St. Louis Cardinals Must MOVE ON After Ryan Helsley Signs With Orioles, Closers Market Updates

St. Louis Cardinals Must MOVE ON After Ryan Helsley Signs With Orioles, Closers Market Updates

Former Cardinal Ryan Helley has signed a new deal with a new team. How this affects the closers market and the Cardinals need for their own shutdown guy in the ninth inning. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hey there Cardinal fans. I’m JD Hford, a former national radio sports anchor born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinal fan. And I welcome you to Locked on Cardinals, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. All because of you guys. You’re the ones that made us this way, which I appreciate. So, thank you to each and every one of you. Thank you to the Everydayers for continuing to be here. And thank you for those of you who are new. Welcome in. Hope you enjoy the content. It’s a show that serves Cardinal Nation and gives you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So download the app today. On today’s show, we’ll get some more of your comments and reactions to things in uh Cardinal Confessions, specifically the possible extension of manager Ali Marmal. Uh we’ll also look back at the deals the Cardinals made at the trade deadline this past year because that’s connected to where I want to start today’s show. And that’s the news that uh former Cardinal closer and still reigning NL red lever of the year uh might I add Ryan Hley has found himself a new home and it’s not going to be back with the St. Louis Cardinals though. Although some people thought maybe there was a chance. I thought maybe there was a chance. According to sources, the 31-year-old is sending a 2-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles instead. This 2-year deal is worth $28 million, but it features an opt out after the first season. It hasn’t been officially announced yet. They still got to go through the physicals and whatnot. But, uh, the O’s wanted to get somebody to take over for their normal closer, Felix Bautista, who’s a beast, but he’s recovering from right shoulder surgery. He’s not going to be available until late August or September. So, they need somebody else to fill the void. Uh if he does come back and the O’s are in contention, then that’s uh one hell of a one-two combination that the Orioles would have. The question is, can Ryan Hley reestablish himself as a top tier reliever after what went down last season? Now, Helsley was not as good as he was in 2024. He was effective with the Cardinals, but I all you have to do is watch the tape and if you were there with us the entire time, how frustrating some of those appearances were. When you look at the numbers, they’re not that bad. You know, he got a three RA, 21 saves in 36 outings before he got traded to the Mets on July 30th. But every single game, it just felt like you were sweating and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, why is it always so difficult so difficult to get these final outs?” Which, you know, it’s part of the game. The last few outs are usually the most difficult. That’s why you pay closers big time money. But it just seemed like every single time there was traffic on the bases and it just it drove us nuts. So when the trade went down, I think a lot of us were high-fiving. We were excited about it because we could move on from Ryan Hley. He’s now New York’s problem. And the bright lights of the Big Apple, they were they weren’t all that fun for Ryan Hley. He struggled big time. 7.20 RA in 22 games. He did not record a save because that wasn’t his role after he got to the Mets. um hardly the return that they were hoping for after giving up three prospects to land him and now he’s off to Baltimore. They got nothing to show for it. Um didn’t even make the playoffs. Now, one of the things that kept getting brought up in regards to Helley struggles last year was tipping pitches. It was something that had been talked about while he was with the Cardinals. It continued when he went to New York and when you primarily only throw two pitches, which was the fast ball and slider. If you’re tipping one of them, how huge is that for the opposition? They got a 50-50 shot, what’s coming down the pipe. And then if you got a a tell of some sort, makes things way easier for them. Nets coaches say they identified that issue that uh when it when his arms were coming set, the arm position was changing based on whether he was throwing a fast ball or slider, which made things a whole lot easier to hit. Even when he with the he was with the Cardinals, we pointed this out that it was astonishing how well guys were hitting his fastball. You know, the VO was still there. That wasn’t a problem. He’s 99th percentile in VO, but it was getting hammered. They hit 422 against his fastball last year. Wow. With the Cardinals and the Mets, like 422 compared to a 140 batting average against