With the way the Cardinals are playing, it seems highly likely that Ryan Helsley will be traded at the deadline this coming summer. He\u2019s performed well this season, not quite to the level of 2024, but he\u2019s mostly getting the job done, and he\u2019ll bring back a strong package.<\/p>\n
However, Randy Karraker recently spoke on 101 ESPN\u2019s \u201cThe Fast Lane\u201d and discussed a different path the Cardinals could take. Instead of waiting until the deadline, the Cardinals could trade Ryan Helsley now.<\/p>\n
I find this interesting. I haven\u2019t been shy about my opinion on keeping Helsley for 2025. As much as I love having him as the team\u2019s closer, the Cardinals made a mistake holding onto him in the offseason. They\u2019re risking injury and a decline in performance. But here\u2019s what Karraker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that if you trade Helsley now \u2014 and by the way the Phillies bullpen has been horrific, and the Diamondbacks aren\u2019t getting what they expected out of their bullpen. Both of those franchises have some young and interesting pitchers to move. If I\u2019m Mo\u2019, again I\u2019m going to go to Chaim (Bloom) and say okay, \u2018what do you want for Helsley?\u2019 because obviously Chaim is going to have to be the guy that deals with the return on those players. I would move Ryan Helsley tomorrow if they could get something for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karraker said this on Wednesday, and of course the Cardinals didn\u2019t trade Helsley yesterday. But like Karraker, I believe that trading him in the offseason would have been the wise choice. They could\u2019ve really capitalized on his value after a career year. He saved 49 games and set a franchise record, earning Reliever of the Year honors. If the Cardinals weren\u2019t going to add much of anything to the 2025 roster, then it just didn\u2019t make sense to hold onto Helsley.<\/p>\n
Honestly, I would consider this if I\u2019m the Cardinals. Think about it. He\u2019s hardly gotten any work in because the Cardinals have been losing so many games. There haven\u2019t really been many save situations for him, so I think it\u2019s something you have to consider.<\/p>\n
If the Cardinals are so obsessed with only using him in save situations, then it doesn\u2019t make sense to hold onto him. He\u2019s in his walk year and needs to pitch. He\u2019ll be able to do that more frequently with a contender.<\/p>\n
There are three teams that make sense for Helsley. The Diamondbacks and Phillies are obvious candidates, as Karraker mentioned, but the Rangers also need a closer. I personally like what the Rangers have best, but we\u2019ll get into that another time.<\/p>\n
Now, do I think the Cardinals will actually make a Helsley trade in early May? No. I think if they do trade him, it won\u2019t be until at least the end of June. Sometimes trades happen then. The trade the Rangers made to acquire Aroldis Chapman from the Royals in 2023 happened on June 30.<\/p>\n
If the Cardinals are several games out of the race and say, six or seven games under .500, then it makes sense to do it then. But why wait? If the Cardinals are going to stay under .500 and not be able to give Helsley opportunities, then why not just punt on the season now and give him a chance to pitch more frequently with a contender? He didn\u2019t pitch at all in their last series with the Reds.<\/p>\n
You can still get a massive haul for him and bring in some great prospects. The Cardinals need guys that are going to strengthen the farm system anyway, not more aging veterans. Now is the time to have an eye towards the future, not wait and see if this roster can do the unthinkable and contend. <\/p>\n
Mo isn\u2019t fooling anybody when he says that he thinks this team can surprise people. We\u2019re a month into the season, and the Cardinals are already 14-18. Relying on a weak division to remain as such isn\u2019t a viable strategy. Instead, kickstart the reset. <\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t need to be a complete teardown. I\u2019ve never advocated for that. But this team is clearly not a contender, and it\u2019s time for Mo to swallow his pride and accept that 2025 isn\u2019t the year, no matter how bad he wants to go out on a good note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the way the Cardinals are playing, it seems highly likely that Ryan Helsley will be traded at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[422,5,2015,160,5687,2014,181,5685,5686,4,3213,214,615,171,673,67,4311,4310,173,4164,2013],"class_list":{"0":"post-8124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-at","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-birdos","11":"tag-cardinals","12":"tag-deadline","13":"tag-el","14":"tag-front-page","15":"tag-helsley","16":"tag-instead","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-now","19":"tag-of","20":"tag-ryan","21":"tag-should","22":"tag-st-louis","23":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","24":"tag-stlouis","25":"tag-stlouiscardinals","26":"tag-the","27":"tag-trade","28":"tag-viva"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114467038059830660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}