The Cardinals have spent enough time tearing things down. Now comes the harder part: deciding what not to break.
Riley O'Brien fits squarely into that conversation. St.
Louis had every reason to explore him as a trade piece before the deadline, and with four years of club control left, he could still draw real interest this winter. But moving him now would be the wrong call.
That’s because the Cardinals’ bullpen was a problem all season long. It finished with a 4.40 ERA, the fifth-worst mark in the National League, and O'Brien was the one arm they could trust most often at the back end.
He led the National League in saves, even if the year ended with him also leading the league in blown saves. The second half was rough, no doubt.
But that doesn’t erase the fact that he was asked to handle the closer job for the first full season of his career.
There was a stretch where the results were still strong. As late as August 23, O'Brien carried a 2.94 ERA. And without him, the bullpen would have looked even shakier than it already did.
That’s the larger point here. The Cardinals don’t have many other options in that role.
O'Brien was the guy they had to use as closer, because nobody else was really built for it. He brings an electric fastball and sweeper that plays in tight spots, and that kind of stuff matters when the game is on the line.
So instead of shopping him for prospects, St. Louis should keep him and let him keep growing into the job in 2027.
The farm system is in much better shape than it used to be, and the hard part of the rebuild is already behind them. This is the stage where the Cardinals should be adding to the young core, not stripping away another useful piece.
Keeping O'Brien doesn’t get in the way of that. Trading him just might.
In Other News...
Oli Marmol Revisited The Early Goldschmidt Lesson That Changed Him
Long before the Cardinals were sorting through the present-day details of their roster, Oliver Marmol was already learning a lesson that would shape the way he handled players. In a private conversation, Paul Goldschmidt told Marmol that some of the younger guys felt intimidated by the managers demanding style, a blunt message that landed hard enough to stick with him. Marmol recently revisited that exchange as a turning point, one that forced him to think differently about how he connected with the clubs youngest players.
The memory appears to trace back to a 2023 road trip, though the exact timing and some of the names around the conversation are a little hazy now. Even so, the takeaway is clear for a manager whose edge was never in question: the challenge was not just getting players to meet a standard, but making sure they could hear it without feeling shut out. For the Cardinals, that kind of evolution matters because it says as much about the tone in the room as it does about the results on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals May Have An Expensive Answer To Their Third Base Problem
The Cardinals have taken care of a couple of major offseason chores already, with catcher and center field looking settled, but third base remains the lineups most obvious hole. It has been a weak spot since 2025, and that makes it one of the key areas St. Louis has to address if it wants a cleaner, more complete roster heading into next season.
One name to watch is Teruaki Sato, the 27-year-old third baseman and reigning MVP from Nippon Professional Baseball, who profiles as one of the top free agents available. He could offer an immediate answer at the hot corner, but the fit is not without questions, from his defensive home to the strikeout concerns that follow him, and on top of all that comes the price tag tied to bringing him over through the posting system. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Face 3 Offseason Questions That Will Define This Rebuild
The Cardinals spent much of this season looking like a club caught between eras, which is exactly what makes the winter ahead so important. Even after trading away top players and officially leaning into a rebuild, St. Louis hung around the playoff race for most of the year before finishing with a losing record, and there were real signs of progress along the way. Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson and JJ Wetherholt all gave the organization reasons to believe the next wave might be close enough to matter.
Still, the offseason questions are the kind that can shape whether this rebuild moves forward or stalls out. The bullpen needs help, the rotation needs a front-end starter, and third base remains unsettled after Oliver Marmol called the competition there wide open with several players in the mix. For a team trying to thread the needle between development and contention, those are the decisions that will tell the story of what comes next in St. Louis. [Read more 🡒]