his slider. He ended up wrapping the year up with seven scoreless innings over the final six appearances. So the he owes clearly hoping that things got figured out and that if Bautista’s back at 100% and Helley has a good year, he can opt out, hit the market again if he wants to and the Orioles will be like, “All right, bye.” And they’ll hang on to Bautista. But um you you got this move and the trade of Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Taylor Ward. And that’s two solid pieces for the Orioles in 2026 who were very disappointing in 2025. Now, I was certainly under the impression that the Cardinals would be looking at the closer market this year or should be. They they should be still in my opinion. Uh would have at very least reached out to Ryan Helley about a return. I forget who had the report that he expected them to reach out to him. So, not sure if that happened or not. According to Katie Woo, about 15 teams expressed interest in him. Maybe the Cardinals were one of them. But a big part of me is also glad that the temptation to bring Ryan Helley back, it’s over. And no offense to Hley, but I’m just ready to move on from all of these main stays that have been here the last couple of years. I I’m ready to turn the page on all of them. Helley and Matt’s got moved. Those were two pieces. Sunny Gray is out. Michael is out. Aronado, we think, is on his way out. Maybe Wilson Contrarus could be moved. We shall see. Brennan Donovan clearly has a market. Perhaps New Bar or Gorman. I I’m just I’m ready to to to move forward. Okay. Uh we gave that group three years to figure some crap out. It never happened. And I just think that bringing back Helley would have been redundant and boring. Like I just I’m ready for new blood. I’m ready for younger people. And I still think the Cardinals should look into the market for the closers. Plenty of names are still out there. Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, Devin Williams, Kinley Jansen, Pete Fairbanks, Luke Weaver, Kyle Finnegan. There’s a bunch. And am I the only one who didn’t realize that Suarez was as old as he was? Like, he’s 34. What? I had genuinely had no idea. Did not realize that Robert Suarez was 34 years old. That blew me away. But most of those names, including Suarez, are going to cost a decent penny. So, could him and the scouts identify any of the other dozens of arms that are available as a possible closer? Possibly. Possibly. That’s her job. Go find the talent. Maybe they feel comfortable with the right-handed side with Swanson and O’Brien at the back end and Jojo is your lefty guy. There’s talk about Jojo getting moved, so maybe he’s not around anymore. The argument to get a known commodity is also that if it works out, you can pull the old Phil Mton, right? Sign him to a one-year deal, do whatever it is you do with them, make him a valuable piece again, and then you flip him at the deadline. It was beautifully done last year with Phil Man. If there’s one thing the Cardinals have done very well the last couple of seasons, it’s bullpin pieces. You had Andrew Kitridge the year before that, Phil Man. Now, funny that the Cubs went out and got took care of both of those guys after uh they were no longer Cardinals. Um but yeah, it’s uh it’s something they’ve proven they’ve been pretty good at and so I’d trust them to do it again. So, uh do I think they’re going to, you know, go out and spend a a butt ton of money on a guy like Edwin Diaz? Hell no. Hell no. But, you know, in the Finnegan range, something like that where, you know, it’s one year, certain amount of money, could move them at the deadline and then you you’re not on the hook for anything else. Absolutely. Would any of those guys that we listed, you know, Devin Williams probably gonna be more expensive? Probably gonna be more expensive. I know it’d be cool story to have him come back uh to St. Louis where he’s from, but probably going to be more expensive. So, I wouldn’t imagine that would work. Um, but you know, a veteran like Kinley Jansen, Pete Fairbanks, who who was with Tampa Bay, solid. Luke Weaver had a bounceback year last year uh with the Yankees. I he looked really good, especially in that first half last year. here. I was like, “Wow, this was the Cardinals first round guy so many moons ago.” Uh, I can see why. Uh, but Kyle Finnegan is kind of the guy that feels more like what the Cardinals would would jump into if it was going to be a free agent, but we’ll see. Speaking of which, um, you know, talking about the Phil Meton signing, I was sitting there going through the relievers and I’m like, you know what, I haven’t really gone back and revisited the prospects that the Cardinals got at the deadline with the deals for Hley and Maidan and Matts and uh, I thought it’d be kind of kind of fun. You know, it’s slow, not a lot going on in the baseball world right now. So, thought we could go back and check in on them. So, we’ll do that next coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Sometimes life it just takes over and you can’t make it to the beginning of whatever sporting event you’re watching, whether it’s first tip off uh for an NBA game, first face off with the NHL. Go Blues. Hey, couple of wins there. Uh you know, kickoff, obviously it’s football Sunday, so uh a lot of that going on. 