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The St. Louis Cardinals will soon begin their rebuild and will likely trade away certain players.
The most obvious candidates to be traded now are closer Ryan Helsley and third baseman Nolan Arenado. Both Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras will remain in St. Louis for 2025.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic proposed a wild trade idea ahead of the winter meetings. In this proposal, the Cardinals would be sending Arenado and Helsley to the Philadelphia Phillies, but bringing back third baseman Alec Bohm and some prospects.
“The Cardinals are focused on rebuilding and the Phillies need a hard-throwing impact reliever. The Phillies lost two key high-leverage relievers to free agency, Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez, and have made it a priority to address that area this offseason. Helsley won the Trevor Hoffman Award this year as the best closer/reliever in the National League, logging a 2.04 ERA with 49 saves and 79 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings,” Bowden wrote.
“The Cardinals wouldn’t be able to get top pitching prospect Andrew Painter of the Phillies’ top position player prospect, third baseman Aidan Miller in a deal. But they are trying to move Nolan Arenado and his contract, so perhaps if they package him with Helsley they could get third baseman Alec Bohm from the Phillies.”
This is a move that could help the Cardinals not only rebuild by clearing some salary off the books, but also remain competitive by adding Bohm.
The 28-year-old slugger hit .280 with 15 home runs, 87 RBI and a .448 slugging percentage with the Phillies in 2024. He also had a 3.0 WAR, a .332 on-base percentage, a .779 OPS and a 117 OPS+.
Bohm also can be used at first base on occasion if Willson Contreras were to need a day off, as he filled in for Rhys Hoskins in 2023 after Hoskins tore his ACL.
The slugger also brings valuable big-game experience from his time in Philadelphia to a young Cardinals team. Bohm was the team’s third baseman when they knocked out the Cardinals in the 2022 National League Wild Card Series.
This potential blockbuster can benefit both teams. The Phillies would get an instant boost in their pursuit of a title in 2025 while the Cardinals would receive a cost-controlled bat to fill third base and give the lineup a bit of a jolt after a poor offensive year.
It will be interesting to see if the two sides can come together for a deal such as this.
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