The Cardinals have played better than expected to start the 2026 season, which has been a treat to watch, especially considering that they’re in the middle of a rebuild. We will soon find out if this hot start is sustainable or if they will ultimately come back down to earth as expected, but if nothing else, Chaim Bloom’s new energy seems to have provided a spark among the team and organization as a whole.
Assuming they come back down to earth, it’s probably safe to say that the Cardinals will be sellers again at the trade deadline, which brings us to someone who could be a very valuable trade chip.
Dustin May, Ramon Urias, JoJo Romero and Ryne Stanek are all on expiring contracts, so trades involving them may already be a formality. However, David Schoenfield of ESPN listed some top trade chips for all 30 major league teams, and for the Cardinals, the top one was Riley O’Brien.
Will Leitch of MLB.com echoed this sentiment as well, saying that the Cardinals would be “silly” not to trade him. But if O’Brien is on the block, the Cardinals have a chance to do something that they failed to do when John Mozeliak was still in charge.
Cardinals could capitalize on Riley O’Brien after failing with Ryan Helsley
Let’s look back at 2024. That season, the Cardinals were buyers at the deadline, much to my chagrin, as well as most of the fanbase. Ryan Helsley was having a career season. He went on to save 49 games, setting a Cardinals franchise record and later being named the NL Reliever of the Year.
Granted, the Cardinals were still over .500 at the trade deadline, and that had come after they rallied from a 15-24 start to the year. The race was at least close, so buying could at least somewhat be justified.
However, that was the first chance they had to capitalize on Helsley. Instead, they held onto him, and while he gave fans some great memories that year, it would have been smart to capitalize on him then, especially when he still had two years of club control.
Following the season and after Mozeliak had announced that the organization would be entering a “reset,” he inexplicably pulled Helsley off the trade market, going back on his word and failing to capitalize on his value a second time. After such a historic season, Helsley’s value was at an all-time high, but Mozeliak banked on him to repeat his success, and by the time Helsley was traded, his value had gone way down, costing the Cardinals a hefty return package.
Fast forward to 2026, and Bloom now has an even better asset on his hands. O’Brien had yet to allow an earned run heading into Friday’s series opener with the Mariners. While Mason Miller is grabbing the headlines, he isn’t going to be traded unless something extreme happens with the Padres.
But what makes O’Brien even more attractive as a trade asset is that he has four years of club control. It’s going to take a while for the Cardinals to be a consistent contender again, so it makes sense to trade him. If he keeps this up, his value will skyrocket just in time for the trade deadline.
Because relievers are volatile, there’s no guarantee that even if O’Brien continues his success this year, he’ll be able to repeat it. That’s why now is the best time to capitalize on him. The Cardinals got a big haul for Brendan Donovan, but this could be even bigger, possibly even bigger than what they could’ve gotten for Helsley had they traded him at the right time.
I believe that because Bloom has been so transparent and honest about what he plans to do, we can trust that he’ll do the right thing at the trade deadline and capitalize on O’Brien. I’ll admit, I was expecting to see Dustin May named the top trade chip, but trading O’Brien makes all the sense in the world, and the Cardinals should not hesitate if a team calls them with the right offer.