Cardinals See Untapped Upside With New Flamethrower

The St. Louis Cardinals have already shown with Chaim Bloom leading the charge that the organization isn't afraid to make a move, big or small.

Before the 2025 season, the Cardinals insinuated that they wanted to trade veterans and kick off a reset for the organization. The public comments didn't lead to trades, though. Now, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Miles Mikolas all had no-trade clauses at the time. If they didn't want to waive them or the right fit didn't come around, then St. Louis couldn't make deals.

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While this is the case, Bloom was ultra-aggressive throughout the offseason and traded Contreras, Gray, Arenado and Brendan Donovan. Those are the deals that got national attention, but aren't the only ones the front office got done. The Cardinals acquired Justin Bruihl from the Cleveland Guardians at the beginning of January. Most recently, the Cardinals landed hard-throwing righty George Soriano from the Washington Nationals in exchange for Andre Granillo on Feb. 10.

The Cardinals have been aggressive

Sep 21, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Miami Marlins relief pitcher George Soriano (62) pitches against the Texas Rangers during the ninth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

This was another deal that seemingly came out of nowhere. So, why did St. Louis want to get it done? Bloom explained, as transcribed by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"We saw an opportunity in Soriano to get someone who we really like, who we think is already better than what his big league results have been, and we saw a few different ways to make improvements there,” Bloom said. “Might be a little more here with this player than what he’s shown. We wanted to stick our neck out there a little bit and have a chance to put that into action this spring training.”

Goold also pointed out that Granillo had two minor league options remaining, while Soriano has none. That would signal real interest by St. Louis in getting Soriano on the mound and seeing if he can impact the club in the majors. If things don't work out, he would go to waivers and could leave the club.

What he brings to the table is a big fastball, 72nd percentile in fastball velocity in 2025, and 72 games of big league experience under his belt. Now, it's up to St. Louis to see if it can point him in the right direction in Spring Training.

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