miss bats, but he’s a situational lefty who should appeal to teams looking to deepen their middle relief group. (The Yankees make for a speculative fit considering New York’s love of relievers with plus grounder rates.) King is cheaply controllable for another three seasons and has held left-handed batters to a .250/.300/.320 slash over 308 career plate appearances. While the Cardinals aren’t under any contractual pressure to deal him, this isn’t the type of player that St. Louis would refuse to entertain in trade talks. If the Cards could pull a mid-level prospect or two, King could be on the move.

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The Cards have two other bullpen arms who’d attract interest, though they’re less likely to move. Rule 5 pick Ryan Fernandez had a strong rookie season. With five more years of team control, St. Louis probably prefers to hold him in a leverage role. Former top prospect Matthew Liberatore looks to have found a home in relief. He’s also still controllable for five seasons. The Cardinals aren’t likely to find an offer that pushes them to move the 25-year-old southpaw this early in his career.

Cardinals Expected To Gauge Trade Interest In Nolan Arenado

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The Cardinals’ reset isn’t likely to feature trades of Willson Contreras or Sonny Gray — both have no-trade clauses and reportedly prefer to remain in St. Louis — but they’ll still have some big names on the market. Among them could be third baseman Nolan Arenado. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the Cards will spend the next couple weeks gauging which teams have interest in Arenado and getting a feel for what might be available in a trade. If there’s anything compelling that comes from those early talks, they’ll approach Arenado about his openness to waiving his no-trade clause for a trade to the location(s) in question.

Arenado, 34 in April, is signed for another three seasons and owed a total of $74MM in that time. The Rockies are on the hook for $10MM of that sum ($5MM in 2025 and $5MM in 2026), which helps to make the contract a bit more enticing. The 10-time Gold Glove winner and six-time Platinum Glove recipient remains a premium defender at the hot corner, but while Arenado was an MVP finalist in 2022, his past two seasons at the plate have been far less impressive. He’s still been an above-average hitter, but not by a wide margin. Since Opening Day 2023, Arenado carries a .269/.320/.426 batting line (104 wRC+).

Once a perennial threat for 30 to 40 home runs, Arenado has seen his power diminish considerably over the past two years. This past season’s .123 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting  average) was a career-low mark. The 16 home runs he tallied in 635 plate appearances and 152 games are his fewest since he hit only 10 long balls as a rookie in 2013 (albeit in a smaller sample of 133 games/514 plate appearances).

Arenado’s contact skills remain excellent, but even the 15.5% strikeout rate he’s posted since 2023 is up from the 13.2% rate he posted in the four preceding seasons. He’s never been one to walk at an especially high clip, but Arenado drew a free pass in 9.1% of his plate appearances from 2016-22 — compared  to just 6.8% in 2023-24. This past season’s average exit velocity (86.3 mph), barrel rate (3.2%) and hard-hit rate (31.2%) were all well shy of league-average and easily career-low numbers.

The downturn in offensive output, combined with a relatively weighty salary and Arenado’s no-trade rights, all complicate the paths to a potential deal being brokered. The extent to which that no-trade provision will come into play is an open question, but there’s reason to think it might not be the hurdle such clauses often are. Arenado’s exit in Colorado was prompted in part by his frustration over the team’s inability to field a competitive roster. He passed on an opt-out opportunity in contract after a third-place NL MVP finish in 2022 partly because he prioritized playing for a contending club and expected the Cardinals to be just that.

While a trade of Arenado is far, far from a sure thing, there are plenty of teams who’ll be in the mix for third base help. The Yankees, Mariners, Astros (if Alex Bregman leaves), Blue Jays, Tigers and Royals all have reasonably straightforward vacancies at the position. If Pete Alonso signs elsewhere in free agency, the Mets could move Mark Vientos to first base and enter the third base market. The Dodgers don’t need a third baseman but have been linked to Arenado frequently over the years.

If the Cardinals do move on from Arenado, it’ll gel with their offseason goal of opening more playing time for young talent. They’ve already committed to moving Contreras to first base in order to create at-bats for 24-year-old Ivan Herrera behind the dish. Dealing Arenado could open reps for Jordan Walker at his natural position — his attempted move from third base to the outfield hasn’t played out particularly well — or for Nolan Gorman. It’d also trim a notable amount of money off the books in each of the next three years, perhaps allowing the Cards to spend a bit more freely when they eventually look to emerge from the current retooling effort.

