Finally! We have St. Louis Cardinals roster moves to break down!

Finally! We have St. Louis Cardinals roster moves to break down!

The 2025 MLB season is finally over and we finally have Cardinals roster moves to discuss. It’s coming up on Bhave Daily. [Music] What’s going on everyone and welcome in to this edition of B Shave Daily. Brendan Schaefer with you. The baseball season is over. The Dodgers won the World Series. Blah blah blah. I say we knew that was coming. Maybe not in the exact way that it happened. It really was a great World Series and I’m sure many people wishing to have seen the Blue Jays find a way to get it done. But of course, it was the result that we all kind of expected all along. But it’s over now and that means we can finally start to talk about the future as it pertains to the St. Louis Cardinals and what I have continued to say will be an extremely eventful off season. Now, I tweeted that out the night of game seven and got some push back from people who said, “Oh, I don’t really think they’re going to get better. I don’t think they’re going to add anybody.” You’re right. They’re probably not. I didn’t say it’s going to be eventful in a positive way for the 2026 win total, but stuff is going to happen. We’ve gotten additional reporting from Jeff Passen that matches what we already assume to be the case. Nolan Aronado is going to wave that no trade clause and end up somewhere. is certainly the way things seem to be going. Where that ends up being, we don’t know when it’ll happen. Good question. Might be a podcast for another day. But I do want to talk about the the newsworthy transactions the Cardinals made earlier this week. Uh it’s really the first time we’ve been able to say that in a while. Everything else has just been conjecture, speculation, whatever the case. I’m pulling up the uh Cardinals Twitter feed now. Oh, they wish Sunonny Gray a happy birthday today. That’s nice. He won’t be on the team next year. Um, Alec Berles winning the Silver Slugger last night. That’s really cool. Not really a lot to say about that as far as a full episode, but uh certainly Burley’s place in this lineup in 2026. That’ll be a topic of conversation as it’ll be for Mason Win who won the Gold Glove uh for his defensive acumen. What will he be at the plate? I think is going to go a long way toward determining just how competitive the Cardinals can be and how quickly. Because if he slots in as a number eight hitter or number nine hitter in your lineup for the foreseeable future, well, you know, that that would maybe imply that there’s some players better than him batting in the top of the order. Uh right now on the current roster, I think you might have a couple candidates, but will that be true by the time we get to March if trades are made? U also we’re looking at Mason W’s numbers so far. He had a below average season offensively in 2025. Can he improve? Can he find the next level? and maybe become a guy that you’re trying to find a reason to put him at leadoff or number two in your lineup rather than saying, “Well, we just kind of have to maybe put him there because we don’t have anybody that profiles any better.” Uh, despite Mason Win not having a really high OPS, excuse me, on well, that either, but on base percentage is really what I’d be looking at with a leadoff man and that dropped down a little bit for him this past year. Can he be a guy that settles in to a 330, 340, maybe even better? OPS, little bit of pop. ops in the I keep saying ops on base in the 340 range. Can he have an ops in the upper 700s? Well, that’s a guy that should bet in the top third of an order for even a contending team. Cardinals may not be one next year, but we’ll continue to talk about what they will be. What they’ll be without is a couple of players that were claimed off of waiverss on uh Thursday, excuse me. Michael Ciani, goodbye. He has been claimed by the Atlanta Braves. and Rodri Munoz claimed by the Reds. So stays in the central division. Zack Thompson and Anthony Veneziano, we hardly knew you. Veneziano, they were outrighted to AA Memphis after which time they both elected to become minor league free agents. So uh nobody claimed them. Nobody wanted to add them to their 40man roster. And so the Cardinal said, “All right, you’re off our 40, but you can stay in Memphis.” And they said, “Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll just we’ll see if we can catch on somewhere else.” which is uh common in those situations for those guys. So, Veneziano, whatever. I feel nothing about that one. They they added him because they had a you know, took a flyer on him during the summer. Didn’t work out. Didn’t really feel compelled to keep him. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained on that. Zack Thompson, it ends the era, right, of the Zack Thompson era. He was a first- round pick at one point in time. And so, that is a a disappointing end. I can tell you it was February last year when I was like, “This Zack Thompson thing is almost done. uh we’re almost done here and um that ended up happening. So, I’m not surprised by that move. I don’t think many Cardinals fans are either. Ciani, I think, is uh a a version of Victor Scott II that has less upside potential offensively. So, again, you talk about we talked about it last year. Uh I like as a player. I thought I liked him more than most Cardinals fans did probably. Um, but he was limited at at the plate and was always going to be is sort of the way that we viewed it. Loved his defense. Uh, but that’s what you that’s what you have in Victor Scott II and in VS2 you have the potential in theory to get more uh from that profile at the plate. Will he develop into that or will he just be fancy Michael Ciani? Time will tell. I’m playing them every day in center field in 2026 to find out though because that’s what 2026 can be about. like this is not a Cardinal team that we should go into the season expecting to be a contender. It’s going to be lean. It might be really lean. Um but you also might learn some things along the way. You can you can you give the runway I know you don’t want to hear that phrase, but can you give the opportunity to Victor Scott and he can in his his third year really as a big leaker figure it out. Can Mason win make that leap? Can you find out more about Thomas Saji? you know, is he somebody that’s more of a utility guy off your bench, can fill in a few times a week, or is he somebody that’s going to find a home in 2026 and have a position and hit enough to justify it? You know, these are the types of things that will it’ll make sense for the Cardinals to explore. Uh Jordan Walker obviously is going to be a topic if he’s still here. And we we’ll have that if he’s still here conversation about a lot of guys. Brendan Donovan, will he be traded? I don’t think he’ll be extended. I just don’t see the Cardinal spending money before the uh CBA expiration