The Cardinals may not be done with Nolan Gorman just yet.
For weeks, the expectation has been that St. Louis could move on from the 2018 first-round pick before the Nov. 20 tender deadline, especially with Gorman projected to climb from $2.66 million to around $3.4 million in his second year of arbitration for 2027. But there’s still a case for one more season of patience, even after a year that left plenty of fans ready to close the book.
Gorman’s 2026 season was rough from start to finish. He opened as the Cardinals’ starting third baseman, then hit just .184/.272/.308 and spent much of the second half back at Triple-A Memphis, where the struggles kept coming.
Three years removed from his 27-homer breakout, he’s hardly made a compelling argument for a long-term role. Even so, STLToday’s Derrick Goold reported that President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom said the front office “strongly believes” Gorman still has plenty of upside.
That kind of talk can bring back bad memories for Cardinals fans who watched the club hold onto Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson too long, hoping each would become an everyday answer while their value faded. But Gorman’s situation isn’t identical. He’s 26 now, and unlike those earlier cases, the Cardinals are not operating with real postseason expectations in mind.
That matters.
If St. Louis isn’t chasing a playoff spot, there’s a simpler argument here: let Gorman occupy a platoon role at third base and see what happens.
Bloom told Goold that Gorman’s profile “fits perfectly” with the other third basemen on the roster, and the current alternatives are all right-handed bats. Replacing Gorman would only send the Cardinals back into the market for a similar type of player.
The larger picture still points away from Gorman as the long-term answer at third. The Cardinals have already made it clear they’re open to a short-term addition at the position for 2027 while Jesús Báez continues his climb to the majors.
The free-agent market is thin, including at third base, but St. Louis could take a look at Alec Bohm.
Matt Vierling also fits as a non-tender candidate from another club.
Even if the Cardinals bring in a stopgap, that doesn’t guarantee the move lasts all year. They could turn that player into prospects at the trade deadline, the way they did with Dustin May in 2026. If that’s the plan, there’s a reasonable argument for giving Gorman one last run first and seeing whether he can rebuild enough value to bring back something at the deadline while he’s still under team control.
The chances of a sudden breakout are slim, but not zero. The Cardinals have a new hitting coach in Joel McKeithan, and Casey Chenoweth’s work with Jordan Walker in 2026 showed what a coaching change can do for a player who’s floundering. If Gorman somehow catches fire, he could force Bloom to rethink the whole setup.
For 2027, though, the focus is supposed to be elsewhere - on Walker, Leo Bernal, JJ Wetherholt and the rest of the next wave. It’s not really about solving third base, and it’s probably not about winning much either. With Báez still on the way and the Cardinals merely trying to hold the position together until he arrives, keeping Gorman around may be the cleanest move of all.
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