🚨 CARDINALS LOCK-IN BOMBSHELL: After Extending Oli Marmol, St. Louis Is Poised to Hand Massive Long-Term Deals to These 3 Young Stars – But One Could Be the Riskiest Bet of the Rebuild Era!

Feb 16, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (77) during spring training workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

Sunday’s extension for St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol should be an opportunity for the organization to build some momentum.

Marmol’s deal, which runs through the end of the 2028 season, gives the Cardinals continuity on the end of the bench as they enter what they hope is an accelerated rebuild. Given that many of the established All-Stars on the roster were traded away this offseason, now would be a perfect time to start defining which youngsters are part of the long-term core.

Consider these strongly-worded suggestions, then, for Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. Surely, the organization has considered extensions for several young players, but these three really should get done if at all possible.

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Shortstop Masyn Winn

Feb 16, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn (0) fields a ground ball during spring training workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

Winn, the 23-year-old defensive wizard who took home his first career Gold Glove on a torn meniscus last year, has the perfect mixture of youth and a foundation of experience on his side to be one of the leaders of this Cardinals team for many years to come.

Presently, Winn would be slated to hit free agency going into his age-28 season. That contract would be expensive for the Cardinals to keep, so if there’s any opportunity to extend him for a few extra seasons now, it’s got to be seized.

Second baseman JJ Wetherholt

It’s a marker of how high expectations have become for Wetherholt that he’s still yet to play a regular season game in Major League Baseball, yet no Cardinals fan would bat an eye at the news that the club decided to lock him up while they still could.

Because there’s still some uncertainty about how high Wetherholt’s ceiling could be, now might be the right time to pounce, as the 23-year-old could jump at the chance to secure his big payday before any growing pains arrive.

Pitching prospect Liam Doyle

Tennessee’s Liam Doyle (12) pitches against Wake Forest at the NCAA college baseball Knoxville Regional final on June 2, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Now this would be an aggressive move from Bloom, and with pitchers in particular, it sometimes makes more sense to wait until some success has come at the major league level. But we’ll make the case for the move anyway, even if it’s a bit more unlikely than the other two.

It was something of a minor miracle that Doyle fell to the Cardinals with the fifth pick in the draft, and the hard-throwing 21-year-old will likely start his year at Double-A and have a shot at making his MLB debut by the end of the year.

The price tag will only go up next spring if Doyle shows up and dominates from day one, like youngsters Nolan McLean and Trey Yesavage last year. So if there’s any appetite at all for an extension on the Cardinals’ end, now might be the most prudent time.