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Lars Nootbaar May Start 2026 Season On Injured List Following Surgery

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Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar was among the players that St. Louis brass announced underwent surgery earlier this month, as he went under the knife on October 7 to shave down Haglund’s deformities on both heels. At the time, Nootbaar’s timetable for a return to action was unclear, but today president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom revealed to Matt Pauley of KMOX Sports in a radio interview that Opening Day is neither entirely off the table nor entirely guaranteed for Nootbaar following his surgery. Bloom adds that they don’t intend to rush the rehab process in order to get him back on time for the start of the season, but that if he were to miss time to open the season the absence would be limited.

As far as timelines for offseason surgeries go, Nootbaar’s doesn’t seem too worrisome. It would naturally be less than ideal if he were to miss time to open the 2026 campaign but, with the Cardinals headed into a likely rebuilding phase as it is, the handful of games Nootbaar is at risk of missing at the start of the season are unlikely to be the difference in the club’s postseason chances next year. Given that Nootbaar is coming off a career-worst season where he hit just .234/.325/.361 (96 wRC+) following three consecutive seasons where he posted a wRC+ of 114 or higher, a few extra days missed at the start of the season would be well worth it for the Cardinals if it means that Nootbaar puts his best foot forward as he tries to return to the more robust offensive form he had flashed in previous seasons.

The 28-year-old is under team control with St. Louis for two more seasons before he’s slated to reach free agency during the 2027-28 offseason. For a Cardinals team that might not return to contention until Nootbaar is already a free agent, he’s certainly a logical trade candidate. Today’s news about Nootbaar’s uncertain status for Opening Day might make a trade slightly less likely to come together, but the impact on his market is likely at least relatively negligible.

After all, clubs already knew Nootbaar would be rehabbing from surgery this offseason and his dip in performance last year might have made the Cardinals hesitant to deal him before giving him the opportunity to rebound and improve his stock following his recent surgery. St. Louis has little incentive to risk selling low on Nootbaar given that he could theoretically be dealt at the 2026 trade deadline and still be available to an interested club for two pennant races and eligible for a Qualifying Offer following the 2027 season, should the QO still exist after the next round of collective bargaining negotiations next winter.

Looking at the Cardinals’ current depth chart, the possibility of losing Nootbaar for a few games to open the year shouldn’t be too much of a problem if the rest of the team’s positional corps remains healthy. Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II, Alec Burleson, and Brendan Donovan could all see time in the outfield next year, to say nothing of potential depth options like Nathan Church and Michael Siani behind that primary group. Donovan is generally viewed as more likely to spend time on the infield next year, especially if the club manages to trade Nolan Arenado this winter, but Nolan Gorman and Thomas Saggese should be able to fill in for Donovan when he plays the outfield.

NL Notes: D’Backs, Goldschmidt, Giants, Scherzer, McEwing

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Tyler Locklear will begin the season on the injured list while rehabbing from elbow and shoulder surgeries, leaving the Diamondbacks thin on the first base depth chart.  The left-handed hitting Pavin Smith will get at least a share of the regular at-bats, but given Smith’s struggles against southpaws, a right-handed bat would be a useful platoon partner or a candidate for DH time.  With this in mind, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7FM radio believes the D’Backs will “kick the tires on a reunion with Paul Goldschmidt” this winter.

Goldschmidt spent the first eight seasons of his outstanding career with the Snakes, making six All-Star appearances while hitting .297/.398/.532 with 209 homers over 4708 plate appearances.  Traded to the Cardinals prior to the 2019 season, Goldschmidt kept up much of that form over his six-year run in St. Louis, but he has just about been a league-average bat (102 wRC+) over his last two seasons and 1188 PA with the Cardinals and Yankees.  Playing with New York last year, Goldschmidt had a hot start but faded down the stretch, leading the Yankees to give Ben Rice an increasingly large share of the first base playing time.

Now entering his age-38 season, Goldschmidt may no longer be an ideal everyday option, but he had a .336/.411/.570 slash line in 168 PA against lefties in 2025.  These splits will get him looks from multiple teams in free agency, and returning to his original team in a timeshare with Smith seems like a pretty decent fit for all parties.

