It became pretty clear prior towards the end of the 2024 season that the St. Louis Cardinals were destined to begin a pretty epic rebuild. Bloated contracts for aging stars that simply weren’t good enough to drag them to contender status led longtime GM slash president of baseball operations John Mozeliak to announce in September of that year that 2025 would be his final season in charge, with Chaim Bloom – formerly of the Boston Red Sox – due to take over for him for 2026.
They’ve shopped future
Hall of Famer Nolan Arenado ever since then, to no avail just yet. Willson Contreras, while still incredibly thumpy with his bat, still hasn’t been dealt, though it’s pretty clear after this week’s news that the eyes of the rest of the baseball world will be those of vultures looking to scavenge.
That’s because Sonny Gray, former Cincinnati Reds ace, officially got dealt to Bloom’s former club in Boston. In exchange, the Cardinals get Boston’s former #5 prospect in Brandon Clarke as well as durable arm Richard Fitts, notably eating $20 million of the $40 million still owed to Gray to facilitate the deal (and actually get talent in return).
A rebuild that is, to a T – eating some money to make the moves that will build for the future, taking it on the chin with the long-game in mind.
That St. Louis was willing to do so to that end signals it’s something they’ll almost certainly be willing to do next with Arenado, who still has $42 million total owed to him over the next two seasons. And in doing so (to a scaled extent), they’ll likely be able to get a tangible piece or two for the future instead of just being stuck with sunk-cost salary for players they no longer put on the field in their uniforms.
It’s an interesting dynamic given what the Cincinnati Reds have been up to during their own climb out of the cellar the last few years. Rather than being able to dump any of their dead money contracts, they simply had to eat the remaining money left on the deals to Mike Moustakas, Shogo Akiyama, and Jeimer Candelario, failing to get anything from other franchises and being forced to pay their entire rates themselves.
How dedicated to the bit St. Louis is remains to be seen, though as Will Leitch notes in his takeaways from the Gray deal, they really don’t have much in the way of starting pitching at all on their roster right now. That’s one clear way to enter into a season with low expectations, something that (in theory) benefits the Reds as they embark upon a 2026 season with contention again in mind. It’s rare, really, that St. Louis is ever really out of it, let alone out of it at the same time the Reds are actually in it. So, I think it would behoove the Reds to get off their snoozy butts and make some moves to capitalize on this window, as it’s not the kind of thing I expect will stick around for too long.
Milwaukee’s excellent, yes. The Cubs are a behemoth when they choose to be, even though it looks like they’re going to miss out on Kyle Tucker long term. The Pirates are the Pirates, and that leaves the Reds teetering somewhere in the middle with the Cardinals seemingly looking beyond 2026, and not to it. If if ever there were a time to capitalize on that, well, I’d say it’s right now.
