Cardinals $75 Million All-Star Linked To National League Rival

St. Louis could look very different in 2025

Sep 12, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray (54) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

What's next for the St. Louis Cardinals?

St. Louis bought around the trade deadline and fought for a playoff spot. The Cardinals had a tough second half and ended up missing the postseason for the second straight year. St. Louis now seems to be trending in a different direction.

Although the Cardinals fought for a playoff spot, they are now a team in transition. Chaim Bloom will take over the organization at the end of the 2025 season, so it's unclear how much the team will put into the organization for this upcoming season. Plus, the organization already mentioned that the payroll will be going down.

Trades seem like a near certainty, and Sonny Gray has already been mentioned as someone who could be moved. But he has a no-trade clause. He doesn't need to leave the organization, but that doesn't mean St. Louis won't try to get a deal done. One team that was floated as a possible landing spot is the New York Mets by FanSided's Christopher Kline.

"New York has the financial wherewithal to trade for Gray," Kline said. "It's made even more sensible by the fact that most of the Mets' very dependable rotation — Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, and Luis Severino — hits free agency in a couple of months. New York will have its sights set elsewhere, so retaining all three seems unlikely. In fact, New York may try to actively upgrade across the board. The window has never been more open for a Mets takeover in the (National League) East, with Atlanta floundering and Philadelphia getting older by the year...

"The risk is fairly limited relative to the upside of planting Gray next to Kodai Senga atop the rotation. The Mets should be going all-out this winter, and Steve Cohen has never been afraid to adding multiple expensive stars when the moment is right. Trading for Gray shouldn't prevent the Mets from targeting (Juan Soto) or (Corbin Burnes). If anything, it might aid their pursuit of the offseason's crème de la crème."

St. Louis has some decisions to make.

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