More from around the National League…

  • Joe McEwing and the Cardinals “mutually agreed to part ways,” according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.  McEwing spent the first two years of his playing career in St. Louis in 1998-99, and returned to the organization as manager Oliver Marmol’s bench coach prior to the 2023 season after over a decade on the White Sox coaching staff.  The bench coaching job lasted only one year, as McEwing spent the last two seasons as a special assistant to president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.  With Chaim Bloom now taking over the PBO role, it could be that Bloom is looking to make some more organizational changes, or McEwing could be moving on to explore other coaching or front office roles.
  • The Giants seem to be nearing an unique managerial choice in Tony Vitello, as it would represent the first time that a big league team has hired a college coach who had no prior experience in any aspect of pro baseball.  The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly looks at some of the details involved in San Francisco’s pursuit, and suggests that Max Scherzer could be a free agent target if Vitello is indeed hired.  Back when Vitello was an assistant coach at the University of Missouri, he recruited Scherzer to pitch at the school, and the two have stayed great friends over the last two decades.  The Giants are known to be looking for pitching, and Scherzer could essentially replace Justin Verlander as the rotation’s seen-it-all veteran voice.  As Baggarly puts it, “who better than Scherzer to ensure that Vitello gets full buy-in from even the most skeptical veteran player in the room?”  The 41-year-old Scherzer posted only a 5.19 ERA over 85 innings in an injury-shortened regular season for the Blue Jays, but he delivered a strong start to get the win for Toronto in Game 4 of the ALCS.

Willson Contreras’ Move To First Base Was A Success

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It was less than a year ago that the Cardinals made the decision to move three-time All-Star Willson Contreras to first base after the veteran slugger indicated he wasn’t interested in waiving his no-trade clause to leave St. Louis ahead of their impending rebuild. That decision was intended to open up the catcher position so that younger players more tied to the future of the franchise, like Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages, could get reps at the position and prove themselves capable as regulars in the majors.

Getting opportunities for those young players was a sensible goal, but it didn’t come without risk. Replacing Paul Goldschmidt at first base would be a big ask for any player, and while Contreras has long been a talented hitter he’s not always been able to produce enough offensively to justify a role as an everyday first baseman. Contreras also had just 11 appearances (three starts) on his resume at the position prior to 2025, the most recent of which had come all the way back in 2019, so learning a new position would place additional challenges on the veteran as he headed into his age-33 season.

At first, the experiment looked like it was poised to be a failure. Contreras came out of the gate ice cold in 2025, with a .145/.198/.237 slash line in his first 82 trips to the plate that was difficult to stomach from a first baseman. A month into the season, more than 65% of respondents to an MLBTR poll regarding Contreras’s future suggested that he would be either a league average hitter or worse in 2025, while just 34% of respondents believed Contreras would be able to rebound to his typical numbers. Fortunately for St. Louis, Contreras managed to overcome expectations and do just that. Flash forward to the end of the season, and Contreras is now coming off a solid .257/.344/.447 campaign. His 124 wRC+ this year is right in line with his career mark of 122 and only slightly below the 129 he’s posted to this point in his Cardinals career.

While that rebound from Contreras is certainly encouraging, a 124 wRC+ from first base isn’t exactly the sort of production that one would hope for. Among baseball’s 25 qualified first baseman, Contreras ranked just 12th by wRC+ and actually wound up tied with teammate Alec Burleson, who is entering arbitration for the first time this offseason. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Burleson for a salary of just $3.5MM in 2025, a figure that comes in well below the $36.5MM Contreras is owed over the next two years. Given that they can get similar production for much less money in-house, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Cardinals were hoping once again to trade Contreras this winter. For his part, Contreras has stated he prefers to remain in St. Louis but will at least consider waiving his no-trade clause this winter.

While Contreras’s production this year might not be commensurate with his salary now that he’s a first baseman, that doesn’t mean there’s no room for optimism. In fact, there’s plenty of positive signs in Contreras’s performance that leave the door wide open for him to deliver at a high level offensively in the coming years. From May 1 onward, Contreras hit a much more robust .268/.357/.480 with a wRC+ of 136. That’s good for the fifth-highest wRC+ in baseball among first basemen during that period, behind only Nick Kurtz, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Matt Olson, and Michael Busch.

Many players would look a great deal more impressive if you ignored their worst month of the year, of course, but Contreras’s underlying numbers reveal reason for further optimism. The veteran’s .369 xwOBA this season is more or less in line with his numbers since his offensive breakout season in 2022, and a near perfect match for the .370 wOBA he posted in 2024. That performance came with a wRC+ of 141, and there’s at least some reason to believe he could match that performance again in the future.

Contreras’s 13.8% barrel rate and 48.9% hard-hit rate this year were both career highs despite a .190 ISO that was one of the weakest of his career. That drop in ISO and walk rate that dropped to just 7.8% this year were the weakest parts of Contreras’s profile as a hitter this season, and a look at his swing decisions this year reveals the cause of that flaw. Contreras’s contact rate spiked to 73.6% this year, the highest its been since 2018. That’s not a bad thing in isolation, but digging a little deeper reveals that almost all of that improvement came on pitches outside of the strike zone, while he actually swung at pitches inside the zone far less often than he had in the past. Contreras took a swing at just 65.7% of pitches in the strike zone this year, a nearly four-point drop from the previous three seasons.

