Since the 2023 trade deadline, the St. Louis Cardinals have shifted strategy by trading veteran players for prospects. Driven by management changes aimed at rebuilding the farm system, these transactions targeted long-term depth rather than immediate major league impact. How have they worked out?
It's been a while since I've done one of these, so a mid-season update is perfect. Especially in a season where we expected the worst from the Cardinals and aren't getting that.
The Cardinals acquired MiLB IF/OF Brayden Smith in a trade with the Orioles in exchange for LHP Nick Raquet, who was DFAed. A scouting report for Smith in below.
The Cardinals will begin their 135th season in the NL tomorrow when they host the #Rays at 3:15p CDT in the season opening game of the 162-game MLB regular season. The team announced this morning that rookie infielder JJ Wetherholt had his contract selected from AAA Memphis.
The Cardinals will open the '26 season at Busch Stadium against the Rays at 3:15 PM CT. A pregame ceremony that introduces the 2026 Cardinals, honors the club’s Hall of Famers & celebrates the great tradition of Opening Day in St. Louis will highlight the annual return of baseball at Busch on Thursday.
The Cardinals announced that they have signed 29 of their pre-arbitration service time players to contracts for the '26 season & that SS Masyn Winn has opted to have his contract renewed. The team now has all players on its 40-player MLB roster under contract for the season.
The Cardinals had a really good 2 weeks, going 10-3, sweeping 2 series, and seeing improvements from hitting and pitching.
We're switching to every other week with the column, & this was not a fun one to put together. After weeks of strong play, the team is coming back down from being one of the hottest teams in the league.
The Cardinals come home with a split on the road last week; they took 2 of 3 from the Orioles while dropping 2 of 3 to the Rangers. Not only did they struggle against Texas, a lot of the progress they made leading up to the series disappeared with a -15 run differential
The Cardinals cooled off a little bit over the last week, but they're still playing pretty well overall. They dropped 2 of 3 to the Tigers, which might be worrisome any other year, before sweeping the D'backs. They also dropped the 1st game to Baltimore in their 3 game series thanks to Dylan Carlson.
