photo: Nolan Arenado (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The St. Louis Cardinals are preparing for two major roster deadlines this coming week. At the GM Meetings, the team made it clear they are open to trading. Our history feature looks back at key events this past week in team annals.
News and Notes for the Offseason
This section in the coming months will contain information and snippets of news that don’t require extensive coverage but are of interest to St. Louis Cardinals fans.
- The Arizona Fall League has concluded. The Glendale Desert Dogs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. All eight Cardinal minor league players who were on that team have now officially entered their offseason. A summary of their results is available here.
- 2026 Cardinals ticket packs are now on sale in seven different flavors. Information can be found
- “Banana Ball” will return to Busch Stadium in 2026 as the Savannah Bananas are scheduled for two games in St. Louis next year. The popular entertainment baseball team will come to Busch Stadium 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.
The Big Picture
As we enter the second week of the offseason, nothing significant has changed since the prior week. The Reserve List deadline is just ahead, on Tuesday, November 18, and the results of that will give some indication of where the team sees its future heading.
Later in the week is the tender deadline, Friday, November 21. This is another opportunity to see which players the Cardinals identify as not being in their future plans. We will have more to talk about in next week’s Big Picture.
The GM Meetings have concluded, and from that came reports of player transactions that may be on the horizon. There were no surprises in the reports that POBO Chaim Bloom intends to offer his three high salaried veterans, Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras, on the trade market.
What was less known, though not a surprise necessarily, is that Bloom intends to listen to offers for some of his arbitration eligible players, including Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar and JoJo Romero. Romero will enter his final year of arbitration and both Donovan and Nootbaar are second year arbitration players.
As we know, both Donovan and Nootbaar underwent offseason surgery.
Donovan’s sports hernia procedure is common with baseball players with a well-known recovery time. That surgery should not be a hindrance in moving Donovan.
Nootbaar’s surgery, for Haglund’s deformity on both heels, is not at all common and is reported to have a much lengthier recovery time. Whether this will be an impediment to any team’s interest in acquiring Nootbaar is unknown.
The left-hander Romero should receive considerable interest in the trade market for relief pitchers, which is generally quite active.
The Cardinals have a total of nine arbitration eligible players, including Donovan, Nootbaar and Romero. Jorge Alcalá and John King are repeat arbitration players, but one or both of them could be non-tender candidates (another way of saying not likely to garner trade interest).
Andre Pallante, a Super Two last season, is entering his second year of arbitration. Pallante seems certain to be in the starting rotation in 2026. The final three, Nolan Gorman, Alec Burleson, and Matthew Liberatore, are first year arbitration eligible. With each having three more years of team control, those three are not likely to be moved absent an overwhelming offer.
Once both November 18 and November 21 have passed, the next important period on the schedule is the Winter Meetings. It will take place beginning December 7 and run through December 10 in Orlando, Florida. The Rule 5 draft will be held on the last day. Trades during the Winter Meetings have been less frequent the past few years so it remains to be seen whether the Cardinals will make any moves during that time.
Stay tuned for more happenings as the offseason continues.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
- Derrick Goold of the Post Dispatch reports from the just concluded GM Meetings that the Cardinals are open for business. This means they are looking to trade their high salaried veterans, three players who are on guaranteed contracts and who all have no-trade protection. They are Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras.
The likelihood of these players being traded varies, with the most likely being Arenado and the least likely being Contreras. It is almost certain that Arenado has played his last game as a Cardinal.
In addition, Goold writes that the Cardinals are willing to listen on several arbitration eligible players, a group consisting of Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, and JoJo Romero. These players will be entering their second or third year of arbitration and will of course be commanding higher salaries.
As noted below, Donovan has already garnered interest. Nootbaar’s situation is a little less clear given that he underwent surgery on both heels, a surgery that has a fairly lengthy recovery time and is not a common procedure. Thus, teams could be hesitant to take a chance on Nootbaar until they see how he recovers and performs post-surgery. The Texas Rangers and one other AL team have expressed interest in Nootbaar in the past, says Goold, but this was before the surgery.
Romero is a known quantity and should draw interest from any team who needs a reliable set up man in the bullpen.
- As noted above, utility player Brendan Donovan is already drawing significant interest on the trade market. Chandler Rome of the Athletic, who covers the Houston Astros, has written that the Astros are interested in acquiring the versatile Donovan, who would fill a need the Houston club has on their roster. Other teams reportedly interested in Donovan include the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Guardians, according to Goold in the same piece linked above.
Transactions
There are no transactions to report.
Injury Report
- There are no new injuries to report. However, stay tuned to this space for updates on the recovery from surgery of Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, and Iván Herrera.
Looking Ahead
The offseason is underway. All November MLB awards have been given out. The GM Meetings have concluded.
The Cardinals are preparing to file their Reserve List with the Commissioner’s Office by the November 18 deadline. As of this writing, the 40-man roster has been reduced to 37 players.
After the Reserve Lists are filed, the tender deadline will follow on November 21. On this date, teams will offer contracts to all players they wish to retain who don’t have guaranteed contracts for the upcoming season. Any players who are not tendered contracts will become free agents.
The next date on the offseason schedule is December 7, when two things will happen. First, the Hall of Fame Contemporary Baseball Era Committee will announce their selections. This committee was formerly known as the Veterans Committee. The nominees are Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela. The latter was a Cardinal briefly during the conclusion of his pitching career.
Also on December 7, the Winter Meetings begin. This annual event takes place through December 10 in Orlando, Florida. This is the time when trades and signings may be commenced/finalized. In the past, these Meetings were very busy and impactful. In the last several years, they have become less so, as teams are waiting longer for various reasons to make their decisions on players they wish to acquire.
To conclude the Winter Meetings, the Rule 5 Draft takes place.
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 during a relevant period of time. This installment will chronicle noteworthy instances of awards, retirements, baseball transactions, and other interesting events.
For this installment, we look at events that occurred during the period November 10 through 16.
For each event, the date of the event, the individual(s) involved, and a description of the event, and any other relevant details are noted.
November 10, 2005 – Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter is announced as the National League Cy Young Award winner by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). This award is given to a pitcher who is voted to have given the most outstanding pitching performance of the season in each league. Carpenter became only second Cardinal pitcher to receive this award. Bob Gibson, won the award twice, in 1968 and 1970.
November 11, 2005 – Cardinal first baseman Mark McGwire announced his retirement as a player. McGwire made the decision not to accept the two-year/$30 million extension he was offered by the Cardinals. This decision ended a 16-year career that included 583 home runs, then fifth all-time in major league history.
November 12, 2001 – Albert Pujols is named the National League Rookie of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Pujols, who was one year removed from playing in A ball, set records for RBI (130), total bases (360) and extra base hits (88) by a first-year player.
November 12, 2019 – Cardinal manager Mike Shildt is named National League Manager of the Year, becoming the first MLB manager recognized to have never played professional baseball.
November 13, 1979 – Cardinal first baseman Keith Hernandez becomes the first player to be named co-winner of the National League Most Valuable Player Award, shared with Pirates first baseman Willie Stargell.
November 14, 2011 – Former Cardinal catcher Mike Matheny is announced as the successor to retiring manager Tony La Russa. Matheny, 41, had been acting in the capacity of Special Assistant to General Manager John Mozeliak, and had no previous managerial experience.
November 16, 2005 – Albert Pujols is selected as the National League’s Most Valuable Player by the BBWAA. This is Pujols first MVP award (he later won two more). Pujols prevailed in a close vote over Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones.
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