With Contreras’s impressive underlying power metrics this year, it’s certainly possible that being more aggressive on pitches inside the strike zone could allow him to access more of that power in games than he did this year. Even if that adjustment doesn’t come, however, one major feather in Contreras’s cap is his work with the glove at first base this year. Despite learning the position on the fly this past winter, the veteran posted +6 Outs Above Average this season. Just three first basemen (Olson, Ty France, and Carlos Santana) beat that mark this season, and it stands to reason that Contreras could build on his performance next year now that he has more experience under his belt.

Whether Contreras ultimately ends up finishing out his contract with the Cardinals in St. Louis or getting traded at some point over the next two seasons, it’s hard to view the contract as anything other than a success for the club. In the first four seasons of his five year deal with the organization, Contreras has hit .261/.358/.459 (129 wRC+) with 8.2 fWAR and 8.9 bWAR in 344 games for the Cardinals despite injuries and multiple moves off of his natural position. While the incoming ABS challenge system next year and the lack of catching depth around the league could make the idea of Contreras moving back behind the plate appealing for some potential suitors on the trade market, Contreras proved himself to be a quality first baseman in 2025 and should be able to provide value in that role regardless of if he does so in St. Louis or elsewhere.

Looking For A Match In A Sonny Gray Trade

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The Cardinals are entering what could be a multi-year rebuilding period where they focus more on strengthening their farm system and player development apparatus than winning games at the major league level. That’s a pivot that started last winter, but a number of key veteran players with no-trade clauses wanted to stick with the organization for the 2025 season and try to win in St. Louis. With a 78-84 season in the books and Chaim Bloom having now officially taken over John Mozeliak’s spot atop the baseball operations department, however, those same veterans are softening their stance about the possibility of a trade.

Perhaps the most interesting of those veteran is right-hander Sonny Gray, who is entering the final year of his contract in 2026. Gray is coming off a down season and will turn 36 in November, but his 4.28 ERA in 32 starts this year was still right around league average with much stronger peripheral numbers than that. He struck out 26.7% of his opponents, walked just 5.0%, and had the sixth-lowest SIERA in baseball among qualified starters this year with a 3.29 figure that clocked in behind only Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, Cristopher Sanchez, Paul Skenes, and Logan Webb.

That’s good company to keep, considering that all five of those players well might end up as finalists for their respective league’s Cy Young award this year, and should help to assuage concerns about Gray’s ability to compete at a high level in his mid-30s. Few pitchers have a recent track record more impressive than the veteran right-hander, all things considered. In 116 starts since the beginning of the 2022 season, Gray has a 3.53 ERA, a 26.6% strikeout rate, and a 3.17 FIP in 650 2/3 innings of work. It’s the sort of production that virtually any team could use in their rotation, but there are complicating factors in considering a trade for Gray.

The right-hander has a full no-trade clause that he has the ability to wield as he sees fit, and Gray is due a $35MM salary in 2026 with a $5MM buyout on a 2027 mutual option. That’s a hefty salary that a good number of clubs simply won’t be able to stomach, and the fact that Gray has shown a preference for pitching in smaller markets throughout his career could mean he’d wield his no-trade clause against some of the larger market franchises that could stomach his salary. The Cardinals are open to paying down salary in trades this winter, but it’s unclear if they’d be willing to pay down enough of it to get smaller market clubs into the mix for Gray’s services.

Which clubs are the best fits for St. Louis’s veteran hurler? Here’s a look at nine potential suitors, listed alphabetically within tiers:

Best Fits

  • Braves: One of the clear best fits for Gray’s services is Atlanta, who were reportedly in on Gray when he was a free agent two offseasons ago. Since then, the Braves have struggled to stay healthy and even fell out of the playoff picture this year due in large part to a rotation that was desperately missing Max Fried’s stabilizing presence after he left for the Yankees last winter. Atlanta has never been the sort of club to go out and spend hundreds of millions on an ace in free agency, so unless they change course this year they’ll need to get creative to add some certainty to a rotation that saw all of its established starters spend significant time on the injured list this year. Bringing Gray into the fold could be just that sort of creativity, and Alex Anthopoulos has long been comfortable bringing in veterans (like Marcell Ozuna, Josh Donaldson, and Charlie Morton) on short-term deals with high salaries.
  • Giants: The Giants are going to need more than just Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Landen Roupp in their rotation next year, and Gray would make plenty of sense for that role. Gray was actually connected to San Francisco back in September as a potential trade target. Some of that report was based on Gray’s connection with former Giants manager Bob Melvin, who has since been fired, but the Giants are still one of the few clubs that could stomach most of Gray’s salary within their expected budget. Gray also had plenty of success pitching for the A’s in Oakland, so a return to the Bay Area might have appeal to him even without Melvin in the fold.
  • Orioles: The Orioles, much like the Braves, found themselves pushed out of contention early this year due in large part to a lack of pitching depth. There’s virtually no certainty in the club’s 2026 rotation outside of Trevor Rogers, and president of baseball operations Mike Elias has shown a strong preference towards short-term additions when bringing in players who make significant dollars. That could make Gray a sensible fit following a season where Baltimore paid more than $41MM combined to Tomoyuki Sugano, Zach Eflin, and Morton for lackluster performances. While the Orioles are a lower budget club than most of the teams mentioned here, St. Louis’s willingness to eat salary could make Gray less of a financial burden than comparable arms in free agency.

