With the trade deadline slowly approaching, the St. Louis Cardinals seem to have been in a space where they felt like they did not have to be sellers. Before the All-Star break, they were battling to stay within range of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, and one good run could see them catapult near the top.

Unfortunately, the opposite happened, and they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks. That led teams to start calling the Cardinals to see if they had changed their mind about staying pat before the deadline.

“People realized it was a tough weekend for us,” general manager John Mozeliak said via The Athletics.  “Where we are in the standings definitely affects our decision-making going forward. Playing those three games and losing all three was not helpful.”

With where the Cardinals were in the standings before the break, it made sense to keep their team together, but now, things are looking interesting days before the July 31 date.

“The Cardinals retained veteran players such as Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray without making significant investments in their major-league payroll to push forward. While creating opportunities for young talent, the Cardinals did not go all-in and replenish their farm system by trading, for example, All-Star closer Ryan Helsey. In this bridge season, the Cardinals have been largely competitive and mostly unexceptional,” The Athletic wrote.

There are several players on the Cardinals that teams have their eyes on, and Arenado has constantly been in trade rumors. Recently, Mozeliak let it be known that he sees Arenado as a part of the future for the team, but if something were to come up, he'd discuss that with him.

Depending on how things go these next couple of days for the Cardinals, it will be interesting to see what they do in the market.

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