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Thanks for making lock on Carlos, your first listen every day. Thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. If you enjoy daily Cardinals content, you can follow the podcast on X at l_cardinals. We’re also on YouTube, Tik Tok, and Instagram, locked on Cardinals. Uh at the deadline this past year, John Mos made his final trades as president of baseball operations when he traded Ryan Hley, Phil Maidson, and Steven Matz for prospects. We do not know who had say and what prospects they had to get. I don’t know how much Him Bloom was was pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Uh, I we don’t know. But since two of those three have already found new homes as far as the guys the Cardinals got rid of, Mton’s now a Cub. Uh, Ryan Hley’s gone to the Orioles. Um, I I I think it’s a good time to go back and see what those deals got for the Cardinals and how they did after coming to the organization. So, we’ll start with the big one, which was the Hley deal to the Mets for minor league prospects. Infielder Jesus Bayz, right-handed pitcher Nate Dome, and right-handed reliever Frank Ellisalt. Now, Bayz was the the big piece, right? He was the he was the highest rated prospect that came back to St. Louis and is currently the Cardinals eighth ranked prospect according to MLB pipeline. People like this kid right behind newly acquired left-hander Brandon Clark, mind you, who came over in that Sunny Grey trade. So before the trade, Bayz, who’s only 20 years old, uh infielder was hitting 244 with 10 home runs and 42 RBI’s and just under 300 played appearances, over 70 games at high A Brooklyn for the Mets. After the deal, he remained in high A, played 27 games for high A Poria and hit 243 with four home runs and 15 ribbies in 111 at bats. Now to go from Brooklyn, New York to Peoria, Illinois, a place that I lived in for a few years and worked in. That’s going to be a big culture shock. And all three of these guys that came back in the deal for Helley, were all in Brooklyn at the time and all had to move to Peoria, Illinois, which no offense to Poria, Illinois. I had a great time when I lived there. But quite a difference between Brooklyn, New York and Puria, Illinois. All right. So to do that, culture shock. So I don’t blame any of the numbers for those guys sliding a little bit after the trade. Uh Bayz is OBP, his slug and his OPS. They all took a hit when he came to Peoria, but people are very high on this kid. Certainly looking forward to his progression in year two within the Cardinals organizations. Uh Nate Dome currently ranked number 18 in the Cardinal system. Uh again also at Brooklyn when the trade happened. He was 1 and2 with a 2.62 RA in 11 appearances. 10 of those were starts. After he got to Peoria went 0 and2 5.11 erra in five starts. Uh walks were a problem. Issued nine and 12 in the third inning. Struck out 13. Need some development. Need some development. No doubt. Uh then Frank Ellisol who is not in the Cardinals top 30 but was also at Brooklyn before the deal. Although he spent most of his year at St. Lucy, uh, which was, uh, the the rookie league, right? I believe so. That was just Aball. Maybe that’s just Aball. But anyway, he was down there below high A for most of the year. Three and four, 3.02 RA in 18 appearances. Seven of those were starts. Goes to Brooklyn, goes 1-1. Two starts, 3.18 RA. And just like the other two, the numbers weren’t great when he got to Poria. He goes 0 and2 and four appearances. Three of those were starts, 5.59 RA, eight walks, and nine and two/3s innings. Hopefully the Cardinals and uh you know all these people that they are hiring within the system can help these guys. Uh moving on to the Phil Matan deal got dealt to the Texas Rangers again has now signed with the Cubs. Why Phil? Why? Why do you do it? In return the Cardinals got minor league pitchers Mason Molina and Skyler Hails. Uh Maton was was solid with Texas. Went three and two 3.52 RA picked up three saves as well. Turned that into a two-year deal with Chicago. Molina is currently ranked number 27 for the Cardinals and the 22-year-old was playing at high A, this is a great name, by the way, Hub City Spartanbergers. Wow. Wow. Anyway, South Atlantic League is where that that that team resides. Uh he was one and two with a 2.63 RA in seven games. Six of those were starts, but gets to Peoria. Not bad. Two and one, 2.08 RA in five starts, 27ks in 21 and 2/3 innings. He did have some walks, 15 walks in those 21 and two/3s innings as well. But hey, let’s