Cardinals Next Steps After Rumor-Filled Winter Meetings

If you were hoping the St. Louis Cardinals were going to come away from the winter meetings with massive returns from veteran-filled trades, you likely came away disappointed. But there's a lot of time left.

St. Louis didn't swing a trade during the winter meetings, but Chaim Bloom spoke about the possibility multiple times.

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"We have nothing up our sleeves ready to drop at this particular moment," Bloom said on "Foul Territory" on Tuesday. "But, you know, when you're here everything is a phone call away. We've been, maybe more than usual, there's obviously a lot of phone calls because we've tried to be very clear publicly about what our goals are.

"If that involves hard decisions in the short term to build this thing to where we can be in a position to win this decision and keep doing it, we're going to make those hard decisions. We're fortunate to have a lot of good players here. When you have that, there's going to be interest in those guys."

There's work to do for St. Louis

Sep 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan (33) celebrates his double against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

With the winter meetings now behind, what's next for St. Louis? Let's dive in.

Trade candidates

Throughout the winter meetings, Bloom spoke specifically about Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado. Donovan rumors have picked up enough steam that reports surfaced pointing towards names being exchanged with St. Louis and other teams, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Bloom specifically made it sound like Arenado will be traded this offseason.

"We've been open about this, really for a while now," Bloom said. "Nolan Arenado and I had some great conversations as we were getting close to the end of the season. We sat down for a while that last week in Chicago and talked through everything. I think we're on the same page to where it really makes sense for everybody to find a different fit. We're going to do that. Until it happens, I understand the question and understand why it is asked. But we will find something that will work for us (and) something that will work for him. Releasing him isn't really something...

"Whenever it happens during the course of this offseason, we think it's something that makes sense for everybody. This guy still has a bunch of baseball left."

Beyond these two, Lars Nootbaar and Willson Contreras have both been linked to the New York Mets, among other teams.

JoJo Romero has also gotten some trade buzz, including from the Seattle Mariners.

At some point, the dam will break and we should see multiple trades from this group.

Adding a pitcher

On top of the trade chatter, Bloom made it clear that the Cardinals want to add a veteran pitcher.

"We will add to the group," Bloom emphatically said. "I don't know yet when or who that is going to be, but I want to add at least one guy. Potentially more, that have something under them in this league. I would love to get more young pitching that we like as well, if we're able to find those fits on the trade market. Obviously, not hinting at anything. There's nothing teed up at the moment, but we are going to look to add. Want to create some competition within the the group. I think that will be healthy. You always need depth. We don't want to block off lanes for these guys ... to take those next steps in their careers, but we will add and create some competition."

If the Cardinals want pitching, a few options the club should consider are Jordan Montgomery, Tyler Mahle, Max Scherzer, Martin Perez, Dustin May, and Walker Buehler, among others.

The winter meetings are over, and now it's time to get moving: deal veterans away and sign a starter.

More MLB: Brendan Donovan, Ketel Marte 'Clear Top Options' For Blockbuster 2B Trades