Next Tier Down

  • Athletics: Gray played for the Athletics in Oakland for parts of five seasons after they took him 18th overall in the 2011 draft. In that time, he posted a 3.42 ERA and 3.56 FIP across 705 innings of work. Gray was eventually dealt to the Yankees, and in the years since then the A’s have been uprooted from Oakland and moved to West Sacramento. That move came with a raised payroll and a more sincere attempt to compete than previous rebuilding years, however, and a hitting core of Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson, Brent Rooker, Shea Langeliers, and Tyler Soderstrom looks ready to compete in the playoffs. What they’ll need to make that happen is pitching, and Gray has front-of-the-rotation upside and experience playing in unfriendly pitching environments like Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark. Perhaps if Gray was available last offseason, the A’s would’ve been a more sensible fit, but as it stands it’s unclear if the A’s intend to continue scaling up payroll after last season’s spending brought them an 86-loss campaign.
  • Padres: No team comes to mind more quickly than the Padres when discussing creative trade proposals, and that’s entirely thanks to the efforts of president of baseball operations A.J. Preller. Preller is by far the most active and aggressive executive in baseball, and this winter he’ll be tasked with replacing Dylan Cease and Michael King at the top of the rotation despite a relative lack of budget space. Adding someone like Gray to the rotation alongside Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Randy Vasquez, and JP Sears would be a huge help in stabilizing things, but there are clear obstacles here. For one thing, the Cardinals would likely need to be willing to eat the overwhelming majority of Gray’s salary in order to facilitate a deal with San Diego. That would mean a rather high prospect cost for the Padres, and while Preller is never shy about trading prospects his push at this summer’s trade deadline has left those cupboards somewhat barren. What’s more, Gray would be controlled for just the 2026 season, and Preller usually prioritizing trades for controllable players over rentals.
  • Dodgers: When it comes to spending money, there are few (if any) teams in baseball who can do so with the same reckless abandon as the Dodgers. Their payroll this season approached $400MM and it should surprise no one if it ends up in a similar place next season. While their rotation of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Shohei Ohtani is currently powering them through the postseason, the injury concerns in that group are obvious and the depth behind that quartet is taking a hit with Clayton Kershaw’s impending retirement. Adding a reliable workhorse like Gray would make plenty of sense, and the Dodgers are one of the few clubs that could reasonably take on most if not all of Gray’s salary without much issue. On the other hand, the Dodgers aren’t exactly the sort of small market club Gray has typically preferred to play for over the years, which could be a problem depending on how aggressive he is in using his no-trade clause.

Long Shots:

  • Cubs: On paper, the Cubs might seem like an excellent fit for Gray. The club appears likely to pursue pitching help this winter after injuries to Justin Steele and Cade Horton left them shorthanded this postseason, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has shown a proclivity towards shorter-term additions with higher salaries, and Chicago’s status as a midwest city could be attractive to Gray for the purposes of his no-trade clause considering his previous decisions to sign in Cincinnati, Minnesota, and St. Louis. With all of that said, the biggest obstacle to this sort of trade is that the Cubs and Cardinals have one of the biggest rivalries in the sport and very rarely trade with each other. Perhaps Bloom taking over as president of baseball operations could help thaw that trade embargo, given that he and Brian Cashman executed what was then just the second Yankees/Red Sox trade of the 21st century back in 2021, but it would still be a shock to see the teams line up on a trade of this magnitude.
  • Mets:  The Mets are a team with plenty of willingness to spend money, a major need in the rotation, and a strong preference for bringing pitchers in on relatively short-term contracts. That all would make them seem like an obvious fit for Gray, but it’s fair to wonder how the right-hander’s previous stint in New York could impact interest on both sides. Gray’s 4.51 ERA in parts of two seasons with the Yankees was the worst stretch of his career. It would be understandable if Gray wasn’t interested in returning to New York at this point in his career, even for a different franchise, and it’s equally possible that the Mets would shy away from a pitcher who previously struggled in the sport’s largest media market.
  • Reds: It was with the Reds that Gray turned his career around after leaving New York, and he pitched to a 3.49 ERA across three seasons in Cincinnati. He signed an extension with the club once before, so his no-trade clause would likely be a non-issue, and the Reds were connected to him both during his last trip through free agency and even on the trade market last year. It would stand to reason that there could be some interest between the two sides once again, but the Reds’ limited budget makes a trade hard to envision given that they already have a rotation of Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, Brady Singer, and Nick Lodolo locked in for 2026 with youngsters like Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder also in the mix for starts. Whatever budget space Cincinnati has available this winter seems likely to be better used elsewhere on the roster, barring a trade of another arm that creates an opening.

