Latest Cardinals rumor suggests one trade candidate is off the table

The St. Louis Cardinals are 20-26 with a woefully underperforming offense and the 24th-best collective ERA in baseball. It's all ugly, and right now, it's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. John Mozeliak has inspired no confidence in the fanbase and Oli Marmol, who inked an inexplicable extension over the winter, continues to get out-coached on a weekly basis.

As was the case last season. St. Louis is positioned to set up shop at the July 30 trade deadline. The Cards famously sent Jordan Montgomery to Arlington last summer, where he won the World Series with the Texas Rangers. Jack Flaherty was shipped to the Baltimore Orioles. He was, um, less successful in his new home.

Once again, the Cardinals are primed to clean house in the bullpen with a series of trades. Veterans Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, who both signed one-year deals this offseason, are trade candidates, per The Athletic's Jim Bowden. Miles Mikolas is another potential deadline mover.

That said, there is one Cards starter off the table. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but Sonny Gray is reportedly not available in trades. That could always change — we have a little over two months until the deadline passes — but St. Louis didn't pay Gray all that money just to jump ship at the first hint of adversity.

St. Louis Cardinals will not move Sonny Gray at MLB trade deadline

The 34-year-old Gray inked a three-year, $75 million deal with St. Louis early in the offseason. He has been the Cards' best starter by a country mile, as expected. He's 5-2 in seven starts with a 3.05 ERA and 1.065 WHIP, netting 53 strikeouts in 41.1 innings pitched. Gray continues to showcase impressive location control and deceptive power. Even without great velocity, Gray's strikeout rate lands in the league's 93rd percentile.

Age is the obvious concern here. Gray is a three-time All-Star who finished second in Cy Young voting last season, but his longevity is uncertain. The Cards are not a competitive team and it's not like St. Louis is well-positioned to flip a switch and contend in 2025 or 2026. This mess requires a full teardown and a comprehensive reshaping of the roster.

Even so, the Cards did not invest in Gray for one season. He's around for at least three years, with clear confidence from the front office. As such, don't expect him to get traded. A lot of contenders would sell the farm (system) to land Gray, but St. Louis is committed to at least pretending to care about winning baseball games. With such an expensive roster full of unrealized talent and has-beens, it's not hard to understand why St. Louis would cling to its best player for dear life.

Maybe signing a bunch of past-prime vets in their upper-30s to surround Gray in the starting rotation was a bad idea. If only there was some indication last season that maybe, just maybe, this St. Louis squad isn't cut out for contending.