One week to trade deadline: Are the Cardinals buyers, sellers or a little of both?

ST. LOUIS – It’s the time of year again when blockbuster baseball trades could happen any day. Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is one week away.

What’s in store for the St. Louis Cardinals? It’s hard to tell for certain.

The Cardinals have hovered just above the .500 mark and in the Wild Card postseason picture for much of June and July. St. Louis sits four games above .500 as of Tuesday, the same exact mark they carried into the All-Star break. The Cardinals have incrementally improved their season since Mother’s Day, though have lingered more in the middle of the pack since the Fourth of July.

As St. Louis stays course, surrounding competition for October appears to be getting stronger. Four teams are within two games of their Wild Card seed, a scenario that could mean fewer pure sellers come next week.

One week until deadline, the Cardinals are clearly in a spot to compete, though are still at risk of missing postseason for a second straight year. Does that make them buyers, sellers or somewhere in between?

MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal recently stated that he doesn’t expect a big blockbuster for the Cardinals, but perhaps moves to add some complimentary pieces. That would be on par with history in recent years with near-.500 records around the deadline, such as Jon Lester in 2021 or Jose Quintana in 2022.

The Cardinals could once again explore the trade market to bolster the back-end of their rotation, if they opt for an arm with more experience than Andre Pallante. The Cardinals have reportedly shown interest in veteran pitchers Erick Fedde , Zach Eflin and Nathan Eovaldi .

To make room for a potential deadline addition, however, the Cardinals would have to open up a roster spot. That could mean “selling” in theory by trading from within.

One recent example of this was the Jordan Montgomery trade in 2022. The Cardinals acquired a much-needed arm at the time, though ultimately moved on from longtime fan-favorite outfielder Harrison Bader.

For what it’s worth, the Cardinals have quite a crowded cast of position players at the MLB level and knocking on the door. Dylan Carlson has settled for a reserve outfield role after starting opportunities his first several years. Last year’s hot prospect Jordan Walker is stranded in Triple-A. Utilityman Tommy Edman is also pushing to return from long-term injuries, albeit with some setbacks. All of these factors compound with Paul Goldshmidt being the only true free agent position player after this season.

The Cardinals haven’t necessarily indicated any of those position players or others may be on the move, but the front office could consider moving or selling a surprise name for more roster flexibility in the near future.

Moving a big-league name, however, seems more likely to acquire a complementary need than trading a big name just to add to the farm system, like the Cardinals embraced as sellers last year amid a rare losing season without much sustained momentum at any point.

We won’t know for sure where the Cardinals’ priorities stand until next week’s deadline, but given ambiguities around the standings and roster construction, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see them act as buyers and sellers at the same time, and to wait until the last possible moment to enter the sweepstakes.

The 2024 MLB trade deadline, the last possible moment to complete all midseason MLB trades, is set for 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, July 30.

St. Louis (52-48) will continue a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, also within striking distance of a Wild Card spot, through Wednesday. The Cardinals then return home to host the Washington Nationals and Texas Rangers for three games each, with the trade deadline following the series opener against Texas.

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