Cardinals fans wouldn't mind Miles Mikolas starting his retirement plan a bit early

The St. Louis Cardinals sold at last week's trade deadline, but probably not as thoroughly as the team itself would've liked. John Mozeliak parted ways with several relievers on expiring contracts, but pretty much all of the team's high-priced veterans remained on the roster, preventing St. Louis from really leaning into the rebuild necessary to get back to meaningful contention.

One of those veterans was right-hander Miles Mikolas, who reportedly refused to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate a deal as he plays out the final year of his contract. As if watching the home stretch of a lost season weren't painful enough, Cardinals fans now have to watch the 36-year-old make pointless start after pointless start. And those starts just keep getting worse: On Tuesday night, Mikolas got lit up for five runs on seven hits in just three innings of a 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That dud ran Mikolas' ERA for the season up to 5.11, 11th-worst in all of baseball among pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings this year. He simply doesn't have the stuff to compete at the big-league level at this point in his career. With that in mind, maybe it's time to get a head start on the next phase of his career.

"I definitely want to return [to Japan] someday," Mikolas told Sports Hochi this week. "Playing in Japan is one of the best memories of my Baseball career."

If Cardinals fans had their way, "someday" would be as soon as the next flight.

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Miles Mikolas should no longer be a member of the Cardinals

There's simply no reason for Mikolas to still be on this Cardinals team. It would be one thing if St. Louis were in the Atlanta Braves' situation, with an entire rotation on the IL and a desperate need for anyone who can provide some innings. But St. Louis has plenty of young arms who could use the reps against MLB hitters ... and yet, they insist on running Mikolas out there every fifth day, despite the fact that he'll almost certainly be leaving town this winter.

In Mikolas' defense, he negotiated that full no-trade and has every right to use it. And you can't blame him for not wanting to uproot his family in the middle of a season, especially when there's no chance the Cardinals would have been sending him to a team in contention. But that doesn't make the situation any easier to stomach, as St. Louis essentially lights starts on fire and kicks the can even further down the road rather than gathering useful information for the future.