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The only player in that lineup that didn’t see significant plate appearances last season is Wetherholt.
But yes, Arenado, Donovan, and Contreras were huge parts of the team last year and are now adios amigo – gone.
So while those 3 are gone the lineup except for JJ does feel samey-samey.
Hopefully, with the extra year under their belts and those three guys and the plate appearances they would eat gone – the guys left will have their opportunity to step up and be better or likely be shipped out before 2028.
The looming 2027 labor dispute has me concerned as it could really negatively impact a young rebuilding team like StL.
LaRussa’s reputation helped attract better free agents along with the winning culture and usually packed stadium.
Now all three of those elements are gone and the spending gap, while always there, has never been bigger.
The Brewers and to some extent the Astros proved they could ‘beat the system’. Houston is not a small market but I think they have traditionally kept the $$$ under control?
Anyhow, if Bloom is the man and at least some luck is with the Cardinals they will be contending again in 2-3:years. If Bloom falls flat then it will be another decade of mediocre to bad baseball just like 2016-2025 was.
Selfishly, I’m glad he’s not playing in the WBC.
I think he’s genuinely disappointed about it though.
Yeah, any win total from 61 to 81 seems entirely possible and pretty easy to argue for.
71 wins seems like a good middle ground prediction?
Herrera plying worries me. He seems to be injury prone as it is.
Not sure I really like anyone on the 40 man participating – do the Cardinals have to agree to let players play in the WBC?
The Pirates are not planning to finish last this year.
They are actually trying to help their young pitching staff out with some offensive weapons.
It may or may not work – next year it may be the Cardinals picking up a decent veteran or two to bolster their offense.
After this year I would like to think final decisions will be made on Nootbar, Walker, Scott, and Gorman plus Pallante and Thompson.
Was Nootbar playing through the heel issues last season or at least a pretty good chunk of it? That could explains the career high PAs with the production dip.
We have so many players with so many questions going into 2026 that it is likely we get all different answers.
Some guys will step up and improve, some guys will take a step back, and some will be flat.
A couple of guys will suffer unfortunate injuries.
It’s this way for every team really it’s just that the good teams are starting with a much higher baseline to work from which will allow for the different win total ceilings and floors.
For me, trying to take it all in, I think the Cardinals ceiling is 81 wins and the floor is 62 wins. So I have given them a 20 win wide window. Other teams probably also have about a 20 win wide window but the numbers will be different of course.
https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2026/02/04/cardinals-tv-rights/
Just more of the same.
It’s really bad.
As of today is the default OF Church, Scott, Walker, with Nootbar on the DL?
Would Herrera or Saggesse be the 4th outfielder if the season started today ?
Well, I hate to see Donovan go but I suppose it was inevitable and Bloom did get a lot of pieces back. Now, whether any of what he got will ever amount to a hill of beans remains to be seen.
I have no idea what to expect from this team in 2026. I know this isn’t a playoff team but I feel like they could win 80 or lose 100 or anything in between.
After the last three years of watching a pretty bad team I can’t say as I’m looking forward to riding the struggle bus in 2026.
They are using this year for what I’d hoped they’d use last year for but Arenado wouldn’t leave and a couple others were still in StL.
Agree that the house cleaning is just about complete. Other than Donovan & Nootbar there really aren’t any other players that are on the block.
So, it’s now been discussed ad nauseum – last chance for romance for Walker & Gorman and some kids get their auditions.
So, Hayes is off the table.
Well IF Donovan isn’t traded and plays in the OF AND Herrera plays in the OF then I guess we won’t need an extra outfielder?
I think Herrera is a great athlete and could be an excellent outfielder. I mean, he moves way, way smoother than Walker.
I know he says he wants to catch but I think he could be a pretty slick outfielder.
If they keep Donovan and he ages well, he could be the veteran leader through the rebuild and into the upcoming contention window.
Even if they do keep him I still think they need to go get a rh hitting outfielder as the other two spots have Nootbar, Scott, Church, and *cough cough* Walker to pick from.
Even if 2 of those 4 are productive you still need a 4th outfielder, plus injuries happen.
It would have to come from Wetherholt and / or a league average hitting RH OF to replace whatever that is that Walker does at the plate.
There are a lot of ‘ifs’ for sure but all we are looking for is 75 wins lol – not a playoff team, not a contending team, not even a winning team.
If they can’t pull that off then oooof…
Brian,
In the aggregate, yes I think those three guys production will be replaced.
A full year of Burleson at 1b probably doesn’t look that much different than Contreras.
Not having Mikolas and Fedde probably more that offsets the loss of Gray.
It’s the OF that has me spooked. Church, Scott, Walker to start the year (Noot probably not ready for the start of the season) is a bad an OF as I’ve ever seen. It’s just putrid. If The Cards keep Donovan and put him out there with Wetherholt taking second and I guess Gorman at third – that’ll help the OF. Maybe Bloom gets a ML average RH OF to shore it up out there as well.
I also think that as a rebuilding team that will likely be out of the playoffs anyway instead of just throwing in the towel and trying this or that prospect out at different positions the last month – I think the starting lineup will stay more or less intact for the duration which will likely lead to some ‘cheap’ victories late in the year to push the win total a little bit higher than you’d otherwise see.
Are Mikolas, Fedde, and Arenado (at this stage in their careers) really that much of a loss?
I’m going to say that we get better numbers than they out up.
I’ll take over as long as Donovan stays and Walker is on the shortest of leashes.
As the roster sits today I’ll go 75 – 78 wins.
The question is, as always, if they are going to trade him when will they be able to maximize the return?
So, in an earlier post I made about the types of questions – I understand that this is a team sponsored fan event designed to build some excitement for the coming season. It’s not the time to 3rd degree grill the players. Gorman (who did not attend), Walker, and maybe Scott would have been the three to drill down on and dissect their numbers.
That’s not the purpose of WWU and might have left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. So, most of the player interviews were centered more around positive subject matter not the ‘800 pound elephant in the room’ performance issues that could lead to the end of their road as Cardinals and in Walker’s case maybe even his time in the bigs.
Was Walker asked to directly comment on Brandt Brown’s assessment of his hard headedness and inattention to detail last year? I don’t recall hearing that and again, I’m not saying that this was the time & place for hard boiled journalism.
Bloom is probably going to drink the 2026 version of the Walker Koolaide and if he continues to be a disaster out there then by that time the only thing he’ll be able to do is bring up whoever this years Nathan Church is from AAA.
I just don’t see Walker ever being even league average at the plate or in the field. Im all for keeping him at AAA and letting him try to sort himself out there. If he can dominate in Memphis that’s great but I do not want to watch him stink it up in STL but Bloom hasn’t called me to discuss.
Yeah Pham isn’t really the veteran leader I’d pick for any locker room.
Surely there are better choices that are more like Kile Gibson?