By Rob Rains
The Cardinals already know that they will have to work around one major obstacle as they begin to tackle their off-season to-do list.
Like every team in baseball, they head into this period with the knowledge that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the owners and the players union expires on Dec. 1, and owners have threatened to institute a lockout if a new deal is not reached. Whether that happens or not is out of the control of the Cardinals, but it definitely will affect how they go about their business.
Until Chaim Bloom and the rest of baseball executives are told to put down their pencils on that day, the Cardinals need to continue to operate as if there will be no lockout and that spring training, and the regular season, will begin as scheduled next year.
The likelihood of that happening is, at the moment, highly doubtful. That fact, however, will only complicate the work that lies ahead for the Cardinals as they try to take the next steps forward in the “rebuild” process.
To do that, here are the 10 biggest questions Bloom and his staff will have to ask themselves, and try to answer, before next season begins, whenever that turns out to be:
- How do we fix the bullpen?
Anybody who spent any time at all watching the Cardinals this season knows that this has to be the biggest item on the team’s off-season agenda. Night after night, a reliever came into a game and walked the first batter he faced, which was only part of the problem.
The Cardinals lost 28 games in an opponent’s final at-bat. They suffered nine walk-off losses and lost 30 games by one run. The closer, Riley O’Brien, blew eight saves.
As a group, Cardinals’ relievers walked 291 batters, the fourth most in the NL. They also allowed 334 runs, also the fourth highest total in the league. Two of the teams who gave up more runs, the Reds and Rockies, finished in last place. The other team was the Washington Nationals.
The 291 walks came in 613 innings. The Cardinals’ starters logged 829 innings, more than 200 more than the relieves, and issued 18 fewer walks.
Even in games that the Cardinals managed to hang on to win, there were only a precious few that didn’t include the opponent putting the tying or go-ahead runners on base in the late innings.
Bloom can’t get rid of everybody who was in the bullpen this year, but there definitely needs to be an overhaul. Some of the young pitchers could get better with a little more experience, and there are more pitchers coming up through the system as starters than there will be starting spots available in the majors, so maybe some can be turned into relievers.
One name to watch is Sandro Santana. He is a 21-year-old lefthander acquired in the Lars Nootbaar trade with the Diamondbacks. Across three levels this year, including Triple A, he allowed 34 hits in 64 innings with 101 strikeouts, a rate of 14.2 strikeouts per nine innings. He only gave up three homers while facing 255 batters.
The Cardinals also will no doubt survey the trade market to see what relievers will be available from other teams.
- Who are the team’s best trade chips?
While Bloom addressed most of the team’s biggest trade options last winter and before this year’s trade deadline in early August, he has three more players he could move in his quest to continue to upgrade the team’s farm system.
The two players who could bring the greatest return are Ivan Herrera and Andre Pallante. Moving each of them this winter could make sense.
Herrera is now 26 and had a good but not great season, basically matching his home run and RBI numbers from a year ago, but in 54 more games. His average also fell from .284 to .241. What the Cardinals learned this season, however, is that he can’t really be counted on as a catcher going forward. He doesn’t have another position except as the DH – and it doesn’t seem like they want to have a full-time DH when they can fill that spot with a combination of players.
The arrival of Leo Bernal, with top prospect Rainiel Rodriguez also a catcher coming right behind Bernal, also makes Herrera, who has three years of team control remaining, expendable in the right deal.
Pallante, who will be 28 next year, is coming off the best season of his career and that’s why this could be the perfect time to trade him. He also is in line for a pretty significant pay raise in arbitration. With Kyle Leahy, Michael McGreevy and Quinn Mathews already in line for spots in the rotation and possibly Matthew Liberatore and/or Cooper Hjerpe, with Richard Fitts and Tekoah Roby coming back from injury and more young pitchers on the horizon, there seems to be enough choices coming up to fill the last one or two spots. A team acquiring Pallante would get two years of control before he can become a free agent.
The third player who could be a good trade chip is Pedro Pages. He also is headed to arbitration, and he plays a valuable role on the team, but the Cardinals will have to decide if they want to carry three catchers again next season when Bernal and likely Jimmy Crooks can handle the position until Rodriguez is ready.
- Should we listen to offers for Masyn Winn?
As much as Winn helps the Cardinals with his Gold Glove-caliber defense, shortstop has become an offensive position in the majors and his production was well below the league average this season.
It was also the third consecutive year in which his core offensive numbers declined. In 2024, as a rookie, Winn hit 15 homers and posted a .267 average. This year he hit five homers and finished with a .232 average. He also struck out a career-high 116 times.
If the Cardinals could get an upgrade offensively that would not include a major dropoff on defense, maybe they should think about it. Winn will play next year at 25 and has three years of team control left before he can become a free agent – under the current rules. It’s doubtful the Cardinals would initiate those trade talks, but if somebody calls, they should listen.
Jesus Baez was the Springfield shortstop for much of this season and hit 39 homers between his stays at Peoria and in Double A. JJ Wetherholt and Thomas Saggese played short when Winn was hurt. Could either be at least a short-term replacement option? Or do the Cardinals bet on Winn finding a way to be more productive on offense next season?
- Is one of the internal candidates good enough to be the starting third baseman?
The Cardinals used seven players at third base this season, and none of them excelled offensively. Combined they posted a .211 average with 16 homers and 68 RBIs. Nolan Gorman had the most at-bats of anybody in the group.
Third base is one of three positions where the Cardinals hope to get an offensive upgrade next season, along with shortstop and center field. If they choose to stay within the organization, there are three likely candidates to become the starter – Blaze Jordan, Thomas Saggese or Jesus Baez, even though he mostly played shortstop in the minors this season.