Cardinals Reach New Broadcast Deal With Diamond Sports Group

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The Cardinals announced this afternoon that they’ve reached a new multi-year contract with FanDuel Sports Network to continue carrying in-market broadcasts. The deal includes a streaming partnership that’ll allow consumers in the St. Louis area to access games on the FanDuel app. Hannah Wyman and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch write that app subscribers can view the games without a television provider, which should drastically reduce blackouts.

FanDuel Sports Network, which is a property of Diamond Sports Group, is the same TV network that had broadcasting rights to Cardinals games under the previous Bally Sports moniker. Last month, Diamond abandoned its previous deals with the Cards and 11 other teams as it continues to navigate bankruptcy. Diamond expressed openness to renegotiating at least some of those deals at reduced fees.

The Cards were willing to do so despite the associated revenue losses. Wyman and Goold report that they’ll take a 23% reduction next season compared to what they would’ve made on the prior contract. With the previous deal calling for roughly $75MM in rights fees, the Cardinals stand to drop roughly $17.25MM to the $57-58MM range. The team did not specify the length of this contract beyond calling it a multi-year partnership. Evan Drellich and Katie Woo of the Athletic report that the deal does not stretch into the 2030s and affords some measure of flexibility depending on the future state of sports media.

For fans, the streaming addition is the biggest direct news. The deal is indirectly relevant to the fanbase by providing the organization with a bit of clarity on their revenue situation. The expected revenue losses have long pointed to a dip in spending. That was reinforced by the decision to decline a few team options, most notably a $12MM call on Kyle Gibson. They’re not expected to pursue reunions with free agents Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Kittredge.

That could account for most of the payroll reduction. St. Louis has a little less than $110MM committed. Their arbitration class is projected for something in the $19MM range. That leaves the Cards nearly $50MM south of this past season’s Opening Day spending. The Cardinals are going to get trade interest on a number of veterans as they embrace a retooling effort and evaluate younger players. Speculation about a complete teardown was quieted this week with reports that Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray, both of whom have no-trade clauses, are unlikely to move after suggesting they preferred to stay in St. Louis.

The Cardinals become the second team to negotiate a new deal with Diamond after its previous broadcasting agreement was dropped. The Marlins reportedly reached a contract to stay on FanDuel Sports Network last month, though Miami hasn’t made any official announcement. Diamond is abiding by its original contract with the Braves, so it’ll carry at least three teams next year.

ESPN’s Alden González writes that MLB will carry broadcasts for the Twins, Guardians and Brewers — all of whom were dropped by Diamond. (They join the Padres, Diamondbacks and Rockies in that regard.) The Rangers said they have no plans to renegotiate with Diamond but are still exploring other opportunities. Plans for the other five teams — the Reds, Rays, Tigers, Angels and Royals — are still undetermined.

Cards Moving Willson Contreras To First Base; Contreras Unlikely To Waive No-Trade Clause

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As he heads into the third season of his five-year, $87.5MM contract, Willson Contreras is headed for a position change. The Cardinals plan to move Contreras from catcher to first base next season, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters at the GM Meetings today that the move to a first base/designated hitter role was made with Contreras’ long-term health and longevity in mind, adding that he’s “unlikely” to catch much at all in 2025 (X link via Katie Woo of The Athletic).

Mozeliak added that Contreras was quite clear about his desire to remain in St. Louis even as the team embarks on something of a reset (via Woo). That makes it unlikely he’d be willing to waive his full no-trade clause this offseason. It’s a similar story with right-hander Sonny Gray, it seems. Mozeliak didn’t directly state as much, but Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Gray has also expressed a preference to remain with the Cardinals. Like Contreras, Gray has full no-trade protection.

The move to first base for Contreras opens the path for Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages to split time behind the plate. It’s perhaps possible that an injury to one or both players could result in Contreras suiting up and crouching behind home plate once again, but it seems the organization’s preference is a shift away from that role. It’s the latest in a winding saga with the Cardinals’ seeming distaste for Contreras’ defense — one that began just weeks into his first season with the club.

The Cardinals announced early in the 2023 season that Contreras would be moving off catcher for at least a few weeks. At the time, Mozeliak stressed that Contreras hadn’t caught his last game for the club but added that the team had grown accustomed to Yadier Molina’s glovework behind the dish, adding that “this is going to take a little time to get him to where we feel he understands the expectations of what this role is for us.” It was a stunning announcement less than two months into a five-year contract, and one that generated even more confusion when Contreras returned to catching just one week later.

