photo: Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Alec Burleson and Brendan Donovan are in the running for a National League Silver Slugger Award. Free agency for Miles Mikolas is approaching. Our history feature looks back at key events this past week in team annals.
Two Cardinals named Silver Slugger finalists
The finalists for the 2025 Silver Slugger Awards were announced this past week. Two St. Louis Cardinals made the list for the National League, both at the position of Utility Player.
Alec Burleson and Brendan Donovan are among the top three finishers in this category along with Jake Cronenworth of the San Diego Padres. The Silver Slugger recognizes a top hitter at each position in each league.
Donovan finished the season (a little prematurely) with a slash line of .287/.353/.422 with 10 home runs and 50 RBI. He had a wRC+ of 119 and was worth 2.9 WAR. His OPS was .775 and his OPS+ was 119. His Total Bases were 194 and he scored 64 runs.
Burleson tallied a .290/ .343/.459 slash line. He had 18 home runs and 54 RBI, a 124 wRC+ and was worth 2.1 WAR. His OPS was .801 and his OPS+ was 125. His Total Bases were 228 and Runs scored was 54.
Cronenworth had a slash line of .246/.367/.377, 11 home runs, 61 RBI, a 117 wRC+ and was worth 2.9 WAR. His OPS was .744 and his OPS+ was 108. His Total Bases were 158 and Runs scored was 61.
Silver Slugger Award winners are determined by a vote of managers and coaches for each position player in their league. Votes are based on offensive statistics that include OPS, OPS+, home runs, RBI, Batting Average, Total Bases, and Runs. Also considered is the manager and coaches’ overall impression of the player’s offensive value.
The winners will be announced on November 6 at 5 p.m. CT for the NL, and for the AL on November 7 at 5 p.m. CT via The Baseball Insiders stream on You Tube.
News and Notes for the Offseason
While it is not officially the “Offseason” until the postseason is over, it is the working offseason for the Cardinals. This section in the coming months will contain information and snippets of news that don’t require extensive coverage but are of interest to Cardinal fans.
- The Cardinals have parted ways with former St. Louis bench coach Joe McEwing. McEwing was a player for the Cardinals for two seasons in 1998-99 and was the bench coach to Oli Marmol before he was given the position of special assistant to the President of Baseball Operations in 2023. Coinciding with John Mozeliak moving on and new POBO Chaim Bloom taking over, McEwing’s days with the Cardinals organization have come to an end.
- Former Cardinals icon Albert Pujols is out of the picture for the open manager positions with the Los Angeles Angels and Baltimore Orioles, as reported this past week. Pujols’s desire to manager an MLB team is still alive, however, as he is reportedly under consideration to replace Mike Shildt as manager of the San Diego Padres.
- For those fans who are eager to continue to see Cardinals players play baseball for an extended time, the Arizona Fall League is for you. Eight Cardinal minor leaguers, five pitchers and three position players, are currently playing in the AFL for the Glendale Desert Dogs. The league will play through November 12. Most games are available to stream on the AFL website here. It should be noted that it appears Glendale home games are not available to stream but most, if not all, road games can be streamed. The Cardinal Nation features daily game recaps and links to box scores.
- “Banana Ball” will return to Busch Stadium in 2026. The Savannah Bananas are scheduled to return to St. Louis next year for two games. 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
With only a week left in the postseason, the official beginning of the offseason is drawing near. The World Series is underway, with the two contenders, the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers tied at one game apiece.
The series resumes on Monday at Dodger Stadium for Game 3, with Games 4 and 5 to follow on Wednesday and Thursday. Games 6 and 7, if necessary, will return to Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Thus, the official offseason can begin no later than November 2, the day following the World Series if it goes to Game 7.
As we discussed last week in this space, the offseason begins with eligible players electing their free agency and teams making the Qualifying Offer to selected free agents. The Cardinals have one free agent, Miles Mikolas, and they almost certainly will not give the right-handed starting pitcher the Qualifying Offer.
So, what is next for Cardinals fans? Absent any surprises about Mikolas, the next date of interest (that is not an offseason award announcement) is November 18. This is the date that teams must file their Reserve List (a/k/a “40-man roster”) with the Commissioner’s Office. This is done to protect eligible minor league players from the Rule 5 draft. Any Rule 5 eligible minor league players who are not already on the 40-man roster and who the team wants to protect, must be added by 3 p.m. CT on this date.
Some eligible players who may be added include Leonardo Bernal, Joshua Baez, Cooper Hjerpe and Brycen Mautz. Others may be removed.
Following November 18, the next date of interest is November 21. This is the Tender deadline (also referred to as the non-tender deadline). That is the day teams must offer a contract to all players who are not signed to a guaranteed contract for the following season. This includes arbitration eligible players as well as pre-arbitration players. Those players who are not offered a contract are considered non-tendered (hence the alternative title) and they become a free agent.
