(TNS ) —After sending Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox in separate deals for a passel of pitching prospects, the St. Louis Cardinals have taken on the traits of self-contained shoppers who don’t leave much daylight for receiving gifts from others.
For all the shopping they’ve already knocked off their wish list, though, there’s still plenty of room for more players under the tree.
After years of making incremental changes around the edges—regardless of how the team prefers to frame things—a full rebuild is underway. That means bringing in additional players in both the short and long term.
“We’ve already discussed the possibility of adding more starting pitching,” president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said after the Contreras trade, which brought in right-hander Hunter Dobbins and two prospects. “I don’t think that’s an absolute necessity, but we’re always going to look to keep doing it if we see the right fit there.
“On the position player side, that’s a big bat that’s leaving our lineup. We’re going to try to add to our position player group. What exactly that looks like, I don’t know yet. I think it’s more likely, given how we’re configured right now, that it would be right-handed hitters over left-handed hitters.”
Bloom also said the Cardinals continue to seek experience for the bullpen, looking for a pitcher who can both provide mentorship and get outs. That wide-ranging player search highlights the organization’s vision for its immediate competitive future.
Despite trading away veterans and prioritizing long-term moves over short-term fixes, Bloom and his staff have consistently insisted they are not “conceding” anything competitively as they head into 2026.
The reality is that the Cardinals are exceedingly unlikely to challenge for a playoff spot—or a championship—in the upcoming season. But there appears to be little appetite for allowing the team to hit rock bottom.
After all, it would be simple enough to enter spring training with the roster as currently constructed and simply hope for the best. Alec Burleson is expected to be the primary first baseman with Contreras headed to Boston, and there are enough familiar faces—and top prospect JJ Wetherholt—to fill out a regular lineup.
However, some of those players are still likely to be on the move. Part of the reason Bloom continues to search for competent big-league roster players is that the Cardinals’ purge isn’t complete. Brendan Donovan remains a highly appealing and widely discussed trade target, and the team continues to believe it can find a suitable trade for Nolan Arenado.
Those two players, in addition to left-handed reliever JoJo Romero, are highly likely to be elsewhere when pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about six weeks.
And while the returns for both Contreras and Gray have consisted entirely of pitchers—five in total—the Cardinals are not averse to seeking bats in the trade market as well.
“It’s not just on the pitching side where we’d like to find the long-term fits,” Bloom said. “That’s also something we can do on the position player side, but there is something to be said for shorter-term fits and for the right veterans to also help the club. I think we can really look at either, and we’ve already started doing that, and certainly we’ll continue to. We just don’t know yet exactly what the opportunities are that will be available to us.”
One available player who appeared to fit all of Bloom’s criteria, outfielder Rob Refsnyder, signed a one-year deal with the Seattle Mariners on Monday, taking him off the board. The remaining free-agent class does not feature many clear right-handed platoon options who primarily handle the outfield while providing some power risk.
Austin Hays, a 2023 All-Star in Baltimore who hit 15 home runs in 103 games for Cincinnati last season, is among that group. Miguel Andujar played both corner infield and outfield for the Athletics and Reds last season, posting 10 home runs and 17 doubles in 94 games; he has historically been much stronger against left-handed pitching. Former Cardinal Randal Grichuk struggled through the worst season of his career for Arizona and Kansas City in 2025, but slugged at a much better rate against lefties and is familiar with the organization.
Unspoken but relevant is the chance that a short-term veteran could become a trade piece at the 2026 deadline. That was part of the thought process behind signing free-agent starter Dustin May, and a hitter in that mold could offer a similar bonus at perhaps half of May’s $12.5 million price tag.
It’s less a straight gift exchange for the Cardinals at this point than an ongoing game of Yankee Swap—give or take any actual Yankees. The length of Bloom’s remaining list is a clear sign of the number of deals still to come and the futility of trying to predict which move is best.
Like so many others this time of year, the Cardinals are shopping for deals and are prepared to shape their future around what they find.