The St. Louis Cardinals missed the postseason for the second year in a row after playing in October each season between 2019 and 2022. It appears this lack of success has the organization going into some kind of short-term rebuild heading into 2025.
Could the Cardinals make an unexpected trade for Athletics slugger Brent Rooker? Rooker is fresh off winning his first Silver Slugger Award thanks to hitting .293/.365/.562 with 39 home runs, 26 doubles, 112 RBI and 82 runs scored in 614 plate appearances. This was his second straight season with at least 30 homers, but his overall offensive production skyrocketed. His OPS went from .817 in 2023 to .927 in 2024.
Spotrac is projecting the right-handed hitter will earn $3.5 million next season. He’s also under team control through 2027. That makes Rooker an interesting trade target for teams in need of more offense. A’s general manager David Forst said on Nov. 5 that the club doesn’t plan on trading Rooker this winter.
However, things can change – especially if the right package of players is presented in hopes of making a deal. Josh Jacobs of FanSided’s Redbird Rants put together five “wild” trade proposals St. Louis should consider to accelerate the organization’s reset. Here’s what he came up with for a potential A’s-Cardinals swap: – Cardinals receive: designated hitter Brent Rooker –
A’s receive: second baseman Nolan Gorman, first baseman Alec Burleson and right-handed pitcher Tekoah Roby This could potentially be attractive for the A’s because both Gorman and Burleson are under team control through 2029 and won’t be arbitration-eligible until 2026.
Roby was St. Louis’ sixth-best prospect in 2024, according to MLB.com. A deal sending Rooker to the Cardinals – or anywhere else – is probably unlikely. However, it’ll be interesting to see if the slugger is truly not available in trade talks this winter.
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