The St. Louis Cardinals have officially moved on from Ramón Urías.
After designating the veteran infielder for assignment earlier in the week to clear a spot for rookie phenom JJ Wetherholt, the club took the next step on Saturday and released Urías instead of outrighting him to the minors. The move now shows up on baseball’s official transaction log.
It closes an uneven run in St. Louis for the 32-year-old, who arrived with the kind of résumé that suggested he could help a young roster.
Urías is a former Gold Glove Award winner, a seven-year big leaguer, and owns a career .252 batting average. The Cardinals were looking for infield depth, and for a while he did get regular run at third base.
But injuries wrecked that plan. Urías spent months on the Injured List, and after playing his last game on May 3, he didn’t return until Aug.
- Even then, the production never really came back.
From Aug. 23 through Sep. 15, he hit .138/.219/.345 with a .564 OPS, along with two homers, four RBIs and five runs scored in 18 games.
While Urías was trying to find his footing, Thomas Saggese forced his way back into the picture. Since returning to the big leagues on Aug.
29, Saggese has hit .355/.394/.548 with a .943 OPS, three homers and nine RBIs. He has also filled in at second base, shortstop and third base, giving St.
Louis more flexibility in the infield.
That flexibility mattered. Wetherholt is healthy, Masyn Winn is healthy, Saggese is getting time at third, and Nolan Gorman is on the big league roster too. With the spots tightening up, there simply wasn’t room for Urías.
Now he hits the open market with just over one week left in the 2026 season. At this point, it wouldn’t be a surprise if his year is done.
He should still have a chance to catch on somewhere else for the 2027 season, but his stint in St. Louis is over.
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For Cardinals followers, the appeal is less about a quick fix than the sense that the front office is trying to assemble something sustainable. The longer view points toward a roster that could be in the postseason mix by 2027, which is still more projection than promise, but it is enough to keep the conversation centered on progress instead of frustration. [Read more 🡒]