Cardinals Reluctant To Make Long-Term Commitments This Winter

The Cardinals have been among the league’s quietest teams this winter as they’ve to this point failed in their attempts to trade third baseman Nolan Arenado despite both sides preferring he play elsewhere in 2025. That difficulty in trading Arenado won’t force other cost-cutting moves according to club brass, but it does seem to have forced them to take a passive approach to the offseason with limited budget space available until and unless Arenado or another significant salary is traded. Recent comments from president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, as reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, have further illuminated the club’s goals this winter.

During last weekend’s Winter Warmup fan event, Mozeliak told reporters that his goal for the winter has been to create a “clean slate” for incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, who will replace him at the head of baseball operations when Mozeliak’s contract expires after the 2025 season. That desire to offer Bloom maximum flexibility as he takes over baseball operations has seemingly informed the club’s attempts to move Arenado. As Goold notes, Arenado is one of just three players who have a guaranteed contract in place beyond the 2025 season. The other two veterans, slugger Willson Contreras and right-hander Sonny Gray, both declined to waive their no-trade clauses earlier this winter and plan to stick in St. Louis going forward.

Aside from attempting to shed long-term commitments where possible, Goold adds that the Cardinals appear similarly reluctant to make new ones this winter. While the club is reportedly in the market for a late-inning reliever to replace Andrew Kittredge, it appears they club is hoping to avoid a longer-term agreement with a bullpen arm. That shouldn’t be too much of an obstacle given that the majority of the winter’s top relievers are already off the market and most veteran leverage relievers still available such as David Robertson, Kenley Jansen, and Tommy Kahnle are at an age where the vast majority of players are already limited to one-year offers on the open market. Filling the club’s reported desire for a right-handed bench bat who can complement a heavily left-handed lineup should be similarly easy to do on a one-year deal, as multi-year deals for projected bench players are few and far between.

Given the nature of the club’s external needs this winter, Mozeliak’s preference to avoid longer-term commitments this offseason appears likely to have more of an impact on the club’s approach to extensions. Closer Ryan Helsley, a free agent after the 2025 season, spoke candidly last weekend about the lack of extension talks between his camp and the Cardinals to this point. Meanwhile, reporting earlier this month suggested that the Cardinals were discussing a multi-year extension with utility man Brendan Donovan but no deal ultimately came together. Goold sheds some light on that situation, writing that the Cardinals have previously expressed interest in a multi-year deal with Donovan but did not “aggressively pursue” long-term deals with either him or any of the club’s other arbitration-eligible players this winter.

With one president of baseball operations finishing out the final year of his contract and his successor already both in the organization and announced as the future head of baseball ops, the Cardinals find themselves in an unusual position when it comes to committing to longer-term contracts even in the case of their own players. When asked about the possibility of extensions this offseason, Mozeliak indicated to Goold that the club remains open to conversation this spring but that Bloom would be involved in any negotiations given that he would be the person inheriting those longer-term commitments. Given that two top decision-makers would be involved in any negotiations this winter, it’s easy to imagine both sides preferring to table any extension talks until next year for players under team control beyond the 2025 season. At that point, Bloom will be fully in charge of baseball operations and have another year of direct evaluation under his belt with which he can make decisions.

Speculatively speaking, the Cardinals’ desire to provide Bloom with as much flexibility as possible when he takes over baseball operations after the 2025 season may also influence their decision to resist the idea of trading players who aren’t veterans on long-term, guaranteed deals. By keeping players with a handful of years of team control remaining like Donovan and Lars Nootbaar in the fold for 2025, Mozeliak offers Bloom the opportunity to decide whether or not the club should entertain an extension or trade for those players next winter.

Even rebuffing interest from rival clubs in players like Helsley and Erick Fedde could be a decision made in order to maximize flexibility when Bloom takes over, offering him the opportunity to extend the Qualifying Offer to either player if they turn in a sufficiently strong performance in 2025. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco discussed the Cardinals’ “half-measure” offseason in an exclusive article for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers earlier this month, and the club’s apparent goal of maximizing the options at Bloom’s disposal when he takes over next winter could be an explanation for their apparent lack of urgency.