focus on the the positives here, right? So, the K’s were there. Things went well for for Mason Molina. So, you like to see that. And then there’s Skyler Hails who just turned 24 in October. He was actually in Memphis. You know, most of those these guys we’re talking about were, you know, a ball guys. Uh Hails was not. He’s he he just turned 24. He’s at Memphis after this trade. spent time at DoubleA and Triple A when he was with Texas. Ended up going uh in picking up five wins when he got to Memphis. Goes 5-0 in 16 appearances. No starts. The RA a little high, 5.40, but uh you know, the five wins sounds like a solid middle relief guy. Um 24 years old already. We’ll we’ll see what he can do this year. will, you know, more than likely start a triple AAA unless something happens and he blows everybody away at spring training, which I’m sure we’ll get a look at him then and uh we’ll see what happens. Uh the final deal was Steven Mats to Boston for infielder Bla1 Jordan. Mats went on to make 21 appearances for Boston. Was very, very good, very good at Btown. Did it all relief, no starts, 2.08 RA, the FIP tells you a different story. Had 4.84, 84, which means his normal RA maybe got a little lucky on some stuff, but um serviceable obviously Steven Matz and I’m sure somebody will will jump on him whether it’s to be a back of the rotation starter or another long relief guy in the bullpen. Uh somebody will pick up Steven Mats. It’ll happen. Meanwhile, just not the Cardinals. All right, just not the Cardinals. We don’t have to do that again. Meanwhile, Bla1 Jordan is uh now the number 19 prospect for the Cardinals. was mashing at double A while in Boston’s organization. Got promoted to AAA in June where he was hitting .298 with six dingers and 25 ribbies before the trade happened. Comes to Memphis. Batting average not so good, 198. He did pop seven home runs, had 37 RBI’s and 186 plate appearances. Uh for the year at the just AAA level, the soon to be 23-year-old hit 248, 13 home runs and 62 RBI. So respectable numbers. for the season though, if you combine what he was doing at DA before he got promoted to AAA, you combine all the stats there, 270, 19 home runs, 99 RBI’s in 129 games, and just under 500 at bats at 493. It’s pretty good. It’s pretty good. Most guys struggle when they move up a level. So, uh, to see that he was doing actually pretty good with the AAA affiliate for Boston and then, you know, struggled batting average-wise when he got to Memphis. But again, you’re moving. These are kids, man. They’re they’re getting traded in the middle of a season and having to move and uh, it’s not easy. Like, can you imagine being 21, 22, and your job just moves you? It’s it’s culture shock. It cannot be easy. And some of these guys weren’t even 20, you know, like Bayia’s 20 years old. So, um, with all three trades and the Sunny Gay deal, the Cardinals have added five members to their top 30 prospects list. Two of them are in your top 10. You get Richard Fitz as well, who who should be in the rotation day one of spring training. I feel like that’s not so bad for three expiring contracts and a 36-y old starter who, yes, cost you $20 million, but also saved you from having to pay any more of the $40 million. So, it saved you $20 million that you were going to have to pay him anyways before the deal because his salary was $35 million plus that $5 million buyout. I know they’ve restructured things since he got traded to Boston and good for them. But the Cardinals were able to save $20 million by making that deal. And they got a starter and they picked up a top 10 prospect for their for their uh organization. So far so good. Hard to complain about that stuff in my eyes. Hopefully any future deals with names like Nolan Aronado, Bernie Donovan, hopefully they’ll be as fruitful. Uh we’re going to wrap things up with Cardinal Confessions reactions to the possible extension of manager Ali Marl. Oh boy. Oh boy, things got hot. We’ll get into it next on Lock on Cardinals. Thank you for making Lock on Cardinals your first listen every day. If your second listen, check out Locked on MLB hosted by Sully. Brings you a daily blend of humor and baseball throughout the offseason. You can find Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. So, if you didn’t hear that that there was a report that the Cardinals had discussed an extension with manager Ali Marmal came from Derek Gold at stltoday.com. Uh, talked about it in the last episode and explained my thoughts on it and why it may not be the worst thing considering where the Cardinals are in this rebuild. And I know there’s not a lot of people out there that love Ali Marvel. I shouldn’t say that. There are a lot of people out there that don’t like Ali as the manager for the Cardinals. I don’t know if they it’s the a personality thing. I I didn’t really see much of that, but that are just ready to to to move on to a different voice. And I gave you reasons