With the contract now 40% complete, Contreras appears ticketed for a more permanent move off the position. The 32-year-old has long been regarded as a bat-first catcher, but the ongoing questions about the Cardinals’ satisfaction with his defense (or lack thereof) has at multiple points prompted questions about why the team signed him to a five-year deal in the first place. Those questions will only grow louder now. Statcast has generally given Contreras plus grades for his throwing and rated him as a solid blocker, though his framing skills have been panned. He’s lived up to his end of the deal at the plate, however, hitting a combined .263/.367/.468 in 853 plate appearances. A broken forearm and finger, among other smaller injuries, have limited his time on the field, but Contreras has generally been one of the Cardinals’ best hitters when healthy.

That’ll presumably continue as he moves into a new role on the field. Contreras’ position shift seems likely to close the door on a potential reunion with free agent Paul Goldschmidt, who’ll now look to rebound elsewhere after a disappointing finish to his St. Louis tenure. It’ll also finally give the 24-year-old Herrera a crack at the starting catcher role for which he’s appeared ready for several years.

Herrera was thought to be a potential heir to Molina behind the plate, but any such hopes were dashed when the Cards originally signed Contreras. He’s a .289/.365/.398 hitter in 325 major league plate appearances (117 wRC+) and carries a stout .281/.414/.453 slash in 176 Triple-A contests. Pages, 26, hit .238/.281/.376 in 218 big league plate appearances in 2024. The righty hitter did post solid offensive numbers as a 24-year-old in Double-A in 2023, but scouting reports on him have questioned his hit tool while characterizing him as a likelier platoon option or backup.

Turning to Gray, his apparent desire to remain in St. Louis makes him a less obvious trade candidate than he was entering the winter. The Cards were reported to be open to offers on Gray even before they publicly revealed their plan for a step-back to focus on player development. Gray’s no-trade clause and heavily backloaded contract were always significant roadblocks in a potential trade, but ones that potentially seemed surmountable. He was quite selective about his destination in free agency, preferring to be relatively close to his Nashville home. Still, there was some thought that a trade to a geographically close club might hold appeal.

Working out such a swap would’ve been complicated. Gray’s three-year, $75MM contract paid him just $10MM in year one. He’s owed $65MM over the course of the next two seasons. That’s a huge number for an acquiring club to take on, particularly if said club has luxury-tax concerns (e.g. the Braves). A team acquiring a contract is taxed on the remainder of the deal rather than the original AAV, meaning a new club would be on the hook for a $32.5MM luxury hit in acquiring Gray. Those hurdles are all rendered moot, however, if Gray prefers to remain in St. Louis and see how things play out in the short-term.

Mozeliak told reporters today that he spoke to all of his players with no-trade clauses. That means he’s at least broached the possibility with third baseman Nolan Arenado. It’s not yet clear, however, whether Arenado is as convicted in his desire to remain on board through the team’s reset. Certainly, the lack of comments or concrete reporting on the matter doesn’t mean Arenado is requesting or even open to a trade, but the lack of information on him will fuel natural speculation. Arenado’s trade from Colorado to St. Louis, after all, was prompted by his frustration over the Rockies’ inability to field a competitive roster. Playing for a contending club was a priority for him — so much so that he passed on an opt-out opportunity in his contract to remain in St. Louis due in large part to their status as perennial contenders.

Arenado now has three years and $74MM remaining on his contract. The Rockies are on the hook for $5MM of that sum. He’s had two straight pedestrian seasons at the plate, batting .269/.320/.426 since 2023. That’s still slightly better than league-average production by measure of wRC+ but is a far cry from his MVP-caliber 2022 showing when he hit .293/.358/.553. Whether he can bounce back as he heads into his age-34 campaign is an open question, but Arenado remains an elite defender with rare durability. He’s missed 28 games over the past two seasons but has played in 94.6% of his teams’ games dating back to the 2015 season.

Cardinals Re-Sign Chance Sisco To Minor League Contract

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The Cardinals have re-signed catcher Chance Sisco to a minor league contract for the 2025 season. The team revealed the news via the Cardinals Player Development account on X.