Jordan was playing well before his season ended early because of an ankle injury. Saggese took advantage of injuries to Winn and Wetherholt to get extended playing time and regular at-bats in September and left a nice impression. This is certainly the most open position on the roster heading into next season.
- What do we do with Riley O’Brien and Matthew Liberatore?
As the Cardinals look ahead to 2027, should they count on Liberatore being one of their starters? Do they consider O’Brien locked into the closer role?
The answers to those questions could dictate some of the potential moves within the rotation and the bullpen. Leahy, McGreevy and Mathews should be set for the 2027 rotation, with Pallante also part of that group if he isn’t traded. Is Liberatore, who finished the year with two good starts, a better fit to stay in the rotation or move to the bullpen? As he heads into his second year of arbitration, with a pay raise coming, it also wouldn’t be a surprise to hear his name come up in trade conversations.
O’Brien’s status also will be a topic of conversation. The save total for this year was impressive, 38, which tied Mason Miller of the Padres for the most in the league, but the eye test wasn’t as positive as teams would like from their closer. If O’Brien is back, the Cardinals should open up the closer competition to other candidates in the spring.
- Do we have other players who don’t fit into plans for next year?
It’s probably time to give Gorman and Victor Scott II a fresh start somewhere else. If the Cardinals can’t find a trading partner for them, either or both could be designated for assignment before the 40-man roster is set or before the Cardinals would be required to offer them a contract for next season.
Gorman never got untracked again this season, even during a two-month stint at Triple A. Maybe he can find out what happened to the rookie who hit 27 homers somewhere else. Scott II was playing well in his final month in Memphis, but when he was promoted to the Cardinals in September, he only started two games.
Ryne Stanek has an option for next season, but the Cardinals should exercise the buyout on his contract as part of their bullpen reconstruction. Other relievers who could be on the move include Ryan Fernandez, Matt Svanson and Hancel Rincon as the team tries to open spots on the 40-man roster.
Needing an open spot could affect Cesar Prieto as well, who also probably needs to move on to a team where he would have a chance for more regular playing time. He is stuck behind Saggese, Jose Fermin and Bryan Torres in his role as a backup infielder.
- Who needs to be added to the 40-man roster?
Four players are pretty obvious choices. Shortstop Jesus Baez figures to get a look as a third-base candidate next season. Outfielder Won-Bin Cho had a bounce-back season with 20 homers and 30 stolen bases between Peoria and Springfield and just turned 23 in August.
Also set to be added are righthander Jacob Odle, who averaged 13 strikeouts per nine innings between Palm Beach and Peoria, and outfielder Colton Ledbetter, acquired from Tampa Bay in the three-way Brendan Donovan trade, who might be the sleeper in that deal after a solid year split between Springfield and Memphis.
The Cardinals will have to decide if former first-round pick Chris Davis and righthander Chen-Wei Lin are worthy of being added to the 40-man if there is room, or risk losing them in the Rule 5 draft. Righthander Ixan Henderson missed most of the season with an injury and is now recovering from surgery, which makes his status a little cloudy.
The extra factor that can’t be ignored in these decisions is that there might not be a Rule 5 draft this year as it would be scheduled after a potential lockout begins.
Luckily for the Cardinals, most of their top prospects – including Rainiel Rodriguez, Liam Doyle, Tanner Franklin, Tai Peete, Alexander Frias, Jurrangelo Cijntje, Brandon Clarke and Trevor Condon – are too young to have to go on the 40-man this winter.
- Is it time to sign anybody else to a long-term extension?
The answer is probably no, but not because of the performance of the most likely candidates for an extension, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson. It’s a no because of the timing, from both the team and the player’s point of view. The only player the Cardinals actually have signed to a 2027 contract is Wetherholt, and the timing of his extension was different because of his service time and the dollars involved in the long-term deal.
The uncertainty of what the rules for arbitration and free agency will be under the new CBA, whenever that is completed, would affect the years of control a team would have on a player. The players know they have a better bargaining position if there are less years required for arbitration and/or free agency, and they know their numbers from this season will not change between now and the spring. It could be better for both sides to wait, see what the new rules are, and then decide if an extension makes sense.
- Are there any free agents who we should pursue?
The answer to this question comes with another question – how much money are the Cardinals willing to spend? The most likely place to look for a free agent move is in the bullpen, but are the Cardinals willing to spend what it would take to bring in a top-end reliever?
Lefthander Adrian Morejon of the Padres, who will be 28 next year, or Yankees righthander David Bednar, who will be 32, would look very good coming into a game in the eighth or ninth inning, but both likely will cost more than the Cardinals usually want to spend on a closer. A somewhat cheaper option who has had a good season this year for the Dodgers is lefthander Alex Vesia, who will pitch next year at 31.
With all of the starting candidates in the Cardinals’ pipeline, and their young position players, there doesn’t seem to be much interest in pursuing a high-priced free agent from those areas. It is possible the team will look to add a starter similiar to the deal for Dustin May last year, with the possibility that he could then be flipped in a deal before next summer’s trade deadline.
- Should we make any changes to the coaching staff?
The only two coaches whose contracts are expiring are Pop Warner and Jon Jay, and both have expressed a desire to return. It is possible that other organizations might approach the Cardinals with interest in some of their personnel.
The most likely to do this is their former president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak, now running the Angels. Mozeliak also could target some members of the Cardinals’ front office for roles with the Angels.
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains
Photo by The Associated Press
