Frankly, we admire those still capable of looking on the bright side. So as frustrating as the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2026 season turned out, at least they didn’t finish with 90 losses.
Oh, and they’ve seen enough from the likes of Alec Burleson, JJ Wetherholt and Iván Herrera to feel good heading into next year. Shortstop Masyn Winn continued to make progress, and Andre Pallante emerged as a potential No. 3 starter.
Compared to other teams we’ve recently profiled, the Cardinals are in an interesting place because so much of their core is under the age of 30. Lead baseball executive Chaim Bloom doesn’t strike us as someone who would start trading young players, even those like underwhelming third baseman Nolan Gorman, if the end game isn’t adding a perennial All-Star.
That said, let’s start with someone who is under contract for the foreseeable future.
Honorable mention: Jordan Walker, OF
Walker qualifies as an honorable mention because we’d be shocked if the Cardinals actually traded him this coming offseason. We recently proposed that both sides would benefit from pressing the reset button, even after the first-time All-Star won the Home Run Derby this past July.
However, Walker has been mediocre at best for the bulk of his career, and his poor plate discipline is especially concerning. It’s sometimes better to be lucky than good, and convincing a team to give up a top-30 prospect for a middling outfielder, even one who is only 24, might be worth the risk.
LHP Matthew Liberatore
Good luck finding any Cardinals fans who disagree. Liberatore has been worth -0.5 bWAR over 483.1 innings since debuting in 2022, and his home run rate has skyrocketed this season. If we suddenly became the lead baseball executive of a team with legitimate 2027 World Series aspirations, we’re not even sure we’d carry him as a long reliever.
Do you know what all of this means? The Yankees or Red Sox will get Liberatore for cheap, then watch him succeed as a back-of-the-rotation arm. Busch Stadium will be thrilled when Liberatore takes the mound with seven wins and a 3.75 ERA for the Yankees next July.
RHP Riley O’Brien
O’Brien’s introduction to many baseball fans likely came this past July, when he forced Rays star Junior Caminero to leave following a scary hit-by-pitch in the All-Star Game. In hindsight, maybe that's why O'Brien is 0-6 with a 5.11 ERA and 16 walks in 24.2 second-half innings. He had an ERA exceeding 5.40 in four of his last five months, and he entered Wednesday with a 4.82 mark in September.
But wait, you say. Why would the Cardinals give up so quickly on an All-Star reliever closing in (pun not intended) on 40 saves? Easy: O’Brien turns 32 next February and, outside of a brilliant stretch this past April, has been overwhelmingly unreliable all season.
C Pedro Pagés
Fun fact: The Florida Atlantic product is the second Pedro Pagés ever to play in a big-league game, but the first in Major League Baseball. The other Pedro Pagés played parts of two seasons in the Negro Leagues, which are now recognized as the Major Leagues. The more you know!
As for the modern Pedro Pagés, we’re typically against teams trading young, controllable catchers. But when you've mustered a .267 on-base percentage and a .579 OPS in over 200 plate appearances, it’s fair to wonder where you fit into a team’s long-term plans.
We expect the 28-year-old Pagés to be on someone’s roster next year, especially given his defensive competency. That sound you hear is Brian Cashman and the Yankees urgently looking into Pagés as Austin Wells’ potential backup.
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