Chaim Bloom has made no attempt to conceal, or otherwise downplay, the Cardinals’ desire to add pitching during his first offseason as the president of baseball operations.
KMOX sports director Tom Ackerman asked Bloom about that on Sunday morning, and Bloom gave a decently expansive answer. Chaim wasn’t going to offer names of potential target in violation of protocol. (Not to mention common sense.) But Bloom certainly signaled the team’s intended direction.
“Yeah, no question. I do think the pitching side of the ledger is where I think we stand to benefit the most by adding externally,” Bloom said when prompted by Ackerman’s question.
Here’s Bloom on starting pitching: “Whether it's in a rotation to enhance what we do to stabilize that group and not to block off our young players, but also to make sure that we are not putting too much on them before they're ready.”
Here’s Bloom on the bullpen: “You know you never have enough out there and there's always value not just to the on-field work that the right bullpen additions can give you – but also what they can do for you in the clubhouse and mentorship of young players. That’s been a feature of most clubs that I've been around and that's really helpful, too. So we’ll take a look at that.”
Here’s Bloom on getting started after studying the Cardinals for nearly two years and assessing their needs during a process of reformation.
“We've just gotten into the offseason,” he said. “And we're actually raring to go. It's exciting to be able to focus on that. But the way the industry has trended … whether you're in the playoffs or not, you're so focused on just getting your staff settled this time of year that it takes the offseason a little bit of time often to get into gear.”
The annual GM meetings take place in Las Vegas from Nov. 10-13. This is a relatively quiet warm-up that leads to the annual MLB winter meetings that are set for Dec. 7-10 in Orlando.
“Kind of the unofficial kickoff for the offseason,” Bloom said. “But that said it is open season right now. So we're touching base with other teams. Just trying to get a sense of what everybody's looking to do so we can see where we might line up.”
Pitching is a priority.
Finding a power source for the lineup should be a priority.
A right-handed hitting outfielder should be on the front office to-do list.
And of course, Bloom will be floating the names of St. Louis players who likely will be available via trade. The list is no secret. It includes super-utility dude Brendan Donovan, outfielder Lars Nootbaar, third baseman Nolan Arenado, starting pitcher Sonny Gray, first baseman Willson Contreras, catcher Pedro Pages, and possibly even OF-1B Alec Burleson or (less likely) third baseman Nolan Gorman.
As you know, Arenado and Gray and Contreras have no-trade protection written in their contracts and must give permission for a trade to go through. We’ll see how that goes, but most observers would be stunned to see Arenado still playing for the Cardinals in 2026. And it would be a surprise to see Gray atop the St. Louis rotation for the final year (2026) of his contract.
In this Redbird Review, I’ll turn my attention to the starting pitching.
If Gray is dealt, that would leave Matthew Liberatore and Michael McGreevy as the only certainties for the 2026 season. Kyle Leahy will have a chance to make his case for a rotation spot in spring training. The Cardinals remained fixated on Andre Pallante, so it would be silly to rule him out. Gordon Graceffo will get a look in the spring.
The next group consists of substantive prospects: Quinn Mathews, Liam Doyle, Tink Hence. Mathews should be making his way to St. Louis and the big club at some point in 2026. Doyle projects as a fast-track talent but the Cardinals don’t want to rush him. Hence has elite talent but can’t stay healthy.
Tekoah Roby turned heads in 2025 spring training and is an authentic power arm. But patience is necessary because Roby will miss all (or most) of 2026 while rehabbing from elbow surgery.
Other prospects who could rise up and command attention: Ixan Henderson and Brycen Mautz. A sleeper is Hancel Rincon, who averaged over 11 strikeouts per nine innings in 2025. All three did very well for the Texas League Double A champion Springfield Cardinals this past season.
(I’ll stop with the prospect chatter right now; I don’t want to keep typing in names just to type in names. The Cardinals have plenty of pitching prospects who could become factors later in 2026, and certainly by the time the 2027 MLB season begins.)
Bloom’s Likely Focus + Random Thoughts
* Free-agent starting pitchers on a one-year deal, possibly with an option for a second season. The market will be plentiful. There will be lots of options. There will also be many teams going after the same pitchers – one-year, or two-year guys – so Bloom can’t hesitate if he has the chance to close a deal with a starting pitcher (or two) that he likes.
* Bloom will not sign a free-agent pitcher who received a qualifying offer. The Cardinals have no interest in sacrificing a compensatory draft pick for making a deal with a QO pitcher.
* The looming 2027 labor fight between MLB owners and players is an ominous cloud that will likely have an effect on certain teams’ free-agent strategies. Let’s say that the labor dispute drags on, chews up a big portion of the 2027 campaign, and ends with an agreement that significantly changes the current compensation model for players. What if there is a hard salary cap? What if there are more punitive luxury-tax penalties?
