The Texas Rangers acquired Phil Maton, the St. Louis Cardinals’ set-up man, for a pair of pitching prospects. Left-handed pitcher Mason Molina and right-handed pitcher Skylar Hales are heading to the Cardinals in exchange for Maton. It’s the third pitcher the Rangers have traded for at this year’s deadline, and the third reliever the Cardinals traded away.
Cardinals Trade Reliever Phil Maton to Rangers
We’ve acquired RHP Phil Maton from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for minor leaguers RHP Skylar Hales, LHP Mason Molina & International Bonus Pool Money. pic.twitter.com/PuixFv9fiV
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) July 31, 2025
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Rangers Bullpen Gets Better
The Rangers are getting a solid reliever in Maton. He has served as the Cardinals’ set-up man ahead of closer Ryan Helsley so far this season. Maton has a 2.35 ERA, 48 strikeouts, and 20 holds in 40 appearances this season. He will join a Rangers bullpen that already had the fourth-lowest ERA in the League at 3.37.
Maton was one of three pitchers the Rangers traded for at the deadline. They acquired Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly, which will likely push one of their back-of-the-rotation starters to the bullpen for middle relief. They also added Danny Coulombe from the Minnesota Twins. Coulombe has a 1.16 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 31 innings pitched this year.
The Rangers are five games out of the American League West lead and tied for the final AL Wild Card spot. Putting three arms, including Maton, in the bullpen will help them down the stretch. Maton is a free agent at the end of the season and owed about $634,000 for the rest of the season
Cardinals Add More Prospects
Molina and Hales are the Rangers’ 28th and 29th-ranked prospects, respectively. Molina is in Single-A, and Hales is in Triple-A. In total, the Cardinals added six prospects. Four of them were pitchers. In addition to Molina and Hales, the Cardinals received right-handed pitcher Nate Dohm and right-handed pitcher Frank Elissalt from the New York Mets in return for Helsley.
The Cardinals also received infielder Jesus Baez in return for Helsley. They also received corner infielder Blaze Jordan in return for left-handed pitcher Steven Matz.
“We were trying to focus on maybe some young starting pitching, but as you can tell, that was not really our highest level of return,” Cardinals’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters after the deadline passed on Thursday. “It came down to the potential suitors that we were speaking with, and we tried to navigate it the best we could, but ultimately ended up deciding to go with the players that we thought had the highest upside.”
St. Louis Bullpen Completely Changes
With the exodus of the Cardinals’ three best bullpen arms, the unit will look completely different going forward. The Cardinals’ bullpen had the sixth-lowest ERA in the League at 3.54.
Left-hander JoJo Romero, 2.04 ERA in 35 1/3 innings pitched, and right-hander Kyle Leahy, 2.78 ERA in 58 1/3 innings, are strong candidates to take over late-game work. Katie Woo of The Athletic has reported that Gordon Graceffo, who has been up and down between St. Louis and their Triple-A affiliate in Memphis, is a strong candidate to take over the ninth-inning work.
However, the Cards will have to fill three spots in their bullpen this week. While the organization may explore the buyout market, those holes are likely to be filled from their banged-up minor league roster.
Main Photo Credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images
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