photo: Jo Jo Romero (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
As expected, New Year’s week was quiet for the St. Louis Cardinals, but their off-season dealing is not done. Will reliever JoJo Romero be the next to go? Exchange of salary arbitration amounts are just ahead. Our history section highlights key events this past week in team annals.
News and Notes for the Offseason
This section contains information and snippets of news that don’t require extensive coverage but are of interest to St. Louis Cardinals fans.
- Former Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong has found a home in New York. DeJong has reportedly come to terms on a minor league contract with the Yankees with an invitation to spring training. As of this writing, the deal has not been confirmed by the Yankees.
- The Cardinals are preparing for their 29th annual Winter Warm-Up fan festival and Cardinals Caravans. The former, reduced to two days in 2026, will be held at Ballpark Village and Busch Stadium on Saturday, January 17 and Sunday, January 18. Details here.
- Cardinal ticket packs, all-inclusive tickets, Opening Day tickets, and Cardinals Theme tickets are now on sale. Information on purchasing any of these tickets and more can be found here.
- “Banana Ball” will return to Busch Stadium in 2026. The Savannah Bananas popular entertainment baseball team will come to St. Louis on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22 as part of their world tour.
More information about the event and how to get tickets can be found here.
Year end features
This past week at The Cardinal Nation, we closed out 2025 with two articles. One detailed our top 10 stories of the year. The other remembered 17 former Cardinals and Browns who passed during 2025.
The Cardinal Nation’s Top 10 St. Louis Cardinals Stories of 2025
The Big Picture
The New Year has begun, but there are no new developments in the Cardinals’ offseason activity. As stated here last week, activity should pick up in January, but the first four days have been silent.
Now that both Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras have been moved, Nolan Arenado remains to be dealt, and possibly Brendan Donovan and JoJo Romero. Arenado’s market is stalled due to the availability of third basemen Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez and his large contract. However, there may be interest expressed in Arenado by at least one team, the Los Angeles Angels. Interest in the Cardinal third baseman could pick up once Bregman and Suarez find homes.
POBO Chaim Bloom appears to be in no hurry to move Donovan. At least one team with interest, the Seattle Mariners, may not be a trade partner after all. It has been reported that the Mariners are reluctant to trade from their major league roster, and Bloom has made no secret of his plan to add to the Cardinals’ major league roster via the trade market.
Significant trade interest in Donovan remains, with one addition to that list being the Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals making all their trades with only one team seems unlikely, as the Red Sox do not have an unlimited stream of players to trade away. Nevertheless, no trade for Donovan appears to be close with any team.
There have been no additional trade rumors about Romero in the last few weeks. Romero remains likely to be traded, however, and once the market picks up again in January, we may see the lefty reliever moved before anyone else.
We move on from the trade market to discuss the upcoming arbitration season. The Cardinals have seven arbitration eligible players, two of whom, Donovan and Romero, are likely to be traded. The date for players and teams to exchange salary arbitration figures is this coming Thursday, January 8, 2026. Should Donovan and/or Romero be traded before January 8, they will exchange figures with their new team. The remaining five players are Lars Nootbaar, Nolan Gorman, Alec Burleson, Andre Pallante, and Matthew Liberatore. Nootbaar and Pallante are returning for their second year of arbitration. Gorman, Burleson, and Liberatore will be exchanging figures for the first time.
The projected salaries for the five players via MLB Trade Rumors are: Nootbaar ($5.7M), Burleson ($3.5 M), Pallante ($3.4M), Gorman ($2.9M) and Liberatore ($2.8M). Donovan and Romero are projected to receive $5.4M and $4.4M respectively.
Now we wait to see how the trade market shakes out for Donovan and Romero in particular, though it remains possible for other players to be traded as well. It may be a longer wait for Arenado.
Stay tuned for more happenings as the offseason continues.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
- In previous weeks, we have learned that the Seattle Mariners were a front runner to potentially acquire utility player Brendan Donovan. This week, we learned that any negotiations that may have been going on with Seattle have apparently stalled. According to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, the Mariners are reluctant to trade from their major league roster. POBO Chaim Bloom has frequently stated that he hopes to add to the Cardinals major league roster via a trade and has done so with trades of Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras. If the Mariners are not willing to give up a major league player in a trade for Donovan, then perhaps a trade with Seattle is not going to be possible.
