This was a busy offseason for the St. Louis Cardinals as the front office baton was passed from longtime president John Mozeliak to Chaim Bloom, who is tasked with engineering a long overdue rebuild.

We’ve already seen the Cards offload several key pieces. Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado were all shipped out. Bloom should not stop there. The goal for St. Louis is to bolster a middling farm system and lay the groundwork for a more prosperous future, even if it means sacrificing wins in 2026. He are some candidates for the trade block:

Pedro Pagés, C

Pedro Pagés made his bones with excellent framing and glove work behind home plate, but the Cardinals simply have too many (better) options at catcher right now. Iván Herrera and Yohel Pozo can both handle backstop duties, while Leonardo Bernal and Jimmy Crooks — St. Louis’ No. 5 and No. 7 prospects, respectively, per MLB Pipeline — are both knocking on the door.

Pagés has done nothing but struggle as a hitter since joining the Cardinals roster. He finished last season with a .635 OPS and 78 OPS+ across 361 at-bats. There’s value in a quality defensive catcher with five years of club control. The Cardinals would be wise to cash in on that value now, rather than demoting Pagés to Triple-A purgatory sometime down the road. Plenty of teams need backup catchers.

Andre Pallante, RHP

Andre Pallante began 2025 on solid footing, but he became woefully unreliable down the stretch, posting a 7.09 ERA over his final 10 starts in August and September. The 27-year-old is an effective groundball pitcher, heavily reliant on a mid-90s fastball that, until last season, was quite effective. There’s reason to believe he can rebound in 2026.

That said, St. Louis has a surplus of young pitchers knocking on the door and Pallante feels like the most expendable “veteran” in an exceedingly unproven rotation, newcomer Dustin May notwithstanding. Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitts came over from Boston with MLB experience. Tekoah Roby, Quinn Mathews, Jurrangelo Cijntje and Tink Hence are all top-20 prospects within grasp of an MLB promotion. The Cardinals aren’t in any rush to promote guys this season, but Pallante can still return solid value with three years of cheap arbitration rates left on his deal. Bloom should pull the trigger.

JoJo Romero, LHP

JoJo Romero put together his best season yet in 2025, notching eight saves with a 2.07 ERA and 1.25 WHIP across 61.0 innings out of the bullpen, a new career high. The southpaw sinkerballer sat in the 91st percentile for exit velocities and the 95th percentile for groundball contact. It was a truly exceptional campaign, with Romero emerging as a bulletproof high-leverage arm.

Now, the 29-year-old’s broader career arc gives reason for pause, but every team — every team — is looking for quality lefties to anchor the seventh or eighth innings. Romero is on an expiring contract, but he can absolutely net the Cardinals a prospect or two of consequence. There’s no point in letting his contract expire on a losing team.

Nolan Gorman, 3B

The Cardinals need to clear the runway for JJ Wetherholt, and while squeezing more service time out of MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 prospect is understandable given the circumstances, it goes against the spirit of competition — and could prevent St. Louis from recouping draft picks, should Wetherholt play a full season and place high in Rookie of the Year voting. That could mean trading off some of the more established infielders on the roster.

Ramón Urías is a competent utilityman off the bench. José Fermín found his swing in 2025 and offers similar flexibility between second and third. Thomas Saggese has struggled in brief MLB exposure, but he’s a former top-five prospect in the St. Louis pipeline, with enough of a Minor League track record to proceed with confidence.

All that is to say, Gorman hit .205 with a .666 OPS in 2025. He has better years on his résumé, of course — primarily a 27-home run and .805 OPS campaign in 2023 — but he’s a substantial negative on defense and his 33.8 percent strikeout rate last season is hard to stomach. There will be a team willing to bet on Gorman’s power tool and three years of club control, but this is a good chance for St. Louis to sell while he still has some value.

Lars Nootbaar, OF

The 2025 campaign was a struggle for Lars Nootbaar, who put up a .686 OPS and 95 OPS+ in 509 at-bats. The numbers under the hood are much better, however, which means he’s due for positive regression. With two more years of club control, the 28-year-old lefty has real value as a trade chip. Plenty of outfield-needy teams have been connected to Nootbaar this winter. So, again, Bloom ought to act.

Nathan Church made his MLB debut last season after raking through the Minors. The early sample was not great, but the speedster profiles as an elite defender, at the very least. The Cardinals can pivot toward run prevention with an offense that will underperform regardless. A non-roster invitee like Nelson Velázquez, who cranked 17 home runs in 53 MLB games just two years ago, could also step into the void.

Nootbaar is a fan favorite and one of the more accomplished hitters left on this Cardinals roster, but rather than wait until he’s a lame duck, St. Louis should pull the trigger now and keep stockpiling for the future.

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