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“I wouldn’t want to be a sourpuss about it,� Helsley told the Post-Dispatch. “Obviously, I want to stay here my whole career. But I think they have the perfect opportunity that they want to do now in the season, which is shed some payroll and get some guys out of here and see what the young guys can do in this last 60-or-so-game stretch.

“I would be, for sure, open to (signing) back.�

Two or three months away from the Cardinals after a trade, he agreed, would be a detour but not a detriment to his wish to be a long-term Cardinal.

He is the longest-tenured Cardinal on the current team.

“If they want you here,� the 2015 draft pick said. “That means a lot, too.�

A year removed from his club-record 49 saves, Helsley is one of the top relievers available at this week’s trade deadline. The Cardinals have notified teams of their willingness to trade the right-hander, who becomes a free agent at season’s end. Teams like the Yankees, Dodgers and Phillies and several others have been in contact with the Cardinals as part their shopping for a late-game additions, according to multiple sources. Toronto has also expressed some level of interest.

With three pending free agents in their bullpen and the openness to also discuss at least lefty John King, the Cardinals are a clearinghouse for all the teams seeking relievers, and that gives them insight into prices to ask.

The marketplace shifted dramatically Monday when arguably the top closer available, Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase, was placed on leave due to a gambling probe.

Clase, whose contract has a team option that carries through 2028, and Helsley won the reliever of the year awards in their respective leagues in 2024. Clase, 27, led the American League in saves for three consecutive seasons and finished with 47 to go with a 0.61 ERA in 2024. That won the Mariano Rivera Award as the top reliever in the AL.

Helsley, 31, led the majors with those 49 saves and won the NL’s equivalent, the Trevor Hoffman Award. This season, Helsley has 21 saves and a 3.00 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 36 innings.

One fewer elite closer available increases the bidding for the few others.

Helsley has been candid since spring about the possibility of being traded. And he’s said a few times in the past week how he’s now braced for it and expects it. In 2023, Helsley was one of a few players the front office told personally they would not be traded at the deadline. He and fellow reliever Steven Matz have not heard much from the front office as of Monday, and the Cardinals are pursuing offers for those two relievers and veteran setup man Phil Maton.

Helsley’s preference, he’s said repeatedly, is to stay in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and sign an extension with the Cardinals — one he expressed interest in seeking several times in the past 18 months. The Cardinals are the closest team to his Oklahoma home, its the only organization he’s known and he’s grown closer with teammates.

“Familiarity,â€� he explained. “I’ve gotten close with a lot of these young guys, and I just feel like the tradition is here. Knowing the past greats and getting the chance I’ve had to be involved in the community. All of that means something to me. It’s A to Z, top to bottom, all of the things that are involved with being a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cardinal is appealing.â€�

Asked if he felt the organization, in its self-described “transition� year, shows signs of heading in a positive direction, Helsley nodded.

“I really do,� Helsley said. “It’s not a secret that we’ve got to get starting pitching. At some point, they’re going to have to spend money if they’re going to compete. Our minor league system has been crushed by injuries. Obviously, that makes even more sense to trade us now to get some prospects.�

It’s happened before that a team capitalized on a reliever in a trade to replenish the minors or acquire prospects and then swung right back around to sign that same reliever as a free agent a few months later. The team can acquire the cost of the rental and then re-sign the reliever to the club his departure helped improve.

In 2016, the New York Yankees pulled off a quick reboot by dealing All-Star relievers to Cleveland and the Cubs — the two teams that would eventually meet in the World Series. The Yankees sent lefty closer Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for a haul that included infielder and future All-Star Gleyber Torres and pitcher Adam Warren. That trade happened on July 25, 2016, and less than five months later, Chapman returned to the Yankees on a five-year, $86 million deal that was the most lucrative for a reliever at the time.

Two years later, the New York Mets traded reliever Jeurys Familia at the July deadline to the Athletics for two players, Bobby Wahl and Will Toffey. In December of that same year, the Mets signed Familia to a three-year, $30 million deal to rejoin the bullpen.

This past week, Arizona starter Merrill Kelly and his agent let the Diamondbacks know that if they traded him, he would be open to coming back as a free agent, The Arizona Republic reported.

If the Cardinals trade Helsley, that eliminates the ability his next team has to present him a qualifying offer and affix a draft pick surcharge to signing him as a free agent. That usually increases the interest in a player. That does help frame what the Cardinals want to get in return for Helsley via trade. If they keep the two-time All-Star, the Cardinals can present him a qualifying offer — the equivalent of a one-year deal for 2026 at a salary slightly more than $20 million — and if he rejects it, they’ll get a compensatory draft pick of significant value.

The draft pick is then tied to the size of contract Helsley signs.

“You may only get one chance most of the time in your career to test the free-agent market, too,� Helsley said. “So you’re so close, and God willing, I’ll stay healthy. You think about that too as a player.�

He said that opportunity and the appeal of being a Cardinal will be factors.

The Cardinals do not have a defined closer-in-waiting, though lefty JoJo Romero has past experience in the role and manager Oliver Marmol has increasingly trusted Kyle Leahy in higher-leverage spots. Internally, the Cardinals see Gordon Graceffo as a possible closer candidate as well.

However the hours before Thursday’s trade deadline play out, the Cardinals’ next decision on Helsley will be made after Chaim Bloom takes over baseball operations as its president. Bloom’s appetite for high-dollar or long-term deals for relievers will be an early question as he moves into a bigger office.

If Helsley remains with the Cardinals, the qualifying offer will be the next front office’s call. If the Cardinals trade Helsley as one of the final acts from longtime president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, it will be his successor who deliberates with ownership and decides whether the Cardinals bid on a free-agent closer and if such spending fits into their plans for 2026 and beyond.

“I think there is a lot to like here,� Helsley said late Monday night, motioning around the Cardinals clubhouse he was about to leave for the day. “I think the talent is here. We play scrappy baseball here. We don’t have a lot of thump in our lineup, but I think there are guys who can get there. For sure, it’s there.