Sisco, who will turn 30 in February, is a veteran of five big league seasons, although he has not played in the majors since 2021. Selected by the Orioles in the second round of the 2013 draft, he rose through the system over the next four years, hitting well at every step along the way. By the time the 2017 season rolled around, he was Baltimore’s top-ranked prospect according to Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, ESPN, and FanGraphs. Unfortunately, Sisco was never able to put things together at the highest level. Over 196 MLB games from 2017-21, he slashed .197/.317/.337, good for an 82 wRC+. Those numbers just weren’t strong enough for a catcher who also produced below-average blocking, throwing, and framing metrics.

The Orioles designated Sisco for assignment in June 2021, and the Mets put in a claim. However, he appeared in just five games for the Mets down the stretch before they, too, DFA’d him in September. He then bounced between the Mariners and Twins minor league systems, the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League, and the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League before signing a minor league deal with the Cardinals this past August. Evidently, the Cardinals liked what they saw from Sisco in the Atlantic League (.274/.416/.609 slash line) enough to bring him into the organization, and they liked what they saw during his brief stint with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds to bring him back for the 2025 campaign. Over seven games with Memphis, the backstop went 5-for-23 with one home run, one walk, and two hit-by-pitches.

In further Cardinals news, the team confirmed that they have signed a new minor league deal with Packy Naughton, news the left-hander first announced himself over Instagram. St. Louis also announced the re-signing of nine additional minor leaguers to new contracts for 2025: right-handed pitchers Augusto Calderon, Angel Cuenca, Inohan Paniagua, Dionys Rodríguez, Victor Santos, and Leonardo Taveras; catcher Gavin Collins; infielder Ramon Mendoza; and second baseman and outfielder Darlin Moquete.

Cardinals Re-Sign Packy Naughton To Two-Year Minors Contract

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The Cardinals have re-signed Packy Naughton to a two-year minor league deal, as revealed by the left-hander himself on his Instagram page.  The extended nature of the contract is due to another tough injury setback for Naughton, as he said that he underwent a UCL reconstruction surgery last July.  Naughton was already working his way back from a flexor tendon surgery in June 2023, though he also re-tore his flexon tendon in addition to the UCL damage.

Naughton didn’t specify if he underwent a full Tommy John surgery or a brace procedure, though in either case, it seems unlikely that he’d be able to pitch again before the end of the 2025 season.  The two-year contract therefore allows Naughton plenty of time to rehab while still keeping him under St. Louis’ control for what will hopefully be a comeback year in 2026.

The southpaw made his MLB debut with the Angels in 2021 and then came to the Cardinals on a waiver claim prior to the 2022 season.  Over 59 2/3 innings and 37 appearances in the big leagues, Naughton has a 4.98 ERA, and he last pitched in the Show on April 7, 2023.  He pitched in one more Triple-A game that season before undergoing his first surgery, and he threw 20 1/3 combined innings over three levels of the Cardinals’ farm system this year before injuries again put his career on hold.

Cardinals Claim Roddery Muñoz

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The Cardinals announced that they have claimed right-hander Roddery Muñoz from the Marlins. The Fish evidently put him on waivers in recent days with St. Louis grabbing him off the wire.

Muñoz, 24, just made his major league debut with the Marlins this year. As they suffered a large number of injuries to their rotation, they had to reach into their depth, with Muñoz getting a shot in the big leagues.

The numbers weren’t especially impressive, as Muñoz posted a 6.53 earned run average in 82 2/3 innings this year. His 18.5% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 34% ground ball rate were all below league average.

Despite the uninspiring debut, Muñoz has a bit of prospect pedigree and some decent minor league results. Since the start of 2021, he has struck out 24.3% of batters faced on the farm. His 11.4% walk rate in that time was high and his 5.18 ERA unimpressive. However, a low strand rate of 64.8% could be a factor there, leading his 4.83 FIP to be a bit more palatable.

The Cardinals are set to engage in a reset year where they cut payroll and overhaul their player development apparatus. They just declined club options on Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. They could look into trading pricey vets Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas or Steven Matz this winter.

Those moves could be accompanied by others that bring in younger, cheaper and more affordable arms, but going with less-proven guys could mean depth arms become more important. Claiming Muñoz is the first of what could be many transactions that impact their rotation picture this winter.

Cardinals Decline Team Options For Gibson, Lynn, Middleton

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12:45 pm: The Cardinals have formally announced their decision to decline all three club options.

