Despite everyone else begging them to finally kickstart the rebuild, the St. Louis Cardinals entered this season making lots of noise about trying to contend in a winnable NL Central (well, or so we thought, until the Chicago Cubs decided to drop the clutch on everybody). But as the calendar fliips to May, that's not going so well: After a blowout loss against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon, St. Louis sits at 14-18, saved from the division cellar by only the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates.
Arguably the single biggest culprit behind that slow start? The bullpen, whose 4.69 ERA ranks 24th in baseball as Oli Marmol struggles to find any reliable options beyond Ryan Helsley and Phil Maton. So, with a playoff spot already slipping out of reach, it's no surprise that the Cardinals swung a trade involving a promising relief prospect.
Wait, I'm sorry — you mean to tell me that St. Louis was the one giving up a promising relief prospect, sending Triple-A righty Ryan Loutos to the Los Angeles Dodgers for nothing but cash considerations?
Oh. Oh, no.
There is, of course, an explanation here. St. Louis promoted infielder Jose Barrero to the Major League roster earlier this week, a move that required someone else to be send down. John Mozeliak decided that someone would be Loutos, who was designated for assignment ... only to be snatched up by L.A. on Thursday. Faced with simply losing him for nothing, the Cardinals at least got some money out of the deal.
Still, the logic behind it doesn't make this move any better for a team that continues to look as though it has no sense of direction.
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Cardinals aren't in a position to let relievers walk out the door
A 26-year-old with just three big-league innings under his belt, Loutos is hardly a sure thing. But he's pitched very well at Triple-A Memphis in the early going, with a 3.38 ERA over eight innings of work. You'd think that, given the tire fire that is the majority of the St. Louis bullpen, a player like that might be worth a look to see if he can help.
But you would think wrong, apparently. The fact that the Dodgers were eager to snag Loutos should be setting off alarm bells in the Cardinals front office, given how adept L.A. has been at identifying and developing talent under Andrew Friedman. Los Angeles is itself in need of pitching depth, and they saw enough in this profile to jump the line and secure his services.
What's good for the best organization in baseball is not good enough for Mozeliak, though. If the Cardinals really are serious about trying to be as competitive as possible in 2025, or even if they just want to stumble upon a trade chip they can flip at the deadline, Louton sure seemed worth a spin. But Mozeliak isn't sure what he wants in his final season, and he can't seem to get out of his team's way.