The St. Louis Cardinals are finally set to enter the rebuild they were anticipated to enter a few seasons ago. St. Louis could look to trade a lot of different veterans on its roster, including Ryan Helsley, Nolan Arenado, and Sonny Gray.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic expects St. Louis to enter this rebuild in a big way. Bowden predicts the Cardinals will trade Helsley, their star closer, to the Philadelphia Phillies in a blockbuster move this winter.
Helsley is projected to land a six year, $82 million deal when he hits free agency after the 2025 season, per Spotrac. “The Cardinals are focused on rebuilding and the Phillies need a hard-throwing, impact reliever.
The Phillies lost two key high-leverage relievers to free agency – Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez – and have made it a priority to address that area this offseason,” Bowden wrote. “Helsley won the Trevor Hoffman Award winner this year as the best closer/reliever in the National League, logging a 2.04 ERA with 49 saves and 79 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings.” Bowden continued on to discuss how a trade could come to fruition.
He pitched an idea where the Cardinals package Helsley and Arenado together to bring in Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and additional prospects.