The St. Louis Cardinals publicly say that they aren’t fully rebuilding, but all the information coming out ahead of the MLB winter meetings indicates that they are.

St. Louis has already traded away ace pitcher Sonny Gray, and according to MLB Insider Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the “for sale sign is out” for new executive Chaim Bloom.

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Per Nightengale on Sunday morning:

“I think what makes it tough this winter,” one GM said, “is that you really don’t have teams rebuilding like in the past. Just about everyone you talk to seems like they’re going for it, which is good for the game.’’

Why, except for the St. Louis Cardinals, there’s not a single team who have a “For Sale’’ sign outside their hotel suite. The Cardinals are shopping everyone from Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado to super utilityman Brendan Donovan to infielder Nolan Gorman to first baseman Willson Contreras.

And while not specifically mentioned here, slugging first baseman Alec Burleson, outfielder Lars Nootbaar and left-handed reliever JoJo Romero could also be on the move in what could be a very painful offseason for St. Louis fans.

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The benefit of ripping off the band-aid now is that the Cardinals can quickly get to work on re-making the roster for their next competitive window. I’ve written more than once that Chaim Bloom is capable of rebuilding the organization, just as he did in Boston, but fans need to have patience with him.

It’s going to get worse before it gets better, but it does have a chance to get better. Bloom drafted Red Sox standout prospects Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, while also drafting Kyle Teel, who was utilized in the deal to bring in Garrett Crochet. He found Garrett Whitlock, one of the best relievers in the American League, in the Rule-5 Draft.

When teams go through complete teardowns, it doesn’t have to be followed by a decade of 100-loss seasons.

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The Chicago White Sox tore their roster down after the 2016 campaign and were back in the playoffs in 2020, and they got there again in 2021.

The Seattle Mariners tore their roster down after 2018, and then won 90 games as early as 2021. They’ve posted five straight winning seasons since and just got to the American League Championship Series.

If the Cardinals trade everyone this offseason, start the process all at once, pick the right prospects to get in return, and draft well, they could be the next example of a positive rebuild.

Who is the most likely prospect for the Cardinals to lose in Rule-5 Draft?

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