12:22 pm: The Cardinals will not pick up their 2025 team options for right-handed pitchers Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, or Keynan Middleton, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The club could have retained Gibson and Lynn for $12MM each, while Middleton’s option was valued at $6MM. Instead, the Cardinals will pay all three pitchers a $1MM buyout and send them back onto the free agent market. They will be eligible to sign with any of the other 29 teams as of Monday.

Earlier this week, The Athletic’s Katie Woo wrote that the team was “not expected” to keep Lynn or Middleton, but the news about Gibson comes as a bit more of a surprise. The durable veteran came exactly as advertised in 2024, giving the Cardinals 30 starts and 169 2/3 innings with a 4.24 ERA and 4.44 SIERA. However, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told Goold that he is prioritizing “maximum flexibility” this offseason, hence his decision to clear as much money from the books as possible.

Gibson has been one of the most reliable pitchers in the game throughout his career. Dating back to his first full season in 2014, he has made 314 starts. No other pitcher has made as many 300 starts in that time. He has never pitched like an ace, but there is good value in a starter who can consistently pitch a full season’s worth of innings with an ERA close to league average. That’s why Gibson earned a $10MM deal from the Orioles two offseasons ago and a $13MM guarantee from the Cardinals last winter. That’s also why he would have been well worth a net value of $11MM in 2025. It seems as if the Cardinals understand as much but simply prefer to use that money elsewhere. Woo noted they might have picked up Gibson’s option if they felt confident they could offload Miles Mikolas or Steven Matz in a trade. Her report suggests the front office liked Gibson at that $11MM value but ultimately decided they had too much money tied up in other veteran starting pitchers.

Goold mentions that Gibson has “expressed an interest” in returning to St. Louis next season, and for what it’s worth, Mozeliak suggested the team could still consider reunions with all three pitchers. Presumably, however, the Cardinals will wait and see if they can trade any of their other veteran starters before possibly picking up negotiations with Gibson.

Lynn pitched well over the first four months of the 2024 season, bouncing back from a difficult 2023 campaign to produce a respectable 4.06 ERA and 4.47 SIERA across his first 21 starts. Unfortunately, right knee inflammation limited him to just two starts over the final two months of the year. They were both good outings, lowering his full-season ERA to 3.84, but considering Lynn’s age (he’ll turn 38 next year) and his recent history of right knee problems (he missed more than two months after knee surgery in 2022), it’s not hard to see why the Cardinals were wary of bringing him back on an eight-figure salary in 2025.

The 2024 season was a lost year for Middleton, who could not return to the mound after suffering a forearm strain in spring training. He ultimately underwent flexor tendon surgery in June, formally ending his season. With that in mind, the Cardinals’ decision not to pick up his option is the least surprising of the three. It’s possible he’ll be back to full health by next spring, but his value is certainly lower than it was at this time last year. Wherever he signs this offseason, it’s likely to be for significantly less than $6MM.

In addition to Gibson, Lynn, and Middleton, three more Cardinals veterans will be free agents this winter: Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Carpenter, and Andrew Kittredge. Even with a handful of players eligible to earn raises in arbitration and Sonny Gray’s forthcoming $15MM salary bump (the deal he signed last winter was heavily backloaded), RosterResource estimates the Cardinals 2025 payroll to be $147MM, well below their estimated $183MM payroll this past season. If they had chosen to pick up the options on Gibson, Lynn, and Middleton, that would have increased next year’s payroll projection to $174MM.

MLBTR Podcast: The Mets’ Spending Power, Juan Soto Suitors, And The Rangers’ Payroll Limits

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns recently addressed the club’s financial situation (2:00)
  • Does the spending capacity of the Mets make them favorites for Juan Soto? (16:00)
  • The Rangers are reportedly hoping to duck beneath the competitive balance tax in 2025 (23:00)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Which impending free agent has earned the biggest pay raise by his performance in the current postseason? (30:30)
  • Could the Cardinals get Ryan Mountcastle from the Orioles in a deal for Ryan Helsley to fill the void at first? (36:40)
  • Could Rowdy Tellez be a fit for the Tigers? (38:50)
  • Should Justin Verlander switch into a closer’s role? (41:10)
  • Details on what’s coming up soon at MLBTR, including the Top 50 Free Agents, top trade candidates and a megapod (43:25)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The World Series, The White Sox Reportedly For Sale, And Tropicana Field – listen here
  • Changes In Minnesota, Cubs’ Prospect Depth, And Possibilities For The O’s – listen here
  • Previewing FA Starting Pitchers, TV Deals, And Potential Spending Teams – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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