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One veteran referred to it as “super-noise.”

As the July 31 trade deadline nears and the Cardinals find themselves fielding offers for players on expiring contracts for the second time in three years, the feeling in the clubhouse is different than the losing season of 2023 and curiosity of acquisition in 2024, several players said. Willson Contreras said he’s shut the door completely to any trade deadline chatter.

“I’m not looking to the trade deadline,” he said late Monday night. “I’m just focused on getting the team right — doing the small things. Whatever (Mozeliak) is going to do, he’s going to do. We’re not focusing on that. That’s super-noise. If he’s going to sell, he’s going to sell. If he’s going to acquire, he’s going to acquire. The only thing we can control is what we do here inside. The way we go through our business — on and off the field — and then we play the game.

“Our mentality, our mindset right now is focusing in the clubhouse, is focusing here,” Contreras continued. “Whatever is going to happen on the trade deadline is going to happen. Our mindset is to make adjustments day in and day out and play our best baseball so the good things happen.”

The Cardinals’ victory Monday night stemmed a three-game losing stream coming out of the break, but recent road troubles — they entered Tuesday 2-8 in their past 10 — have coincided with hot streaks by division rivals. Milwaukee woke up Tuesday on an 11-game winning streak and boasting the best record in baseball at 60-40. The Reds have gone 6-4 in their past 10, and that’s been enough to tie the Cardinals for third place, at 52-49 in the National League Central.

The number of teams ahead of the Cardinals in the division and wild-card standings has change the trade deadline “equation,” president of baseball operations Mozeliak said Monday at Coors Field. And the volume of calls he’s received from other teams increased after the series sweep in Arizona.

The volume of chatter in the clubhouse has been there but not pervasive.

“I feel like this has been the least distracted when it comes to that,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “They’re really just focused on what’s next — which is tonight’s game. There has been very little assumptions or conversations. It’s actually hasn’t been a distraction at all. A lot of the clubhouse conversations have been around getting on a run and taking care of what we can take care of. Not so much trying to play GM and guessing as to what’s next.”

Three of the Cardinals relievers — All-Star closer Ryan Helsley, setup man Phil Maton and swingman lefty Steven Matz — are all free agents at season’s end and have drawn varying degrees of interest from other teams.

“I would love to stay here long-term, but I also understand teams have to look at the return,” Helsley said. “You see both sides of it as a fan of the game and also as a player. If we traded someone and we get the return that helps the organization down the road or we can get someone to make a deeper push this year. It’s hard to make the postseason every year, so you want that chance.”

Mozeliak said he planned to talk with Nolan Arenado in the coming days about what his wishes are at the deadline and if he would like the team to explore trades. Arenado has a no-trade clause that he has already exercised in the past year to block a trade to Houston. Contreras along with starters Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas also have no-trade clauses. Mozeliak said he would talk to the others as well but did not expect any change in their preferences to stay with the Cardinals though “it’s worth a conversation.”

Regarding Arenado specifically, Mozeliak said: “Right now, I would say we envision him being a part” of the team after the deadline.

This time of year, Marmol meets individually with players and his coaches keep in conversation with players to be available for questions or concerns about the trade deadline. Marmol added that with the veterans and their no-trade clauses he talks with them “when the time is right” for a candid exchange. It’s those talks, he said, that keep trade talks from becoming too much the talk of the clubhouse.

“It hasn’t been a distraction,” Marmol said, “because guys feel communicated to.”

Burleson back from bruised foot

Alec Burleson left Monday night’s 6-2 victory after fouling a pitch off the top of his right foot and bruising it so deeply that it was difficult to run or plant his foot.

X-rays taken at Coors Field did not illuminate any fractures, and Burleson said late Monday night that he had been diagnosed with a bruised foot.

But Burleson was back in the lineup Tuesday.

Although not initially in the Cardinals’ starting nine, Burleson tested his swing and running before the evening game and felt comfortable and strong enough to play. The pain subsided with the help of ice that night, and by Tuesday afternoon, the soreness had calmed so that he could test his swing before the game.

Burleson called the overnight plan “pound it with treatment.”

Cardinals spend record sum on draft

The Cardinals finalized agreements with all of their draft picks this past week, and by the end of the signing period, they committed a club record amount in bonuses to players drafted. The Cardinals recently announced deals with second-round pick Ryan Mitchell, a prep outfielder out of Tennessee, and college pitchers Cade Crossland and Ethan Young. All three received above slot bonuses as the Cardinals maneuvered their spending strategically to lure a player like Mitchell away from a commitment to Georgia Tech.

The Cardinals committed $14,106,700 to their 11 picks from the top 10 rounds, according to Post-Dispatch research and reports from Baseball America and . That comes in just under their purse of $14,238,300.

But several of the Cardinals’ picks after the 10th round received bonuses greater than $150,000, and the overage counts against the cap. For example, Baseball America reported Kansas right-hander Alex Breckheimer, the Cardinals’ 16th-round pick, received a bonus of $200,000 to bring his 98 mph fastball and 30% swing-and-miss rate to pro ball.