Heading into the 2025 season, it appeared the St. Louis Cardinals were preparing for a rebuild, especially with swirling trade rumors around Nolan Arenado—including a blocked move to the Houston Astros. But as the team struggled to find a destination that suited Arenado, the season got underway and the Cardinals remained on the edge of the playoff picture.
A resurgent Arenado helped quiet the trade chatter surrounding him, yet by the trade deadline, it was evident the Cardinals were more pretenders than true contenders. As a result, they offloaded short-term pieces that didn’t figure into their long-term plans.
Now it’s time for St. Louis to make some tough choices with the leftovers who didn’t have a market at the trade deadline as they look to give younger players opportunities and plot a path forward for 2026. These three players should be waived as August turns to September in an attempt to further prepare for the future.
Three players the Cardinals should waive by season’s end
Starting Pitcher Miles Mikolas
Things haven’t gone the way Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals had hoped when the two sides came to terms on a second contract extension ahead of the 2023 season. An All-Star with the Redbirds in 2018 and 2022, Mikolas regressed hard in 2023 with a 4.78 ERA. 2024 was even worse with a 5.35 mark, and the 37-year-old hasn’t rebounded at all in 2025, posting a 5.17 ERA in the final year of his deal.
Utility man Garrett Hampson
Garrett Hampson certainly brings versatility to the table, spending time at every position except first base and catcher this season. While that has some value, there isn’t much upside to be had by keeping the 30-year-old around.
Never known for his bat, the light-hitting Hampson put together the best season of his career back in 2023 with the Miami Marlins, hitting .276/.349/.380. That season was very much an outlier for him, and in 2025, he’s reached new levels of futility at the dish, slashing just .147/.256/.173 with a 31.5% strikeout rate.
Reliever Jorge Alcala
Like Hampson, Alcala has been well-traveled in 2025, with his Twins tenure coming to an end, resulting in a layover in Boston before making his way to St. Louis earlier this month. Unlike the others, Alcala has shown reasons to be optimistic about his future over the past few weeks.
As a Cardinal, the 30-year-old righty has pitched to a 1.69 ERA in an albeit limited sample of just 5.1 innings. He also did a serviceable job for the Red Sox with a 3.31 ERA over 16.1 innings of work in Beantown. Yet the bulk of his run this year came with the Twins, where he bled runs, posting an 8.88 ERA over 24.1 frames.
However, the regression in 2025, combined with him entering his final year of arbitration, makes him an expendable middle innings piece. St. Louis can find an arm to fill those innings with either more upside or a cheaper price tag next season. Therefore, it makes sense to get a jump on that search and cut Alcala loose before the end of the season.
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