As the offseason began, it appeared that among the St. Louis Cardinals veterans Willson Contreras would be the most likely to remain with the team during the rebuild. A new report seems to indicate that his desire to remain with the team might have changed.
Katie Woo of The Athletic dropped this curious share on X this morning about the status of Willson Contreras and his willingness to consider waiving his no-trade clause with the St. Louis Cardinals.
This makes me wonder what’s changed to make Willson more likely to say yes to a trade if the Cardinals requested it. The obvious answer would be the trade of Sonny Gray last week and the constant rumors about Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson and numerous others, but how is that different than what most of us thought would happen as President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom kicks the rebuild into high gear? Perhaps I’m to blame for mentioning that all signs were pointing to Willson Contreras remaining a Cardinal at least at the start of the 2026 season. Could it be that the Cardinals are in talks with a team that Willson would now approve a move to? It’s all speculation at this point, but with the Winter Meetings only days away, we’ll find out soon enough.
One other note. ESPN listed the top 25 MLB trade prospects. Brendan Donovan was on their list with what they described as a 75% chance of being traded. Willson Contreras was also in the ESPN top 25, but they only gave him a 15% chance of being traded. This came out prior to Katie Woo’s report today. I wonder if Willson’s percentage chance of being traded would be rated higher now?