- It appears that the Los Angeles Angels are indeed interested in Cardinal third baseman Nolan Arenado. In prior installments of this Notebook, it was reported that Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic had opined that the Angels might be interested in Arenado after they settled their contract issues with Anthony Rendon. Those contract issues have been dealt with and now Will Sammon and Katie Woo of the Athletic have reported that the Angels are looking for a third baseman and have interest in Arenado. But with Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez still available, Arenado’s market remains stalled.
- In the piece by Sammon and Woo above, it has also come to light that the Cardinals’ lone trading partner so far in the offseason, the Boston Red Sox, are also interested in Brendan Donovan. In fact, the Cardinals and the Red Sox have already discussed a possible trade for Donovan. It appears that Bloom’s prior association with the Red Sox has led to a virtual pipeline between St. Louis and Boston. The Cardinals have made it clear they do not have to trade Donovan, and are very deliberate in their negotiations, looking for just the right package to pull the trigger. Despite all the rumors, say Sammon and Woo, no trade for Donovan with any team is close.
Transactions
There are no transactions to report.
Injury Report
- There are no further updates on the recovery from offseason surgeries of Masyn Winn, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, and Iván Herrera. Stay tuned to this space for any future updates.
Looking Ahead
The next date on the offseason calendar is January 8, 2026. This is the deadline for teams and their arbitration eligible players to exchange salary figures. As of this writing, the Cardinals have seven arbitration eligible players. They are Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, JoJo Romero, Andre Pallante, Nolan Gorman, and Matthew Liberatore.
January 15, 2026 is the opening day on the 2026 calendar for teams to sign international amateurs.
The annual Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up will take place on Saturday, January 17 and Sunday January 18, 2026. The Cardinals Caravan, which runs concurrently with the Winter Warm-Up, begins on Friday, January 16, 2026. Details on both can be found here, and here.
The 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced on January 21, 2026. The only former Cardinal on the 2026 ballot is Carlos Beltran, who figures to have the best chance to be elected.
Blast from the Past
This week’s Blast from the Past will continue with the series highlighting notable events that occurred in the history of the franchise for a relevant period. The offseason brings occasions such as awards, retirements, baseball transactions, and other interesting events.
In this installment, we look at events that occurred during the period December 29 through January 4. For each event, its date, individual(s) involved, a description of the event, and any other relevant details are provided.
December 29, 1981 – After acquiring RHP Joaquin Andujar from the Houston Astros in a June 6, 1981 trade, the Cardinals signed Andujar as a free agent to a three-year/$1.2M contract. Andujar was traded to the Oakland Athletics in 1985.
January 1, 1966 – On this date, the Cardinals announced that Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium, built to replace Sportsman’s Park, will be renamed Busch Stadium.
January 1, 1996 – The Cardinals removed the artificial playing surface from Busch Stadium with a plan to replace it before the new season with infield grass. The Astro Turf had been in Busch Stadium for 26 years.
January 2, 1920 – Branch Rickey and the Cardinals borrowed $10,000 from stockholders of the team to purchase Jesse “Pop” Haines from the Kansas City Blues, a minor league team in the American Association. Haines pitched for the Cardinals for 18 seasons and retired at the age of 44.
January 3, 1956 – Cardinal GM Frank Lane began a process to remove the Birds on the Bat logo from the Cardinals uniform. The fans did not care for the change and the logo was returned to the uniform after one season.
January 4, 1942 – Former Cardinals icon and second baseman Rogers Hornsby was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
January 4, 2002 – Starting pitcher Matt Morris, drafted by the Cardinals in 1995, signed a three-year/$27 million contract. Morris underwent Tommy John surgery in 1999 and returned to the team in 2001. Morris was selected to the All-Star Team and finished third in the Cy Young Award voting in 2001. He re-signed with the Cardinals on a one-year contract after the 2004 season. Morris became a free agent again in 2005 and signed with the San Francisco Giants.
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