The St. Louis Cardinals missed the postseason and are set to enter a rebuild after putting off such a practice for years.
The team has already confirmed that it plans to slash payroll for 2025 and focus most of their efforts on improving the minor league and player development systems.
This means that several players could be traded. Ryan Helsley, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado, Steven Matz, and Miles Mikolas could be on the way out.
Cardinals' insider Jeff Jones noted that of those players, Helsley is the most likely to be traded.
"Of that group, Helsley would likely carry the most value," Jones wrote. "Given the aversion most teams have to long-term commitments to relievers, acquiring the Major League leader in saves on an arbitration salary coming off of far and away the best season of his career would be a tempting proposition."
Helsley is in the final year of his contract with the Cardinals, so it makes sense as to why St. Louis would consider trading him. Even so, his value is incredibly high after such a strong season, and St. Louis could receive a haul for him.
The Cardinals need some younger pitchers in their system to build for the future, and plenty of teams could be willing to give St. Louis what they desire in return for a closer of Helsley's caliber.
The 30-year-old saved 49 games and posted a 2.04 ERA while earning an All-Star nod. There will be plenty of teams that show interest in the right-hander.
It will be interesting to see if St. Louis decides to trade him and what they could get in return for him.
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