why I think maybe it’s not such a bad thing to have Ali around still. But I wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Explain to me why it is or isn’t a good idea. Here were some of the responses. And we’re going to start with the negative ones. Okay. Dozens and dozens and dozens of responses on this one. Uh these are just some of them. Most of them are pretty quick. Absolutely terrible idea. That’s it. That’s all the person wrote. Uh JD, you’re losing credit for being an Ali fan. Thought you were smart. No, no, no. Michael Scott style from the office. Uh rebuilding begins with the foundation, which is management. Sitting Mo away was first. Replacing Ali should be next. What is this love affair with Ali? Terrible idea. His teams are not fundamentally sound. He cannot put batting orders together. Really odd. Ali is not MLB coach material. His record reflects that. Keeping him is stupid. Does have a winning record, by the way. Uh Ali lost me with how Tyler O’Neal was treated. How is he more qualified than Yachti or Albert? No. No. No. Dear God, no. This guy’s only winning season was a team put together by another manager. And then you look at the poor fundamentals his teams have. I mean, they run the bases like a little league team and their lack of just baseball knowledge by his players. For whatever reason, the media in St. Louis loves this guy. And I just don’t get it. Keeping olive oil will only crush attendance. Please don’t do it. I don’t know if attendance can get much worse than it was last year to be honest with you. Um, but last time I checked, I don’t go to the games to watch the manager manage, you know? I go to watch players and um that’s just me though. Uh here’s another one. I won’t spend any money on this organization until Marl is gone. It just continues like this. A lot of these responses similar verbiage which was expected. Absolutely expected when talking about Ali because I know he’s not the most popular guy. Uh, I feel that John Mosak was uh under more heat than Ali for the reasons I gave you in the last episode. Um, but we did get plenty of responses, too, which was great because for those of you who don’t like Ali and don’t want him around, I I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m not. We’re just having a discussion about it because I feel one way, you might feel the other. The goal is we want the Cardinals to freaking win again. And who’s going to lead that? And some people don’t want Ali behind the wheel anymore, and that’s fine. I I can I can understand the reasoning why, but I gave you some reasons why I feel like maybe he should stick around. Um Ali hasn’t had a ton of talent to work with, which is one of my main reasons why I when I see him with better rosters, I’ve see two winning seasons. When he’s had subpar rosters, we have losing seasons. Um, and even the last two years, you know, despite not having the most talent and having aging veterans and selling at the deadline, the last two seasons, this team has been competitive. I know we had a losing season here in 2025, but they hung around there for a bit, but he’s got those two winning seasons in 22 and 24, but he’s also got the fugly 23 season, which was awful, where we had so much there was just a disaster all around. And then last year where they were hanging around for a while but became sellers for the second time in four years. The fundamentals thing, I’m with you. I am totally with you. Certainly something that needs to be worked on. Base running mental mistakes, but it’s a pretty young team that he’s been working with. Like it wasn’t Paul Goldmid, Nolan Aronado, uh you know, Brennan Donovan making these mistakes. It was usually younger guys that were were doing those things. So pretty young team. You would hope that those things would improve as time moves on, as these kids mature, they continue to play at the major league level, which is an entirely different speed than anything they’ve ever been a part of. I remember one of my big issues at the end of the Mike Matheni era was all the dumb mistakes, the stupid mental errors, the the just dumb things that they would do. Drove all of us nuts, including the managers, trust me. And then they brought in Mike Shelton. For whatever reason, things cleaned up a bit. same team, same coaches, but for whatever reason, things got better. I hope things will get better. And remember, Shelty had a a more mature team at that point, uh, than what Ali’s been working with. But, um, I just don’t put it all on Ali. I don’t I think that’s the coaching staff in general that’s got to be better, which is why they’ve expanded and are hoping to eliminate this stuff with more advisers and more coaching in the minor league. Something they did not have for a long time. They’ve upgraded all of this so that when these guys are big league ready that these problems aren’t as frequent at the major league level. That’s the idea. Can they follow