Cardinals have clear Dustin May, Ryne Stanek trade deadline plan

[ASFN Admin]

You must be registered for see images attach

Cardinals have clear Dustin May, Ryne Stanek trade deadline plan originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

This season was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yet, on July 29, they find themselves in the NL Wild Card race. The Cardinals are 2.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final Wild Card spot.

Surprise performances up and down the roster have helped the Cardinals reach this point, but they won't be making major trades at next week's deadline.

It may be the opposite. The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Will Sammon and Katie Woo wrote Wednesday that the Cardinals are open to trading two of their impending free agent pitchers.

"When the St. Louis Cardinals signed Dustin May and Ryne Stanek over the offseason, they expected both veteran arms to help keep the team afloat in the first half," they wrote. "They also knew that with experienced starting and relief pitching always coveted at the deadline, they could easily flip both May and Stanek."

Reports indicate that St. Louis is sticking to that plan.

Cardinals plan to trade Dustin May, Ryne Stanek​

"That’s the plan for St. Louis, per multiple team sources briefed on the club’s thinking but granted anonymity to speak freely," The Athletic reported.

MORE: Giants willing to trade Heliot Ramos in big news for many MLB clubs

"Despite a surprisingly competitive first half, the Cardinals aren’t looking to deviate from president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom’s long-term outlook, which projects late 2027 or early 2028 as the team’s next competitive window."

May signed a one-year deal and has a 4.59 ERA in 20 starts. He has prior postseason experience with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Stanek also signed a one-year pact. The right-handed reliever has a 4.46 ERA in 40.1 innings but has held left-handed hitters to a .685 OPS.

More MLB news:​

• Yankees are ‘leading candidate’ to trade for Twins’ Ryan Jeffers
• Red Sox ‘would love’ to trade for Angels’ Zach Neto or Astros’ Jeremy Pena
• Padres likely not to trade Mason Miller amid latest update
• Tigers expected to trade Tarik Skubal but still try to contend without him
• Mets ‘desperate’ to trade Luis Robert Jr. after trade failure

Continue reading...