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If we assume Walker to AAA for 2026 and Gorman traded away during this off-season the possible outfielders are Scott II, Nootbar, Donovan, Church, Burleson, and Siani. Am I missing anyone?
Saggesse, Donovan, Winn, Burleson, Contreras, Arenado for the infield with Crooks and Pages catching. Fermin is also available.
Maybe they acquire a RH hitting outfielder and Wetherholt takes 2b so the OF becomes Donovan – Scott II – and new OF guy? If that happens I figure Nootbar got traded?
So for now we have Gray, McGreevy, and Liberatore penciled in as 2026 starters.
Mikolas if course is gone and Pallante is probably going to the pen.
I read an article about the possibility of resigning Mikolas. (ugh)
Gray might be traded but I think that is unlikely.
Do we think Quinn Matthews will be ready?
It appears Bloom is going to need to conjure up 2 or even as many as three starting pitchers for 2026.
We are 19 games back of the Brewers and about 14 behind the Cubs. I see no reason to think we’ll catch both of them in 2026 and probably neither one.
I do wonder what the goal for 2026 will be…. The year of the ‘runway’ is over. We kinda know who (of the younger guys) can play (Hererra, Wynn, Burleson, McGreevy) and who can’t (Walker, Gorman, Pozo, Pallante) plus a few tweeners (Scott, Saggese, Nootbar, Pages).
Church and Crooks don’t have many games played but they are struggling
What’s the goal in 2026? Field a team and play 162 games while waiting for 2027? I’m not sure, lol
Sometimes people overthink things.
Is pitch recognition not the most important skill a hitter can have?
I know they have a microscopically ridiculously small fraction of a second to decide to swing or not.
The hitting skill set / reflexes / hand-eye coordination of a professional baseball player is exceedingly rare and even more so for a big leaguer – but – you either have this God given talent or you do not.
To me, if you have the skill set AND you practice, study opposing pitchers, and take care of your body – hitting at this level seems to be as much a state of mind and confidence thing as much as anything else.
In 2023 we did have a better roster than the record indicated. In 2025 I think we have a better record than our roster would indicate.
What we have now is a AAAA+ roster.
Maybe Marmol can set the record for manager ejections in a season in 2026. At least that would be entertaining.
“The Major League Baseball record for manager ejections in a single season is 11, a mark achieved by four managers: John McGraw (1905, 1906), Bill Dahlen (1910), Paul Richards (1952), and Bobby Cox (2001).”
I mean, I was ready to move on from Arenado before this year but- after seeing what we (don’t) have to replace home with and considering that the Cards will be paying most of his salary to move him – at this point just keep him I guess…
I’d like to think there will be a trade and / or FA signing for a rh power hitting outfielder but that probably means one of Nootbar or Donovan is gone.
I’m not willing to die on the above roster hill. It was just a late night exercise in trying to read the tea leaves for 2026.
Unless there are massive ‘philosophical differences’ between Bloom and Marmol OR there are massive roster upgrades coming in 2026 with proven veterans – I think Marmol stays his last year to manage a mediocre roster to another mediocre finish THEN the new guy come in for 2027 to (hopefully) start the climb back to being a relevant team in the field.
Yeah, unfortunately for Bloom the fans are already raw and out of patience.
If Bloom doesn’t or isn’t allowed to make a couple of ‘splash’ moves then there will be a lot of grumbling about nothing changing.
Even if does make a couple of notable moves – if they don’t work out as in, playoffs next year then he’ll get hammered by some.
It won’t be particularly fair to Bloom but life isn’t and the team has stunk a lot more than it hasn’t for a solid decade.
I don’t expect anything much until 2027 – assuming baseball is played that year and I don’t expect to contend for a WS slot until 2028. That is IF Bloom is good and BDW gives him the resources he needs to be good.
Looks like Quintana goes today for the Brewers.
Mikolas again. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the Cards bring him back on a one year deal?
5 games under and sinking fast. At 7-4 I flipped over to watch a football game assuming a Cardinal victory but I see they grasped defeat from the jaws of victory.
I’m ready for 2027 (yes I wish we could just fast forward through the 2026 season because we pretty much know it’s going to be another ‘transition’ year.
As I’ve said, I’d like to see what Marmol can do with an actual major league roster but I won’t throw a fit if they replace him as long as it is someone who has won titles at the ML level.
I do not care to see another life-long Cardinal internal hire nor even Skip Schumaker. What’s he done other than get canned by Miami.
Oh good; we have our ‘ace’ going tonight. I’m really happy that football season is now in full swing.
It seems Walker for sure needs to go to AAA and stay there until he’s a AAA all-star.
Gorman – I think this is just about what he is as a player.
We’ve all beat the dead horse to a pulp but that’s mainly because the Cardinals have not given us anything else to talk about.
They have essentially played out the contract string with every single player – especially Mikolas.
There is very little excitement around the Cardinals and nothing about 2026 has me looking forward to it. I think the absolute best to hope for is WC3 – I mean, just play a handful of games over .500 and you can ‘be a playoff team’.
The Cardinals have become about as ho-hum an organization as is possible; not terrible but certainly not good.
Any player who is not an established star always has a great reason to play as hard as they can no matter the teams record or place in the standings.
The players who ARE established stars typically got that way because they are very talented and always play hard.
This decade (2016-2025) the Cardinals have 2 division titles: 2019 and 2022. The renaissance of Cardinal baseball, if there is to be one, has to start with winning a lot more division titles then going from there.
Bloom has his work cut out for him as both the Brewers and the Cubs will be hard to catch – I’m not saying we can’t finish above them in a given season; I’m saying over the course of 5-6 years staying on top of both of those franchises will tough but that’s the job.
You never know what you’re gonna see. As the Cards play out the string on 2025, I’d love to see some of the young talent sprint across the finish line.
I agree that the Cards will probably keep Marmol around until they feel they have it queued up to really win big.
The Cubs example is a good one.
They have all the complimentary pieces a team could want now they use need 4-5 stars to fillon around, lol. Now, that’s the trick isn’t it?
Skip Schumaker is also still kicking around out there isn’t he?
If the Cards get a new manager they need to get one with some real chops – not a ‘good dude’ with a ‘high baseball IQ’. I also don’t think they should hire from within. Molina or Puhols? Maybe as staff but not right to the top step of the dugout…
Michael Jordan was arguably the greatest basketball player ever but he was a lousy coach. He probably could not understand why his player couldn’t just go beat the other guys.
Bloom’s biggest fan base related issue is that he is inheriting a crowd that is already largely fatigued with mediocrity. The last decade has not been good at all. We all know the postseason numbers and that they’ve missed the playoffs entirely 6 of the last 10 years.
The team has no stars that the fans want to see, no MOTO bats that’s other teams have to worry about, no ace level pitchers that can just shut down a good lineup. Nothing.
I read an article yesterday calling the Cardinals the politest team in baseball as they have a roster full of complimentary players – I ‘chuckled’ at that.
Bloom has his work cut out for him but he’s had a two year running start at it – which was a really smart move by the organization.
He’s going to need to quickly distance himself from Mozelaik. We’ll see if he does and if he can pry a few more dollars loose from BDW’s pocket book.
If there are serious labor issues in 2027 that could cause a rebuilding team like the Cardinals a lot of trouble as any fan good will they were in the process of rebuilding could be destroyed…