According to a recent report from Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Cardinals have had previous interest in Kansas City Royals’ left-hander Noah Cameron.
That could be pertinent as the Cardinals have a number of players that could be desirable to Kansas City in a trade, and the Royals have a desire to improve upon 2025’s third-place finish in the American League Central.
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Per Goold:
The Royals’ front office, for example, has expressed a willingness to trade from its depth of starters. The Cardinals have had interest before in Noah Cameron, a lefty.
A softer-tossing lefty, Cameron is 26-years-old. A seventh-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft out of Central Arkansas, he made his major league debut in 2025, going 9-7 with a 2.99 ERA in 138.1 innings. He made 24 starts for the Royals and finished fourth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.
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As we said, he doesn’t use top-end velocity, and it was evidenced by this 114 strikeouts in 138.1 innings.
He’s under team control through 2031, so he certainly fits the Cardinals’ rebuild window.
It’s unclear how highly the Royals value Cameron, so that will dictate how much they require from the Cardinals in a deal, but they could be interested in outfielder Lars Nootbaar, who has two years of team control remaining.
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The Royals have been scouring the market for outfielders, so Nootbaar is a natural fit. However, they could also have interest in Brendan Donovan, who has experience playing the outfield.
Between Nootbaar, Donovan, Alec Burleson and JoJo Romero, the Cardinals have some of the best desirable traded assets in the game. Donovan seems to be in particularly high demand.
Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras are likely also available.
Well, the winter meetings will wind down on Wednesday night and then everyone will leave on Thursday. There’s no guarantee that any deals happen while the brass is in Orlando, but it’s certainly possible, given the frenzy that the meetings can produce.
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After the meetings conclude, there will be two weeks until the Christmas holiday. There could be some deals that happen in that time, but if they don’t, the industry stays largely dormant until the New Year. At that point, there will be just six weeks until spring training, and activity should start to ramp up quickly.
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