There has been no indication of players who will be non-tendered, though with a new POBO on board, there is no way of knowing if such news is likely to be leaked ahead of time. If that does occur you can find it mentioned here in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned for more happenings as the official beginning of the offseason nears.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
There are no new trade rumors to report.
Transactions
There are no transactions to report.
Injury Report
- 2B Brendan Donovan had surgery on October 7 to repair a sports hernia. Donovan had been reported to have groin issues and was shut down for the last week of the season. The recovery time for sports hernia surgery in this context is typically 8-12 weeks, which should put Donovan in good shape to start Spring Training on time.
- LF Lars Nootbaar also had offseason surgery on October 7. The reason is Haglund’s deformities, which are bony enlargements on the heel bone where the Achilles tendon attaches. The surgery was on both heels. Chaim Bloom reported on KMOX Radio that the outfielder may not be ready for Opening Day but his regular season time to be missed is expected to be “brief”.
- C/DH Iván Herrera had surgery on October 15 to remove bone spurs from his right elbow. This surgery is minor and will not affect Herrera’s offseason preparation or readiness for Spring Training. For 2026, Herrera is focusing on returning behind the plate after serving as the designated hitter for much of 2025.
Looking Ahead
The Postseason is underway. Games 1 and 2 of the World Series have been played between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers and the series is tied 1-1. Games 3 through 5 will be played at Dodger Stadium, with Game 3 scheduled for Monday, October 27.
The World Series will end no later than November 1.
The Arizona Fall League is underway and will continue through Wednesday, November 12. The Cardinals have eight players assigned to the Glendale Desert Dogs. Those 8 players are RHP Chen-Wei Lin, RHP Darlin Saladin, RHP Tyler Bradt, RHP Randel Clemente, RHP D.J. Carpenter, C Graysen Tarlow, OF Miguel Ugueto, and OF Travis Honeyman.
At 9:00 am the day following the end of the World Series, the offseason officially begins. Eligible free agents will declare their free agency. The Cardinals have one free agent, Mile Mikolas. Qualifying Offers will be made during the week following the World Series. Mikolas is not likely to receive a Qualifying Offer.
November is awards month and the finalists for two of the awards have already been announced. They are shortstop Masyn Winn and center fielder Victor Scott for Gold Glove Awards, and Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson for Silver Slugger Awards. Those winners will be announced on November 2 and November 6, respectively.
Blast from the Past
This week’s Blast from the Past continues with the series highlighting notable events that occurred in the past history of the franchise for a relevant period of time.
For this installment, we look at events that occurred during the period October 20 through October 26 and focus on records set or broken or other notable events, transactions, and any other unique event.
For each event, its date, the individual(s) involved, a description of the event, and any other relevant details are included.
October 20, 1964 – On this date, Manager Johnny Keane resigned one day following his team’s World Series Championship win in Game 7 against the New York Yankees. Red Schoendienst was named the new manager and continued in that role for 12 seasons from 1965-1976, and as interim manager in 1980 and 1990.
October 21, 2004 – On this date, the Cardinals advanced to their first World Series in 17 years with a win over the Astros in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. This was the franchise’s 16th NL Pennant since their first in 1926.
October 22, 2011 – In Game 3 of the World Series the Cardinals routed the Rangers by the score of 16-7. Albert Pujols hit three home runs, and collected five hits and six RBI, which tied the World Series record in those categories. Pujols also set a World Series record with 14 total bases.
October 26, 1985 –On this date, Umpire Don Denkinger made his blown call heard round the world, when he called Royals pinch hitter Jorge Orta safe at first base in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the World Series. The controversial call, which was shown by video to be wrong, and was later admitted so by Denkinger, led to the Royals winning Game 6. Had the call been made correctly, the game would have ended in a win for the Cardinals and a World Series victory. Instead, the Royals won Game 6 and Game 7.
October 26, 2013 – On this date, in Game 3 of the World Series between the Cardinals and the Red Sox, an obstruction call ended a game for the first time in World Series history. After Yadier Molina was thrown out at the plate, Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia made a bad throw to third base to catch Allen Craig out at third. Third baseman Will Middlebrooks fell down attempting to catch the ball and interfered with Craig trying to run home. The umpires ruled that Craig had been obstructed by Middlebrooks and had safely scored the winning walk off run to give the Cardinals a 5-4 victory.
October 26, 2014 – Sadly, on this date in 2014, Cardinals rookie prospect Oscar Taveras was killed in an automobile accident in the Dominican Republic at the age of 22. Taveras had been not only the Cardinals number one prospect but had also been the number 1 or 2 prospect in most of the national ranking lists. Taveras had only played in 80 major league games in 2014 before his untimely death. The outfielder and his 18-year-old girlfriend both passed in the accident, attributed to alcohol and excessive speed.
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