* What if enough teams are wary of a fundamental change in business that would prompt them to avoid dishing out as many long-term deals at this moment in time? There are early signs of anxiety out there. Shane Bieber (Toronto) and Jack Flaherty (Detroit) chose to remain with their teams in 2026 instead of opting out to look for a much larger multiple-year deal. The both took the sure thing for 2026 instead of assuming that lengthier contracts would be coming their way as free agents.
* Shota Imanaga gave up a $15 million player option for 2026 after the Cubs declined to pick up their three-year, $57 million club option for him. The Cubs shied away from making a longer commitment. Does that tell us anything? For his part, Imanaga wanted to take his chances on the open market – but will the lefty command the kind of contract that he hopes for? Or will he have to settle for less than he anticipated? This is a potential test case.
* Unless you’re a top starter, going into the free-market to seek a long-term deal will likely be more difficult because of the fear of the unknown on the labor front.
* This could work to Bloom’s advantage; there could be more starting pitchers willing to get as much as they can on a one-year salary for 2026 – then worry about the rest later. After there’s a new collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players.
* We saw some of this last offseason with more than a few older starting pitchers settling for one-year deals at a team-friendly price – including Jose Quintana, Colin Rea, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Jose Urquidy, Walker Buehler and Adrian Houser.
* Just a guess, and I could (obviously) be wrong but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bloom take a low-risk gamble on a talented pitcher who went off track due to a significant injury, is healthy now, and seems poised to find better form as a bounce-back candidate. Two examples come to mind: Dustin May and Tyler Mahle.
* I think the Cardinals will attempt to trade for a youngish and established MLB starter who has multiple years of contract control remaining. A hypothetical example would be right-handed Marlins starting pitcher Edward Cabrera, who made 26 starts for Miami this past season. He has a live arm, a potent strikeout sting, and can’t become a free agent until after the 2028 season. Cabrera’s name is being circulated as a possible object of a Bloom/STL pursuit. We’ll see.
* Random but related note and observation: St. Louis sports media and fans are trying to make a match for a deal between the Cardinals and Arizona free-agent starting pitcher Zac Gallen. I get it. He was a Cardinals prospect traded away in the move for Marcell Ozuna. (Yawn.)
* OK, now let’s slow down a little. Suppose the Diamondbacks make Gallen a qualifying offer to receive a draft choice from a team that signs him? As I said earlier, that doesn’t seem like a Bloom play to me. And why does everyone seem to think that Gallen would be in a rush to reunite with the Cardinals? When they sent him away in the Ozuna deal, Gallen took it personally and held a grudge. There’s also this: is Gallen looking for a rebuilding team, or a contender? Why would he want to join a rebuilding team if he has a better chance of pitching for a team that makes the postseason?
* Finally about Gallen. There’s this from FanGraphs in their free-agent scouting reports:
“After looking at Gallen’s résumé for about an hour, I came to an obvious conclusion: I’m glad I’m not a major league GM. I mean, what in the world are you supposed to do here? He looked like a down-ballot Cy Young type for three straight seasons, but then turned into a pumpkin in his walk year. And we’re talking really bad: Every ERA estimator was in the mid-4.00s, Gallen’s strikeout rate plummeted, he barely missed any bats, and our ‘Stuff’ models think he soundly deserved his poor results. Even scarier, they think he actually fell off a cliff in 2024, with the results following a year later.”
* Related note: I see writers and bloggers all but pleading for the Cardinals to go get Ryan Helsley, Luke Weaver, Andrew Kittredge, Phil Maton, and pretty much any active MLB pitcher who once worked for the Cardinals. (By the way, Kittredge is off the market; the Cubs sold him to the Orioles earlier this week. And the O’s picked up his contract option for 2026. He isn’t a free agent.)
* I see the people connecting Scherzer and the Cardinals for one reason: Scherzer is a St. Louisan, but he hasn’t lived in our town in a long time. The roots aren’t as strong as they once were. His parents live in Florida. Scherzer, 41, also wants to win another World Series. Can the Cardinals help Max do that in 2026? Hell, no. And if Scherzer makes a decision for sentimental reasons, it won’t have anything to do with St. Louis. But it would have a lot to do with a native St. Louisan, Tony Vitello, the new manager of the San Francisco Giants. Scherzer pitched for Mizzou when Vitello was an assistant coach. They’re very close friends. Scherzer has spoken passionately about Vitello’s future as a great big-league manager after making the direct jump from coaching the powerhouse program at Tennessee. Scherzer wants to help Vitello, and the Giants need to fill a rotation spot with a starting pitcher on a one-year deal. Good grief. Why in the heck would anyone assume Max prefers pitching for a rebuilding team in St. Louis over the chance to pitch for his dear friend Vitello?
Thanks for reading … and please check out my column from yesterday on Gold Glove winner Masyn Winn.
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Bernie covered every Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and Randy Karraker.