The Cardinals are “actively exploring” what they can get in return for Dustin May, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He adds that the club is listening to offers on catcher Pedro Pagés as well as relievers JoJo Romero and Ryne Stanek. He suggests that the club will likely listen to offers on outfielder Lars Nootbaar and reliever Riley O’Brien as well. A report from Will Sammon, Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic features similar framing of the club’s plans.
The Cards came into the season in rebuild mode. They traded away Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan in the offseason. The expectations for the 2026 season were mostly about letting young guys play to see who would step forward, with contention a secondary concern.
For much of the first half, the club performed well enough to hover in the playoff race. That could have put the front office in an awkward position. On the one hand, they probably didn’t want to act as buyers as that would require them to send out prospects at a time when they are focused on strengthening the pipeline. Going into seller mode while in playoff position would have been a tough sell to the fans and clubhouse.
However, the club’s recent play has taken some of the pressure off. They have gone 9-16 in the month of July, dropping them to 53-54. They are only 2.5 games out of playoff spot but would need to leapfrog five clubs to get back into playoff position. They’re not totally buried but perhaps it makes it easier for president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom to justify keeping his focus on the future.
May should be a straightforward candidate to be moved. He signed a one-year deal in the offseason with a $12.5MM guarantee, in the form of a $12MM salary and a $500K buyout on a mutual option. When the Cards signed that deal, they were presumably hoping that he would absorb some innings and put up some numbers before being traded for prospects at the deadline.
That plan could still come to fruition, though the interest in his services might be moderate. He was pitching quite well through the middle of June, which is when MLBTR’s Leo Morgenstern took a close-up look at him. At that time, May had just thrown a one-hit shutout with nine strikeouts. That gave him a 3.75 earned run average, 22.8% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 46.2% ground ball rate on the season.
But things have turned sour since then, as he has allowed 19 earned runs in his most recent 22 1/3 innings. That has boosted his season-long ERA to 4.59. He still has decent stats overall, with a 23.4% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 43% ground ball rate. The ERA isn’t impressive but there’s likely some bad luck in there, as he has allowed a .333 batting average on balls in play and 65.6% strand rate, both unfortunate numbers. ERA estimators like this 3.16 FIP and 3.92 SIERA paint a more optimistic picture.
It’s unclear if that would be enough for any other club to target him as a playoff-caliber arm or if he would be viewed as more of a back-end guy. May’s injury track record has to be brought up as well. From 2019 to 2023 with the Dodgers, he never topped 56 innings in a season. He missed the entire 2024 campaign. In 2025, split between the Dodgers and Red Sox, he got up to 132 1/3 innings but wore down as the season went along. He had a 5.91 ERA in his final nine appearances and he finished the season on the injured list with right elbow neuritis.
He is now up to 104 innings pitched this season, so it’s anyone’s guess what kind of bullets he would have left for August, September and October. The need for pitching around the league is strong enough that the Cards can surely trade him but it remains to be seen how robust his market will be.
Stanek and Romero are also logical trade candidates as impending free agents. Stanek, 35, has big velocity but poor command. He has thrown 40 1/3 innings this year with a 4.46 ERA. His 24.3% strikeout rate is better than average but his 13% walk rate is a few ticks worse than par. He is making $2.5MM this year with a $1MM buyout on a $6MM club option. That option price is a bit rich for his performance so he’ll probably be viewed as a rental. The Cards should be able to get a lottery ticket prospect or two.
Romero, 29, has been a solid lefty option in the St. Louis bullpen for years now. In 235 2/3 career innings, he has a 3.51 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 52.7% ground ball rate. He has comparable numbers this year. He is currently on the injured list due to appendicitis but can be traded while on the IL. He is making $4.26MM this year. Both he and Stanek should fit into the budget of just about any contender.
Pagés is not an impending free agent but also doesn’t have a firm spot on the roster. The Cards have him, Iván Herrera and Jimmy Crooks in their big league catching mix. Prospect Leo Bernal is at the Triple-A level and Rainiel Rodriguez is in Double-A. Over time, something has to give. Pagés is a good defender but has a .227/.270/.359 line in his career. He could appeal to other clubs as a glove-first guy. He still has options and is controllable for four seasons beyond this one.
Nootbaar doesn’t have to move, as he can be retained via arbitration through 2027. However, that was the situation Donovan was in. Nootbaar probably would have been traded in the offseason if he were healthy but he was recovering from double heel surgery. He is now back and has a .243/.348/.371 line through 43 games. His $5.35MM salary isn’t too onerous, even for clubs with tight budgets. If Nootbaar were traded, the Cards could call up prospect Joshua Báez, who has 31 Triple-A home runs this year, though with big strikeout numbers.
The market isn’t working in the Cards’ favor here, as there are plenty of lefty-swinging outfielders available. Daulton Varsho, Jake McCarthy, Trevor Larnach, Mickey Moniak, Jesús Sánchez, Jung Hoo Lee, Steven Kwan, Luke Raley, JJ Bleday and Nathan Lukes could all be out there.
O’Brien has even more club control, as he can be retained for four seasons beyond this one. However, there are arguments to sell high. He is a 31-year-old who had almost no track record before last season. He has often struggled with control throughout his career. His walk rate is close to average this year but it’s entirely possible his results regress going forward, so now might be the time for the Cards to cash him in, especially since demand for leverage relievers is high at this time of year. He has racked up 26 saves while posting a 3.67 ERA this year.
Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images
