ORLANDO, Fla. — When told on Wednesday that one baseball executive described MLB trade talks moving at a “glacial” pace, Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom furled his face and openly balked.
“That’s not how it has felt to me,” said an admittedly weary Bloom, who kept himself busy throughout the three days of MLB’s Winter Meetings conducting trade talks surrounding Cardinals mainstays Brendan Donovan, JoJo Romero, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras. “To some degree, it’s binary — either you have something or you don’t. Right now, we don’t.”
A Cardinals club in the beginning stages of a full-on rebuild left Orlando on Wednesday without a trade being made, but it certainly wasn’t because of a lack of trying. With the Cardinals already fielding several calls about Donovan and Romero, they were queried by the Mets with interest in Contreras, per a source, after first baseman Pete Alonso left for the Orioles in free agency.
Here is a look at the week that was:
1) Find deals for Donovan, Romero, Arenado and Contreras to flood the franchise with promising prospects
Bloom, a Cards consultant the past two years, knows the Cards can’t seriously contend in 2026 even if he brought those players back. Instead, he wants to try and exchange Donovan and Romero at the height of their values for a bevy of promising prospects.
2) Add a veteran starting pitcher to a young staff
As currently constructed, the Cardinals expect Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy, Andre Pallante, Kyle Leahy and Richard Fitts to compete for starting jobs. That group is noticeably light on experience, and they need veterans to eat innings. Tyler Mahle, Germán Márquez and Paul Blackburn might fit the club’s needs and budget.
3) Extend Oliver Marmol’s contract beyond 2026
Marmol guided the Cards to the playoffs in 2022, but he and the club have been home for the postseason each of the last three years. However, that doesn’t mean he has done a poor job. Marmol has masterfully handled the bullpen each of the past two seasons, and he helped the Cardinals make it through 2025 without losing a starting pitcher to an arm injury. He and many coaches on his staff have backgrounds in player development and those skills are going to be needed more than ever in 2026 and ‘27.
“I had one [trade proposal] a couple of years ago come on Christmas Day. Famously, I’m not even a Christmas celebrant, and I was still annoyed by that.” — Bloom, who is of the Jewish faith
Runner-up: “[Four fingers raised] followed by this: “He’s the most incredible player of my lifetime.” — USA Baseball manager Mark DeRosa when asked how he would “neutralize” Shohei Ohtani in the WBC.
MLB’s Draft Lottery continues to giveth and taketh from the Cardinals. In a year when the Cardinals were hopeful of adding another high pick to help speed up their roster rebuild, the club plummeted to the No. 13 pick in the random process. The Cards’ luck with ping pong balls was so sour that they even fell below the Rockies, Nationals and Angels (pick Nos. 10-12), who weren’t eligible to land a top six pick because of MLB rules.
The Cardinals went into Tuesday with MLB’s eighth-best odds at the No. 1 pick (2.35 percent). It is the second time in three seasons the Cards fell below their slot in the odds. In 2023, they fell from the fifth-best odds to No. 7 where they landed infielder JJ Wetherholt.
The Cards came into last year’s lottery with the 13th-best odds at No. 1, but they defied the odds and landed the No. 5 pick and selected hard-throwing lefty Liam Doyle. Wetherholt and Doyle, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the organization’s prospect rankings, per MLB Pipeline, are foundational pieces from which Bloom hopes will hasten the roster recovery.
Bloom famously plucked reliever Garrett Whitlock away from the Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft when he worked for the Red Sox. On Wednesday, his club took a stab at another reliever by drafting Matt Pushard in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft.
Pushard, 28 and a native of Maine, was 4-5 with a 3.61 ERA in 49 appearances (one start). Using a fastball that has touched 97.4 mph and one that limited foes to a .163 batting average in 2025, Pushard struck out 73 batters in 62 1/3 innings. He came highly recommended by University of Maine head coach Nick Derba, who was selected in the 30th round of the 2007 MLB Draft by the Cardinals and spent six seasons in the club’s Minor League system.
The Cards lost right-handed starter Cade Winquest to the Yankees with the No. 11 pick of the Rule 5 Draft. He struck out 110 batters in 106 innings pitched at High-A Peoria and Double-A Springfield.
• With a flurry of potential deals, Bloom has stayed plenty busy. More >>
• Their lotto luck was sour, but the club was encouraged by brewing talks. More >>
• Arenado could suit up for Puerto Rico in the WBC. More >>
• See who MLB Pipeline has St. Louis picking in July’s MLB Draft. More >>
• Former Cardinals broadcaster Joe Buck will join his dad and former Cardinals broadcaster, Jack, to become the first father-son duo to win the Ford C. Frick Award. More >>
During his time as the baseball boss with the Red Sox from 2019-23, Bloom was largely known as the executive who traded Mookie Betts. Still, Bloom did acquire Kyle Schwarber (2021), Alex Verdugo (2020) and Matt Strahm (2022).
Bloom knows that he must be similarly aggressive in St. Louis by using the talent in place to build a brighter future. Donovan and Romero are almost certain to move on based on the widespread interest. Contreras is expected to waive his no-trade clause to play in New York. Bloom must avoid getting stuck awaiting a perfect trade — a common knock from Red Sox fans — and execute deals to collect prospects for the rebuild.
