Cardinals Making Extra Roster Moves, and Not By Accident

This is going to be a different season...

Sep 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol walks back to the dugout after a pitching change against the San Francisco Giants during the third inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals have been much more active on the waiver wire this offseason than in offseasons past. Evidently, it's by design.

As Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat pointed out on Wednesday, the Cardinals made just one "unnecessary" waiver wire move last season, losing utility man Michael Helman to the Texas Rangers. They've shown with their actions that they're not keen on letting that happen again.

In just the month of February, the Cardinals have claimed Zak Kent for the second time this winter, waived Bryan Ramos, and traded for George Soriano, who they had tried to claim multiple times but were beaten out by teams with higher waiver priority.

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Cardinals seemingly commit to more 40-man turnover

Feb 14, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Michael McGreevy (36) and pitcher George Soriano (65) work from the bullpen during spring training at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Manager Oliver Marmol explained part of this phenomenon to Jones. St. Louis is looking to maximize its roster flexibility to win at the margins, and part of that is understanding which pieces they have are disposable and which are not.

“You’re constantly managing what are your optionable pieces,” Marmol said, per Jones. “If you don’t have many or you’re locked up, how do you use what you have in order to still be available for the next day?

"There’s a constant (of) making sure you take care of the game and what’s in front of you because you don’t know what tomorrow’s going to look like, but one of the filters is, if we make this move, what does that leave us for tomorrow?”

In general, most of the Cardinals' pitching staff this season will have options. Soriano, though, will not, and that makes it essential for him to perform, or he knows he can be dropped from the roster and either head out of town, or head to Triple-A without a spot on the 40-man roster.

President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, in managing the 40-man so aggressively this offseason, is showing that in the new era of Cardinals baseball, this team will try to win with every tool in its toolkit.

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