2026 Cardinals Redux (Roster if they went for it)

Now that the off-season is closed, more or less. I like to think about what I wanted as the offseason started and if the Cardinals didn’t pivot into a full blown rebuild.

There really were 4 signings I liked as the offseason started that were Cardinal-like moves:

Sign Bassitt, Mahle, Bader, and Murakami (May is fine instead of Mahle though – also could trade for Taylor Ward rather than Murakami, maybe McGreevy gets it done)

Also they keep the 4 they traded away.

We end up with a solid lineup: Donovan, Herrera, Burleson, Contreras, Murakami/Ward, Bader, Wetherholt, Arenado, and Winn. And a really good bench ~ Noot, Pages, Gorman, Scott, Walker, Saggese.

Staff of Gray, Bassitt, May, Libertore, and Pallante/McGreevy/Leahy

Then, I’m fine with maybe picking up Maton again or something like that to pair with Stanek as the bullpen additions.

It does make me see why the Cards went full rebuild. This team could possibly win 90 games, but I don’t see them pulling out an NLDS/NLCS series victory, just like the last few years.