Cardinals Announce Surgery For Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Ivan Herrera

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A trio of Cardinals underwent surgical procedures in recent weeks, the team announced Friday. Lars Nootbaar had surgery on both heels, and Brendan Donovan underwent a sports hernia repair on October 7. Ivan Herrera had surgery on his elbow to remove bone spurring on Oct. 15. John Denton of MLB.com was among those to report that Nootbaar’s procedure was to shave down Haglund’s deformities. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was among those to note that the recovery timetables are uncertain.

Nootbaar is coming off his healthiest big-league season. The 28-year-old played a career-high 135 games and topped 500 plate appearances for just the second time. Nootbaar missed a few weeks at the end of July with a rib injury, but that was his only IL stint. He was also sidelined for a brief stretch in August with a knee issue.

While Nootbaar stayed on the field in 2025, he struggled to produce at the plate. He slashed an underwhelming .234/.325/.361, resulting in a career-low 96 wRC+. Nootbaar maintained his solid plate discipline numbers, but he fell off significantly in the power department. His .361 SLG was a career-worst by more than 50 points, and his .128 ISO was unbefitting of a corner outfielder.

Nootbaar is arbitration-eligible this offseason. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $5.7MM salary.

Donovan dealt with multiple injuries in 2025, with a groin strain in August costing him the most time. He initially tried to play through the injury, but eventually landed on the IL. Donovan appeared in just eight games over the final few weeks of the regular season.

The injuries capped what was shaping up to be a career season for Donovan. He hit .329 through May, before a turf toe issue popped up. Donovan earned a trip to the All-Star game and still had an OPS near .800 heading into the break. His numbers trailed off from there, but the final line was strong. Donovan finished with career-best marks in batting average and slugging percentage to go with an excellent 119 wRC+.

Donovan is also heading to arbitration. Swartz projected him for a $5.4MM salary, just behind Nootbaar.

Herrera battled several injuries himself this season, though the elbow issue is his first of the upper-body variety. He missed most of April with knee inflammation, then a hamstring strain cost him three more weeks in the summer.

A three-homer game put Herrera on the map in the first week of the season. He piled up 11 RBI in the Cardinals’ first seven games. Herrera continued to mash after the knee injury, maintaining an OPS over .900 before the hamstring injury. He scuffled in July and August, but bounced back with a massive September. Herrera wrapped up his first full big-league season with a strong .284/.373/.464 slash line. He’s been a standout at the plate whenever given the opportunity. He even saw some outfield reps this past season as St. Louis tried to find ways to get him in the lineup.

The Cardinals have several options behind the plate, which made it easier for Herrera to spend the majority of his time at DH. A potential trade could clear out some of that depth, but Herrera should find regular at-bats in the Cardinals’ lineup next year, whether at catcher or DH.

Cardinals Have Received Trade Interest In Catching Depth

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“Other teams have asked about” the many catchers in the Cardinals organization, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote as part of a lengthy chat with readers.  No specific names are mentioned, yet since youngsters Jimmy Crooks, and Leonardo Bernal seem pretty untouchable at the moment, Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pages, and Yohel Pozo are the likelier trade candidates, to varying degrees.

While the focus of the Cards’ offseason will be moving veteran talent and creating opportunities for young players, the wide-ranging nature of this rebuild means that president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom is likely to explore every possible avenue for upgrading the roster.  Given this youth movement, it is safe to assume that Bernal and Crooks aren’t going anywhere, unless Bloom swings a relatively rare prospect-for-prospect type of swap.  The Cardinals could conceivably package one of their own prospects along with a higher-priced veteran (i.e. Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray) to convince a rival club to take on more salary, yet dealing a well-regarded prospect just to save money isn’t happening unless the other team also offers a good prospect package that can more broadly address the Cards’ needs.

MLB Pipeline ranks Bernal as the 92nd-best prospect in baseball, and the fourth-best prospect in the St. Louis farm system.  As Goold notes, the Cardinals will have to add him to the 40-man roster to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft, so Bernal’s inclusion would give the Cards five backstops on their 40-man.  Goold suggests that Pozo will be the odd man out, perhaps designated for assignment and then re-signed by the Cardinals to a minor league contract.  Such a move would allow St. Louis to free up a 40-man spot and keep Pozo all at once, though a trade or waiver claim is a possibility in that scenario.