through and get it all done? I don’t know. We’re going to find out together. I did like this response though. Okay, so this is the first time I have commented. I’m 59 years old. Saw Lou Brock Steel Third at Bush Stadium in 1979 in person. Love that. By the way, Lou Brock was my mom’s or it still is favorite player. Loves him. Uh we have autographed, you know, bases by Lou Brock and posters of him. She loved him. I had a chance to play against his kid back in the day. Uh he did get a hit off of me, but I also struck him out a couple times. Um but we love for Lou Brock, so that’s cool. 1979 person for that. Longtime fan, third generation. I have no problem with Ali Marl. In fact, this season will just add to his experience. I loved watching Albert and Yachty. And yes, they have a little managerial experience, but does that really mean they would be anything more than a ticket sell? The easy thing, and let me say this, the easy thing for him to have done was come in and fire Ali and let Yachty take over. could have bang could have made that happen and be done with it and Cardinal fans would have been like, “Yes, we got our dude.” Everybody have been excited. Would have made everybody happy. You’d have made headlines both locally and nationally. So, if the decision is so easy, why haven’t they done it? It can’t just be the money for Ali’s final season that they don’t want to pay, right? It can’t just be that, can it? I find that hard to believe. These guys just paid $20 million for Sunny Gray to go away. You don’t think they’ll eat the final year of an Ali Marmal contract? Come on now. There’s got to be more to it. And as of this show, no other teams in baseball have hired him or Albert either. Why is the rest of the league all run by incompetent idiots as well? Or is there something more to all of it that for whatever reason Yachty and Albert don’t have managerial jobs yet? Doesn’t mean they won’t. Doesn’t mean they won’t. But it makes you wonder if there’s such a slam dunk easy decision to have these guys running baseball teams, why aren’t they? How come MLB teams haven’t jumped on board and taken them from the Cardinals? Why? Now, if either of them gets hired, which at some point they will. They will get a job eventually and they go off and succeed, then we and the Cardinals end up floundering with with Ali, then we can look back and Ripthe and company and you guys can make fun of me and all the rest of us who were like, “It’s not a bad idea for screwing this whole thing up.” You can do that. Personally, what my plan would be, I’d still let Ali finish out his contract this year. This would be the year. And then see how things are. Earn your extension by what happens here in 2026. How we’re able to blend the the rebuild and still trying to teach and win at the major league level. Let’s see how he does. You’ll get that plus what you’ve seen so far in the past that you can go off of and then you can make a decision. And it’s not like other teams are banging down the door to hire Ali away. You know, when Craig Council left Milwaukee and went to Chicago, people really wanted to get their hands on Craig Counsel. I Who’s lining up to take Ali away from the Cardinals? Nobody that I know of. So, earn it. This last year, there’s no need to jump ahead. If he does a great job, then do what must be done. You signed a guy. He earned it. But if things go sideways and we have problems, then you’re not stuck. You can move on. Find a better fit. Maybe it is Yachty. Maybe it’s Albert. Maybe it’s somebody else. I don’t know. But I just don’t I don’t see why you need to do the extension just yet. But I understand why they like him. I understand why people don’t like him. So is what it is. You know, we’re all kind of split on this thing. Bottom line is, like I said, we just want the Cardinals to win. So, whoever’s going to be in charge, I hope they get it right. And I hope that all of this momentum that that feels pretty positive, I hope it continues. I hope it continues throughout the offseason. Big thank you for making Lock on Cardinal your first listen every day. If you haven’t already, give us a follow on X at l_cardinal at JD Sports Radio, Tik Tok, and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube. Help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans of baseball for a reason. We’ll see you next time on Locks on Cardinals in the month of December. That’s a wrap on November.

Ryan Helsley exits St. Louis’ possible plans as the Baltimore Orioles’ new shutdown closer, shaking up the MLB reliever landscape and leaving the St. Louis Cardinals searching for fresh firepower in the ninth inning. Which veteran or breakout arm will step into the role—and will the Cardinals finally move on from the last remnants of their recent core?

0:00 — Helsley Signs, Closer Market
11:06 — Cardinals Trade Deadline Recap
20:11 — Marmol Extension Reactions

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