Cardinals $3 Million Fan Favorite Predicted To Be At Center Of Trade Rumors

This fan favorite may find himself in another uniform next season.

Sep 6, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar (21) at bat against the San Francisco Giants at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Vizer-Imagn Images | Tim Vizer-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals find themselves on the outside looking in with nine games remaining on the regular season schedule. They are five games back of the third National League Wild Card spot, currently held by the New York Mets. Chances of reaching the postseason are remote at this point in the season, with just one home series left on the schedule.

If the Cardinals do indeed miss the postseason for the third consecutive year, they'll likely be trading away some players. Brendan Donovan comes to mind, as do Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras.

However, Katie Woo of The Athletic also noted that outfielder and fan-favorite Lars Nootbaar could be on the way out at some point.

Cardinals Fan Favorite Predicted To Be Traded This Winter

Sep 7, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar (21) watches his hit against the San Francisco Giants at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Vizer-Imagn Images | Tim Vizer-Imagn Images

"He’s a true pull-hitter with a disciplined approach, and his batted-ball metrics suggest his ceiling to be much higher than his overall stat line. However, a significant gap remains between the two," Woo wrote.

"Like Donovan, Nootbaar will be a free agent come 2026. The Cardinals would have liked to continue building around him, but a notable drop in performance, combined with considerable interest from rival teams, puts Nootbaar’s future with St. Louis in jeopardy. He knows more consistent play could have changed that."

Nootbaar has shown promise in recent years and even remained healthy for most of the 2025 season. However, he's hitting .237/.324/.368 with 13 home runs, 47 RBI and a .692 OPS.

He possesses some power from the left side of the plate, but the Cardinals already have a ton of left-handed bats and need to clear out the logjam this coming offseason. They need pitching within the system and right-handed power bats.

Nootbaar has endeared himself to the Busch Stadium faithful, but the results haven't quite been there in several years, meaning that his time in St. Louis could be nearing its end.

The Cardinals received interest for Nootbaar and their other left-handed bats at the trade deadline this past summer. They chose to hold onto them, but it wouldn't be a stretch if contending teams showed interest for their crop of lefty hitters again this coming offseason.

It will be interesting to see how everything plays out, but it's clear that the Cardinals are about to enter a rebuild and change things up a bit after several down years.

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