Crooks was ranked as the sixth-best Cardinals prospect and outside Pipeline’s league-wide top-100, though he received some top-100 attention from Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs this year.  Crooks also made his MLB debut this season, but did very little at the plate in batting .133/.152/.244 over his first 46 plate appearances in the Show.  He has hit considerably better in the minors (including a .274/.337/.441 slash line in 430 PA in Triple-A), but Crooks is generally viewed as a glove-first type of catcher.

Beyond this duo, the Cardinals also have Rainiel Rodriguez, the 18-year-old who finished the season in high-A ball and who ranks 55th on Pipeline’s top-100 list.  It isn’t hard to view Rodriguez, Bernal, and Crooks within a broad “catcher of the future” category, which naturally creates questions about how the Cards could approach the catchers currently on the big league roster.

It should be noted that none of Herrera, Pages, or Pozo are exactly seasoned vets.  Herrera won’t become arbitration-eligible until next offseason and he is controlled through 2029, while Pages is controlled through 2030.  If Pozo is possibly DFA fodder, that alone could clear up the catching backlog to some extent, but could the Cardinals go a step further and move Herrera or Pages to create playing time for Crooks?

Describing Herrera as a catcher is perhaps a topic of debate unto itself, as he suited up behind the plate in only 14 games this season.  Herrera missed time due a bone bruise in his left knee and then a Grade 2 hamstring strain, plus he was slated for offseason surgery to remove loose bodies from his throwing elbow.  These health issues led the Cardinals to make Herrera their primary DH, and he also made a few cameo appearances in left field.

The team’s plan is for Herrera to spend the offseason healing up, and then to return in Spring Training as a viable catcher once again.  There were some questions about Herrera’s long-term ability to stick at catcher even before his injury-plagued 2025 season, but there’s no doubt he can hit.  Herrera batted .284/.373/.464 with 19 home runs over 452 plate appearances this year, and his 137 wRC+ was the 16th-best of any player in the league with at least 450 PA.

Moving such a potent and controllable bat this early in the rebuild process doesn’t seem too likely for Bloom, unless a major asset could be obtained in return.  If the Cardinals still have misgivings about Herrera’s defense, that could leave the door open a crack for a possible trade, yet it is fair to guess that Herrera is pretty far down the list of Bloom’s potential trade chips.

Pages ended up becoming the Cards’ primary catcher in 2025, and his profile is basically the opposite of Herrera.  Pages has hit only .233/.275/.368 over 607 career PA in the majors, but he is a superb defender in every aspect of catching except his blocking work.  This could appeal to clubs looking to improve their glovework behind the plate, though Yadier Molina’s shadow runs long in St. Louis, and the Cardinals themselves have long prioritized having strong catcher defense.

Offseason Outlook: St. Louis Cardinals

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The Cardinals officially have a new head of baseball operations for the first time in nearly two decades. As announced at the beginning of last offseason, longtime president of baseball ops John Mozeliak has stepped aside and passed the torch to former Rays and Red Sox executive Chaim Bloom, who'd previously been a senior advisor with the Cardinals. Bloom's end-of-season press conference spelled out what had already become abundantly clear over the past 12 months: this will be an offseason unlike any the Cardinals have experienced in recent memory -- the onset of what's likely to be a yearslong rebuild.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Nolan Arenado, 3B: $42MM through 2027 (Rockies paying $5MM)
  • Willson Contreras, 1B: $41MM through 2027 (includes buyout of 2028 club option)
  • Sonny Gray, RHP: $40MM through 2026 (includes buyout of 2027 club option)

2026 guarantees: $75MM
Total long-term guarantees: $117.5MM through 2027

Option Decisions

  • None

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Non-tender candidates: Alcala, King

Free Agents

For the early portion of last offseason, it seemed quite possible that the Cardinals would embark on the very type of rebuild that now seems far likelier. Instead, no-trade clauses in the contracts of veterans Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras threw a wrench into those plans. Gray and Contreras seemed unfazed by the idea of a youth movement and quickly let the team know they were content to remain in St. Louis. Arenado was open to trade scenarios but to a limited number of clubs. He wound up vetoing a trade to the Astros and remaining in St. Louis.

This time around, it seems overwhelmingly likely that at least one of those veterans will change hands. Gray candidly said after his final start that he has to consider trade scenarios this winter after talking to Bloom about the direction of the team. Contreras has said his preference is still to remain in St. Louis but he'll consider waiving his no-trade protection in the right scenario. Arenado has voiced his intent to be more open to a wider array of teams this time around.

That said, there are prominent hurdles when it comes to trading everyone from the group, and there's ample reason to wonder just how much -- if anything at all -- the Cardinals can get back in return for any of those pricey veterans. They're reportedly open to paying down some of the remaining salary (which will be a necessity), but if they really want to extract meaningful prospect value, there are more notable trade avenues to explore.

