{"id":90417,"date":"2025-07-25T04:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T04:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/90417\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T04:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T04:13:10","slug":"what-were-hearing-about-the-mlb-trade-deadline-ryan-helsley-the-rockies-and-the-relief-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/90417\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re hearing about the MLB trade deadline: Ryan Helsley, the Rockies and the relief market"},"content":{"rendered":"

What we\u2019re hearing about the MLB trade deadline is a collection of news and notes from our reporting team of Patrick Mooney, Will Sammon, Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal.<\/p>\n

If Ryan Helsley had it his way, he\u2019d be a St. Louis Cardinal for life.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals closer is no stranger to trade speculation. Rumors regarding his future have swirled since last October, when the team first announced it would be taking steps back and focusing on the future. He maintained then, just as he maintains now, that he wants to stay in St. Louis.<\/p>\n

But now, with less than a week remaining before the trade deadline, Helsley understands the writing is on the wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit different this time,\u201d Helsley acknowledged. \u201cThe likelihood is probably as great as it\u2019s ever been for me to get traded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cardinals entered play Thursday one game above .500, 9 1\/2 games out in the National League Central and 3 1\/2 games out of the final NL wild card spot. They stumbled out of the break and went 1-5 on their most recent road trip, which included being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks and dropping two of three games to the dismal Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n

Manager Oli Marmol described Wednesday\u2019s game, a 6-0 shutout loss to Colorado, as \u201cthe worst game we\u2019ve played all season.\u201d<\/p>\n

That should signal sell time in St. Louis, but the club has not yet publicly declared whether it will actually do so. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak acknowledged earlier in the week the standings will ultimately force his deadline decision<\/a>. The Cardinals rarely sell \u2014 they have done so just one time in Mozeliak\u2019s nearly two-decade long stint atop the organization. But all signs point toward a soft sell-off in Mozeliak\u2019s final season.<\/p>\n

\ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a front office perspective, I think they saw what they wanted to see,\u201d Helsley said. \u201cDo you sell, where this is a two or three-year rebuild? Or do you just solely take this as a rebuild year?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many different scenarios you can do. But I want to stay here. I want to help us win here, with the Cardinals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving Helsley, who will be a first-time free agent at the end of the season, seems unavoidable. The Cardinals elected to hold on to Helsley coming into the year, a decision that baffled rival executives at the time. Now several of those same executives are speed-dialing Mozeliak, eager to deal for one of baseball\u2019s top closers. At least five teams have inquired with varying degrees of interest, league sources said.<\/p>\n

Helsley\u2019s value is not nearly as high as it was in the winter. Some of that is to be expected, as an acquiring team would gain just two months of control. But there is also at least some underlying concern regarding how hard he\u2019s been hit this season. Helsley owns one of the most powerful fastballs in the sport, but opposing hitters are teeing off on it this year, posting a .415 average and a .538 slugging percentage.<\/p>\n

Still, contending teams want firepower, and relief pitching is always coveted this time of year. Helsley and the Cleveland Guardians\u2019 Emmanuel Clase look to be the top closers available, leaving Helsley counting down the days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say it\u2019s 90 percent I go, 10 percent I stay,\u201d Helsley said.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Rockies are listening to trade offers for reliever Victor Vodnik, but the asking price is high, league sources said. Similarly, the Rockies would entertain calls on reliever Seth Halvorsen, but would want a big return.<\/p>\n

Each pitcher is under club control for a handful of seasons. Vodnik, 25, isn\u2019t a free agent until after the 2029 season. Halvorsen, also 25, doesn\u2019t reach free agency until after the 2030 season.<\/p>\n

In the past, the Rockies have been reluctant to move pitchers with multiple years left before free agency, though they did flip reliever Nick Mears to the Milwaukee Brewers last season for Bradley Blalock and Yujanyer Herrera.<\/p>\n

If Colorado were to trade any of its relievers with club control, rival teams suggested Jake Bird as the likeliest to go. The Athletic previously reported<\/a> the Rockies\u2019 willingness to listen to offers for Bird.<\/p>\n

Vodnik, whose four-seam fastball averages 98.5 mph, has a 3.00 ERA in 30 innings this season with 30 strikeouts and 17 walks. Last year, he racked up 73 2\/3 innings and posted a 4.28 ERA with nine saves. Halvorsen, who has nine saves this season, is another hard-thrower with a four-seam fastball averaging 100.1 mph. In 37 2\/3 innings, he has a 5.02 ERA with 35 strikeouts against 18 walks.<\/p>\n

(Photo of Ryan Helsley: Dilip Vishwanat \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re hearing about the MLB trade deadline is a collection of news and notes from our reporting…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":90418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1283,1266,62,3692,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-90417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-colorado-rockies","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114911930327891092","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}