'You might as well get help now' Mike Claiborne stresses importance for Cardinals to add at Trade Deadline

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The second half of the 2024 season is set to resume Friday. With the postseason inching closer and closer and the Trade Deadline merely less than two weeks away, it is going to be sprint the rest of the way.

After starting the season rather slow, the St. Louis Cardinals head into the second half of the season on a solid foot, with the Cardinals in hold of the second Wild Card spot in the National League and only 4.5 games out of first place in the NL Central, which is currently held by the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Cardinals start the second half on the road, with a six-game road trip in Atlanta and Pittsburgh to take on the Braves and Pirates, beginning with the Braves this weekend.

Mike Claiborne joined Chris Rongey and Amy Marxkors on The Chris and Amy Show and says that while the Cardinals started the season slow, he really likes the positive direction they have gone in post-Mothers Day, which has seen the Cardinals go 35-22 since May 12.

"I think they really learned a lot about themselves and how deep the organization might be," said Claiborne. "When you think your outfield you penciled in Spring Training has never played together this season."

"You have a guy who was the fourth-rated outfielder playing everyday in Michael Siani, Brendan Donovan been playing a lot of left field, Lars Nootbaar has been in and out of the lineup because of injury, and Alec Burleson is your leading home run hitter and probably your best hitter right now. When you look at those things, and the concerns with Masyn Winn's hitting....it's coming together and we never saw any of this coming."

However, Claiborne does stress that the Cardinals do need to add at the Trade Deadline, particularly a front-end starter, if they want to go deep into the postseason.

"You need help," said Claiborne. "You need a front-end starter, you need another closer coming out of the bullpen and you need a right-handed bat. I know some people will say 'we have Ryan Helsley'. If this team is going to play deep in the postseason, that means (the Cardinals) are going to have a lot of guys who are going longer than they ever gone in innings, games. You might as well get help now because you are going to need it at some point in the road."