Getty

The teardown is underway in St. Louis with Chaim Bloom at the helm.

When the winter dealings consist of selling off every notable veteran on the roster, the reviews are going to be negative. The Athletic didn’t hold back in a report detailing the biggest winners and losers of the offseason. The piece from Patrick Mooney, Katie Woo, and Will Sammon tabs the St. Louis Cardinals as having the worst offseason. “It’s a grim time to be a Cardinals fan.”

When Chaim Bloom took over as full-time president of baseball operations, he embarked on a clear path at the conclusion of the 2025 season. The St. Louis front office moved quickly to ship out anything that wasn’t nailed down. Right-hander Sonny Gray was the first to go, with the Cardinals trading him to the Boston Red Sox. He wouldn’t be the only veteran landing in Bloom’s former stomping grounds. Boston also picked up first baseman Willson Contreras in a separate swap.

Third baseman Nolan Arenado was tougher to move, but Bloom finally found a trade partner in the Arizona Diamondbacks. The deal required the Cardinals to cover $31 million of the remaining $42 million on Arenado’s ill-fated contract. Utility player Brendan Donovan was the last to depart. Bloom sent him to the Seattle Mariners for a package that included switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje. As The Athletic pointed out, the Cardinals dealt one All-Star in each month of the offseason.

Financial Woes Lead to Teardown for St. Louis Cardinals

The shedding of key veterans was part of an effort to save money this winter. The Cardinals spent $144 million on a roster that finished in fourth place in the NL Central last year. That number will decline significantly in 2026. FanGraphs’ RosterResource tool currently estimates St. Louis payroll at $99 million for next season. It would be the first time payroll was under $100 million since 2010, notes The Athletic.

A new television deal can be partly to blame for the money struggles. The Cardinals were among the many teams to forgo their deal with FanDuel Sports Network. Instead, St. Louis has come to an agreement with MLB to broadcast games. The new partnership is expected to come with a $40 million drop in revenue. With gate revenue also anticipated to tick down once again, per The Athletic, the organization is losing money in multiple areas. The club will be among the revenue-sharing recipients for the first time since owner Bill Dewitt Jr. took over, notes the piece. Dewitt didn’t exactly cover himself in glory with how he addressed the organizational direction.

Cardinals Predicted to Struggle in 2026

The depleted roster has led to conservative projections for the team. FanGraphs has the team finishing dead last in the division. The PECOTA system from Baseball Prospectus gave St. Louis just 66.0 wins for 2026, the third-worst mark in the National League and only 0.4 victories above the Washington Nationals. The Colorado Rockies were in a comfortable last place at 60.3 wins.

The flurry of trades has restocked the Cardinals’ farm system, but the majority of the new prospects aren’t expected to contribute at the big-league level for a few years. As The Athletic notes, it might be a stretch to forget for the team. “We’ll check back in on Baseball Heaven come 2028.“

Charlie Wright is a longtime sports journalist with more than a decade of experience covering college and professional sports. He covers MLB and NBA for Heavy.com. More about Charlie Wright