The St. Louis Cardinals have started a rebuild this season, starting with the free agency departure of several veteran pitchers, followed by the departure of veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who has flourished in his role with the New York Yankees. St. Louis then went on to trade for players like Nolan Arenado.
Players like Ryan Helsley, Erick Fedde, Sonny Gray, and the previously mentioned Arenado are probably going to be traded since they appear to still be in the middle of their reconstruction. All four of these players will remove a significant amount of money from St. Louis’ payroll and earn some sort of return on the trade market.
However, the Cardinals must sever links with one pitcher within the present squad, or else the fans may start to revolt.
Cardinals fans would cut Miles Mikolas if they could
Pitcher Miles Mikolas is the Cardinals’ weakest member of the pitching staff and earns the second-highest salary of any Cardinal this season.
Before going into free agency at the conclusion of the year, Mikolas is scheduled to get $18.5 million this season. Despite a recent hot streak, he has been a net-negative player this season in addition to consuming a significant portion of the Cardinals’ budget. With an ERA+ of 88, Mikolas has been worth -0.1 WAR. Since his stellar 2022 season, he has not recorded an ERA+ of greater than 100.
Despite a couple strong starts this season, Mikolas shouldn’t be able to stay on the team. I would contend that he has thrown well enough to attract some trade interest, even though others could counter that he has thrown well enough to remain on the roster. The Cardinals are unlikely to find a bidder for the righty, but they may take a portion of his money to get him off the roster if someone in the league is prepared to take a chance on him.
St. Louis has several quality pitching prospects who need time in the major leagues, but they are blocked by a guy who has no future on the team. The Cardinals would free a slot in the rotation for a prospect to obtain regular innings. That would be the underlying bonus here.