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Report: Cardinals Ownership More Willing To Include Money In Trades

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Everything coming out of St. Louis suggests that the Cardinals are at a major pivot point for the franchise. They are entering what could be a multi-year rebuild period as they focus on player development more than short-term contention. That has been the case for about a year already but all signs suggest the club will be leaning harder in that direction. Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that the ownership will now be more willing to eat money in trades, in order to extract greater returns.

That reporting aligns with comments this week from Chaim Bloom, the new president of baseball operations. “As far as cash being a lever on the trade front, that should never be off the table,” he said, per Woo. “Obviously, you’d prefer not to do that, but you could end up in a situation where adding cash to make a preferred deal work just makes sense.”

Between Bloom’s comments and Woo’s reporting about ownership, it seems the franchise is aligned. That should only add to the sense that highly-paid players like Nolan Arenado and Sonny Gray are more likely to be moved this offseason than they were last winter.

A year ago, the Cards made it clear that they were beginning this reset period. That initially made it seem likely that veteran players like Arenado, Gray and Willson Contreras could be logical trade candidates. However, Gray and Contreras quickly indicated that they wanted to stay in St. Louis. Arenado was a bit more open to a trade but had a narrow list of five clubs he considered acceptable landing spots and ultimately wasn’t traded.

The club’s rebuilding plans now seem to be more firmly in place and both Arenado and Gray have publicly expressed a greater willingness to waive their no-trade clauses this time around. Contreras seems less interested in leaving but didn’t completely discount the possibility.

That’s a good start for the Cardinals but eating money will be helpful to getting deals done. Gray is still a good pitcher and just wrapped a solid season, middling earned run average notwithstanding. Though he allowed 4.28 earned runs per nine over 180 2/3 innings, his .329 batting average on balls in play probably inflated that a bit. His 26.7% strikeout rate, 5% walk rate and 43.9% ground ball rate were all strong marks. ERA estimators like his 3.39 FIP and 3.29 SIERA suggest he was more his old self than the ERA itself would indicate.

Even if clubs are willing to overlook the ERA, the contract is an obstacle. His three-year, $75MM deal with the Cardinals was heavily backloaded. He made just $10MM in 2024 and $25MM this year. He’ll then make $35MM next year, followed by a $5MM buyout on a $30MM club option. If that option is picked up, Gray can then opt out.

At this point, there is just one more guaranteed season left on the deal but with $40MM still to be paid out. The option doesn’t really add any extra upside because of that opt-out. Despite Gray’s talents, $40MM for one year of a pitcher is a lot. That kind of average annual value has been reserved for ace-type pitchers. Even if it were a fair price for Gray’s services, eating more money to extract more prospect capital is a sensible tactic for a club focused on the long term.

Arenado is going to make $27MM next year, though the Rockies are going to pay $5MM of that and $6MM is deferred. He’ll then make $15MM in 2027. That works out to less than $20MM annually but his stock is down after some rough years at the plate. He hit just .237/.289/.377 for a wRC+ of 84 this year and was barely above league average in the prior two campaigns. He still gets good grades for his glovework but isn’t the MVP candidate he once was.

Other teams will have different valuations of what they expect from him going forward, but as mentioned with Gray, any money that the Cardinals are willing to eat should increase what teams are willing to give up.

With Contreras, as mentioned, a trade seems less likely before even considering the money but it could happen. He is still owed $41.5MM over the next two years. That’s an $18MM salary next year, $18.5MM in 2027, and then a $5MM buyout on a $17.5MM club option for 2028.

He has been moved from the catcher position to first base. He got decent grades for his glovework there this year, getting credit for six Outs Above Average, while Defensive Runs Saved had him just below par at -1. The bat is still strong, as he hit .257/.344/.447 this year for a 124 wRC+. Those numbers are all close to his career marks, where he has a .258/.352/.459 batting line and 122 wRC+.

Though he’s going into his age-34 season, the deal isn’t bad. Christian Walker just got $60MM over three years from the Astros going into his age-34 campaign. But even if the Contreras deal isn’t underwater, other teams may not give up much for it unless the Cards pay it down somewhat.

Last winter, the Cards seemed to be more motivated by salary relief. Arenado was still owed roughly $60MM over three years when they lined up a trade with the Astros. Arenado vetoed that deal but reporting indicated the Cards were only going to eat about $5MM per season, leaving the Astros on the hook for about $45MM. It’s unknown what the Cards were going to receive in that trade but is was likely going to be a salary dump deal. Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. later said they would have to find cuts elsewhere if they didn’t move Arenado, though that didn’t really end up happening.

Per RosterResource, the Cardinals had a $144MM payroll in 2025. Thanks to some trades and some expiring contracts, they are projected for just $75MM next year. Arbitration salaries for players like Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar could push that up but those players are themselves candidates to be traded this winter. Perhaps that lighter payroll is what opened the path for the Cards to worry less about cost savings this time, which could increase their chances of adding meaning young talent to their pipeline.