on December 1st of 2026. I think they’re going to kick some cans down the road, but they could also make trades. I would have thought that Lars New would have been somebody that would be traded, but he’s dealing with a recovery from a Hagglland’s deformity surgical repair that was necessary on both of his heels um to avoid that situation, which could turn into more of a sinister Achilles type of thing. And so that had to happen. And he may not be available for opening day, which could mean that he’s not available in a trade. I mean, will teams still want to give up talent to get him knowing that situation? I don’t know. Uh could be a blessing in disguise if the Cardinals were going to trade him and sell him low and now if they can’t without selling him really low, do they decide to keep him is another question of the off season. Lots of questions, but I think the start of it all is is going the way that it had to with some guys getting booted off the 40man roster. Munoz, Thompson, Veneziano, all gone. Brian Torres, a utility man from the uh the AAA Memphis contingent was added to the 40man roster. Believe he was in that range of guys who has to be protected this off season from rule five. And uh he’s going to be probably on this team next year. I think you’re going to see Brian Torres uh in St. Louis at some point. He had some good numbers in AAA. Uh 9005 OPS in AAA last year. He is not a youngster. Uh not a prospect. He’s 27 years old. Um but that is sort of the nature of the beast, I think, with where the Cardinals are. Uh excuse me, he’s 28 years old. Um July 2nd, 1997. I say he’s not a youngster. He’s almost uh three years younger than me to the day. But uh in terms of prospects, yeah, he’s not one. But he’s a guy that might be able to to show up. And look, if he had a 900 OPS in AAA, who’s to say he can’t show up next year, have a 700 OPS in the big leagues and and play multiple positions. He’s listed as an infielder outfielder. He’s played uh some second base. He’s played some some center field, uh I believe uh some left field, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Uh played right field predominantly last year. He’s listed on baseball reference center field, and they need to probably change that. predominantly played second and in the corners in the outfield last year, but like this is the kind of guy that when you trade away some of the guys, they may trade away. Brian Torres, come on down. Whether he’s on the bench, whether he’s playing some, this is this is the new look Cardinals. Be surprised if Torres is not given a look uh in spring and then and then potentially on the opening day roster depending on how many trades are made. Uh the 40man roster still is going to need uh some adjusting with where the Cardinals are now. Even after the four moves uh yesterday, they they lose four, they add one. And so I guess I could count. Here’s here’s like a savvy uh podcaster thing. Pause. And then I resume as if no time has passed. 37 is where the Cardinals 40man roster stands as of this moment according to uh the team website. I’m scanning the list and seeing more names that that could and will probably fall off and then you got to add some additional names from that group of double AAA players that need to be protected uh from the rule five draft. But like as an example, not going to say that this is happening for sure, but like Matt Caperniaak, outfielder who did not really produce this season is another left-handed bat. And I I don’t know his age, but I think he’s not kind of like we talked about with Brian Torres, not super young anymore. And so if he’s a guy that the Cardinals try to pass through waiverss, I would not necessarily be uh shocked by that. And and I think there’s a number of guys to which uh that applies in the Cardinals uh system and in their uh excuse me, in their 40man roster. He’s born in 1998, Caperniac, so he’s 27. He’ll be 28 by the time we get to spring training. Uh that feels like another name that you don’t you go okay let’s be aware at least of of that situation. Um Prietto could easily be a guy that they want to they want to give some run to next year. Like how do they decide between a prito and a fermine and some of these guys that we’ve seen a little bit of and and you know maybe some of them are cast aside but some of them are you know end up end up in in prominent roles and there might not be a big difference between the ones that you don’t think are worthy of a 40man spat and the ones that are starting at third base for you. U that could be the way that this Cardinal season goes. Uh Joel Poso is right now your fourth catcher on your 40man roster if Ivon Herrera is going to be uh installed back into a role like that. So you keep an eye on that. Um guys like Takoma Roi and Sam Robertson recovering from Tommy John. I think Roby is certainly a guy that’s going to stick around. What about Roberta? What’s his recovery like and is is it going to be worthwhile to spend that spot uh if you don’t believe that okay he could be healthy and contribute at the big league level? Because we harped on it last year. One of the problems with the the John Mosak era as it came to a close was too many guys on the 40man that that really you weren’t confident that could help you and they also aren’t prospects that you’re saying they’re going to be great. They’re just not ready. So are are some of these other guys uh Nick Rak can’t remember if it was Rak or or Racket but they added him late. Is he somebody that they want to see a future for or you know is he somebody they tried to pass through? Um Alcala I think is somebody you definitely hang on to. was throwing triple digits late last season, but like there’s still a handful of names that I think you could look at and and and that’s before we even talk about trading a guy like Nolan Aronado who when they trade him, they may not get a big league player back for him or a 40-man roster player back for him. So, these are the types of moves that we could certainly see. And it’s the type of stuff we’ll be talking about all offseason long on Bshave Daily. I know it’s been a minute since I’ve uh caught up with you guys, but I’m looking to at least do it like this 12 to 15 minutes a day, keeping you posted uh on on the weekdays at least with what’s going on with Cardinals baseball and certainly when any real news drops. Uh you can count on me to be on top of it this winter. Uh that is my pledge to you. Got a lot going on, but I want to make this something I’ve got going on too. And uh now it’s just time for me to show you that and do it regularly. So appreciate you guys for jumping in. We will talk to you next time on Be Shafe Daily. Peace.

Brenden Schaeffer discusses the latest round of Cardinals roster moves as two players were claimed on waivers and two more were outrighted off the 40-man roster this week.

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