St Louis Cardinals 2026
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
I would love to see Arenado moved. Team collapse last 3 seasons was due to performance drop off from all star level of Goldschmidt years 35, 36 (expected) and Arenado 32, 33, 34 (unexpected). Injuries did not help but that increases with age.
Tough decision on Burleson (27) and Donovan (28). both are at their peak. Unfortunately team will not be competitive next 2 years so I have no problem with a decision to trade them.
Rendon 2019 contract 7 year $245M may go down as one of worst free agent signing since 2000. Amazing how many of these are with Angels - Josh Hamilton 5 year $125M (2012) Albert Pujols 10 year $240M (2012) plus $10m person services contract.
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in general, i agree with all the above but I'm not sure were going to get value for Donovan or Burly .
Both have some team control and great salaries but we need top level pitching and that is hard to
come by and Burleson can hit but doesn't have a defensive home. Seattle, Boston are very interested
in Donovan but I'm not sure their top one or two minor league arms are a tough ask. both are what
the Cards need and don't have in our outfielders. play every day, hit, with men on bases, play hard
and are team leaders. The kind of things the redbirds used to be known for. If we can build around
Winn, we can also build around Donovan!
Both have some team control and great salaries but we need top level pitching and that is hard to
come by and Burleson can hit but doesn't have a defensive home. Seattle, Boston are very interested
in Donovan but I'm not sure their top one or two minor league arms are a tough ask. both are what
the Cards need and don't have in our outfielders. play every day, hit, with men on bases, play hard
and are team leaders. The kind of things the redbirds used to be known for. If we can build around
Winn, we can also build around Donovan!
Genuinely curious as to why though? I like them too but Donovan is a FA after 2027, and Burleson after 2028. It is beyond clear we are not competing in 2026, and I think you're counting on a miracle to happen to compete in 2027. They're not going to pay either a bunch to stay beyond their arb years - the model DeWitt/Bloom are building is focused on putting together competitive teams on a budget by building around cost-controlled guys. So what's the point in running down their trade value by expending their cost controlled years, keeping them on a team that doesn't have the tools to win games?
I have been on record multiple times concerning my opinion about Nootbar. I just think it is time to move on. I do not think the Cardinals will get much in return. But if this is a true rebuild , let's see some new faces in the everyday line-up. But let us be honest here. Lars Nootbar is only one piece out of 8 everyday players on a 78 win team. The everyday roster is in need of major upgrades before this team is going to compete for anything.
Excellent points. If you build a championship roster (big if) around cost controlled players, what happens to these players when they are no longer cost controlled?
You need look no further than the Tampa Bay organization Bloom came up under. Those players get traded away.
I can hardly wait.
Ryllini
- Lombard
if it was up to me to make the decisions given their stated goals, I’d get what could for Noot ASAP. Donny has to go. Get what you can this offseason, which I think ultimately will be an over pay from some team. I don’t want to take the risk of him getting injured or just not being good and trade deadline comes. Gorman stays because of team control. I’d keep Burly for the time being at least. He has an every day spot at 1st now. Let’s see what type of player he rounds into when he is locked into an everyday job. I think he could be a big piece on the corner and would be still in his prime when the team is ready to compete.
Dee_4_Three_83
- Mahomet, IL
Angels interested in trading for this All-Star third baseman (report)
We're keeping track of all the latest free agent and trade rumors.
www.mlb.com
while i wouldn't be ready to extend Burleson (give another year or two of consistent defense at a position and hitting) i would
wonder if $8 mil a year for 4-5 years would keep Donovan around? particularly if the players strike and he gets a nice bonus for a
year to sit potentially? he's not Edman (who got 5 years - $74 mil. from the dodgers) Who would you compare him to? anyone?
he just lost his arbitration case and will earn $2.85 mil. next year.
Chat GPT says he's worth $5.4 M in 2026 .
- FanGraphs–style projections estimate a free agent deal in the range of ~$20 M+ per year (AAV) on a multi-year contract, potentially in the low-20s per season if he continues to be productive. Redbird Rants
- A hypothetical example from fan analysis suggests something like 3–5 years at about $20M–$23M per year once he hits the open market.
Let me clarify. I actually was not referring to anybody on last year's team except maybe Wynn. I am talking 3 or 4 years down the road.
To buyout Donovan's last 2 arb years (2026 & 2027) plus 2 years of free agency ($20MMish/year), that's more like 4 yrs / $51MM ($13MM/yr ish). And that's not giving him any upside.
But I don't know if he really has any incentive to sign something like that. Hitting free agency for his age 31 season, he's likely looking for the longest term FA deal he can get with the highest guaranteed dollars - not sure why he would sell his 2 most valuable free agent years 2 years before he needs to.
unless he hits .220 next year.
Just as a reference, Ha-Seong Kim signed a 1-yr $20 million deal this offseason after slashing .234/.304/.345 and being worth 0.3 bWAR.
The guy is going to get one shot at a major free agent deal. If he delays that by two years, until he's 33, he's going to negatively impact the years and dollars he will command. He's not going to do that unless you massively overpay. And keep in mind this team is not competing this year, and probably not next year. So what are you paying for? If you pay him the $51MM/4 year deal (which he probably wouldn't take), to the team that's like paying him $51MM to help compete in 2028 and 2029 - i.e. $25.5 MM/yr. Why make that commitment now when you don't even know if the team is going to be any good by then? Why not wait until the offseason after 2027 and decide if he's worth paying the market rate at that point? Might be that the money would be better spend elsewhere anyway. For a rebuilding team, flexibility is generally good, and tied up money is bad.
I agree. They are actively dumping contracts now with Gray/Contreras/maybe Nado. Why tie up more money in LTC deals right now? Wouldn't make sense.
Pallante, Nootbar, and Donovan have all signed 2026 contracts.
@JeffPassan
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BREAKING: The Arizona Diamondbacks are acquiring eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, sources tell ESPN. Arenado has agreed to waive his no-trade clause and the deal is done
Reportedly we're also sending them $31 million in cash (I believe that includes the $5 million we are still set to receive from the Rockies). Woof! Just goes to show there was absolutely no market for Arenado right now.
Our return is Jack Martinez (RHP), their 8th round pick (#243 overall) in the 2025 MLB draft.
Cardinals trade Nolan Arenado to D-Backs, ending long saga
The deal wraps up a long saga of the Cardinals attempting to trade their cornerstone third baseman.
www.nytimes.com
Per Major League Baseball network, The Cardinals will pay $31,000,000 of the $42,000,000 contract.