There will be non-payroll expenditures, however. Woo reports that the club is planning to make more investments in the fields of analytics, player development and scouting. There’s also some uncertainty with the club’s TV deal. The Cards reached a new agreement with Main Street Sports, formerly known as Diamond Sports Group, to be on the FanDuel Sports Network in 2025. Woo writes that the deal contains option provisions after each season. She says that no major shake-up is expected but that some renegotiations could take place.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: Mike Elias On The State Of The Orioles

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias to discuss…

  • Elias’s promotion from general manager to president of baseball operations (1:45)
  • Why the Orioles underperformed in 2025 (3:30)
  • The club’s lack of investment in free agent pitching (5:25)
  • The decision making about playing time for prospects when they don’t find immediate big league success (9:20)
  • How Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo can co-exist on the roster (12:35)
  • Getting six prospects from the Padres in the Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano trade (14:50)
  • Trading Bryan Baker to the Rays for a draft pick (16:55)
  • Seeing the potential in O’Hearn before his breakout (18:45)

Plus, Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors joins the show to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Tim Heitman, Imagn Images

Chaim Bloom Discusses Marmol, GM, Arenado, Gray

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Chaim Bloom was officially introduced as Cardinals president of baseball operations at a press conference on Tuesday morning. He takes control at a time when multiple reports have suggested they’re moving to a rebuild that’ll put Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and others back in trade rumors.

While Bloom pointedly avoided the term “rebuild,” his meeting with the media did little to dispel the overall notion. “We have talent here. We have more talent coming, and we have some of the makings of that core, but we need more. Our top priority will be to build our talent base for the long term,” he told reporters (link via Katie Woo of The Athletic). “That may mean hard decisions and short-term sacrifices, but to get where we want to go, we can’t take shortcuts — and we won’t.” Bloom subsequently added that while they’ll “hunt moves and decisions that allow (them to win) right now,” the focus will be on the long term if they need “to choose between short-term gratification and our bigger goal of contending consistently.”

None of that comes as a surprise. Arenado, Gray and Contreras have all confirmed they’d spoken to Bloom late in the season and understood where the organization was going. That’s the impetus for all three players saying they’re willing to consider waiving their no-trade clauses in the right circumstances (though Contreras said he’d still prefer to stay and be a veteran mentor).

Oliver Marmol will continue to oversee things in the dugout. Bloom confirmed the manager will be back for a fifth season (relayed by Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Marmol is under contract through the end of next season. Bloom indicated there haven’t been any extension talks to date but didn’t dismiss the possibility of having those conversations at some point.

There’s also an uncertain timeline on the club’s GM hire. Former general manager Michael Girsch was reassigned to vice president of special projects last offseason — a move that came in conjunction with the team’s announcement that Bloom would replace John Mozeliak as baseball operations president going into 2026. Bloom will eventually hire his own top lieutenant with the GM title but indicated that might not happen this offseason (via Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat).

Of course, most of the focus will be on the team’s expected roster turnover. The Cardinals will be motivated to try to trade Arenado, who is signed for two more seasons. They’re on the hook for $22MM of next season’s $27MM salary (though another $6MM of that is deferred) and his entire $15MM deal for 2027. They’d need to pay down the bulk of the money given Arenado’s declining offensive production. Bloom spoke of a general openness to kicking in cash in the right trades but definitively shot down the idea that they might simply release Arenado if no trade presented itself.

St. Louis would also need to eat some money on Gray. That’s less an indictment on the right-hander’s performance than a reflection of his contract structure. His three-year, $75MM free agent deal was heavily backloaded. Gray will make $35MM next season and is guaranteed a $5MM buyout on a $30MM option for 2027. It’s a $40MM commitment for one year, the kind of salary that has been reserved for late-career aces who were still performing at Cy Young levels (e.g. Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Zack Wheeler).

Gray remains a very good pitcher but isn’t at that level. Assuming the Cardinals are willing to eat some of the money, there’d be plenty of teams intrigued by the idea of adding Gray to the rotation. The three-time All-Star has already acknowledged he’s willing to think about waiving his no-trade clause. Bloom said the front office will “see what’s out there, and if there’s something that could make sense for us that furthers our goals that he also wants to do, then we’ll explore” trade possibilities (via Woo).

However, he contrasted Gray’s situation with Arenado’s and implied that the Cardinals are a little less motivated to trade the former. “With Sonny, the situation is a bit different in that we do have a clear fit for him here,” Bloom said. Even in a non-competitive year, the Cardinals will need some level of veteran presence in the rotation. They’re not going to keep Gray for that reason alone, but they’ll already have ample opportunity for pitchers like Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy and Kyle Leahy to stake claims to rotation spots. The Cards aren’t going to be major players in free agency, but Bloom said they’ll be in the market for pitching depth in both the starting staff and the bullpen.

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