By Rob Rains
About two hours before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. trading deadline, Dylan Carlson stood in front of his locker in the Cardinals clubhouse unsure of what to do.
He knew the rumors. He could look across the room and see Tommy Pham’s nameplate on a locker. Carlson knew he might have less than 120 minutes left in his time with the Cardinals.
Still, Carlson wondered if he should put on his uniform and start preparing for a game that he, in all likelihood, would not play.
It was a confusing time, with the Cardinals really not hiding the fact that they were trying to trade Carlson, once the top prospect in the organization, but Carlson really didn’t know if he was going somewhere, or where he was going.
He found out the answer right before the deadline. Carlson, still only 25, was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for righthanded reliever Shawn Armstrong.
The trade ends his tenure with the Cardinals that began when he was a first-round draft pick in 2016, developed into the organization’s top prospect and finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2021.
Since then, however, injuries limited Carlson’s playing time, including what turned out to be the beginning of the end of his stay in St. Louis days before this season was to begin in Los Angeles.
After a very good spring training, Carlson was set to begin the year as the Cardinals’ starting center fielder while Tommy Edman was recovering from last October’s wrist surgery. Then, in the next-to-last game of spring training in Arizona, Carlson and Jordan Walker collided in the outfield trying to catch a fly ball.
Carlson sprained his shoulder, an injury that would sideline him until early May. By then, his path to consistent playing time was blocked by the emergence of Michael Siani and Alec Burleson.
“From that standpoint it’s hard to replicate spring training when you miss it,” said John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations. “After going through it, he was out for over a month and his timing never really got going.”
The success of Siani and Burleson also prompted the Cardinals to trade Edman to the Dodgers on Monday in the three-way deal that brought Pham and starter Erick Fedde to the Cardinals.
Carlson and Edman are the latest in a long line of outfielders the Cardinals have traded in recent years, many of whom have taken advantage of the fresh start to go on and have success with other teams.
Pham also was once traded by the Cardinals to the Rays, as was Randy Arozarena in a move that worked out very well for him.
“It’s a little bittersweet when you have to trade someone like Dylan Carlson but in all honesty it just wasn’t working here,” Mozeliak said. “We were going to be left with a tough decision about what to do so ultimately we felt like give him a change of scenery, be able to address some of our needs.
“When I look back at his career he moved quick. He had a lot of positives on that ride up here and contributed right away at the big-league level and then never really got his footing … Hopefully he can re-establish himself. I certainly think he is a talented guy but I do think his time here, it wasn’t fair to him and it wasn’t helping us.”
Armstrong, 33, has pitched in the majors since 2015 and has been with the Rays since 2022. This season he had 50 strikeouts in 46 innings while being used in middle relief.
Pham drove from Chicago to St. Louis on Monday night and joked on Tuesday that the first thing he thought about after learning of the trade was how he was going to get his old number, 28, back from Nolan Arenado.
He didn’t. Pham will wear number 29.
A lot of the other surroundings, however, will be familiar to Pham, including his relationship with his new manager, Oli Marmol. The two first met in 2007 in Batavia, N.Y., when they each played for the Cardinals’ entry in the New York-Penn League. Pham was 19, Marmol was 20.
“He hasn’t changed,” Marmol said. “His complete mindset has a different gear. He operates on one speed and it’s winning baseball.”
Pham was not in the starting lineup on Tuesday night. At least initially he is expected to play against lefthanded pitchers – an area where the Cardinals have struggled this year – and be a bat off the bench.
Pham agreed that his intensity and desire to win has not changed.
“I’ve told myself that when I stop working hard I’m done,” Pham said. “It’s good to be back. Got to help the team win.
“This is definitely a special place when you are playing winning baseball and in the postseason.”
Two former Cardinals were dealt before Tuesday’s deadline. Jack Flaherty went from Detroit to the Dodgers while Paul DeJong was traded from the White Sox to the Royals.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
