Whether the Cardinals finish the 2026 season in a playoff spot or not, this year has already told them plenty about what comes next.
St. Louis went into the season with a clear development-first plan after trading Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras.
That didn’t mean the club was ignoring wins - and for a while, the Cardinals were playing well above expectations. But the second half has brought more sell-off, with Lars Nootbaar, JoJo Romero and Dustin May also moved out.
Now the front office has a better read on which young players belong in the long-term picture and which ones don’t. On that front, the answers are starting to separate pretty cleanly.
The strongest building block is Jordan Wetherholt. He came in with huge expectations as a rookie and has somehow exceeded them.
Wetherholt has been excellent at the plate and even better in the field, and he should be in the mix for both the National League Rookie of the Year Award and a Gold Glove Award at second base. He also already has the long-term contract, which only strengthens his place as the franchise’s biggest piece for the future.
Next to him, Jordan Walker has forced his way into that same conversation. At 24, he has locked himself in as a player the Cardinals can build around.
Walker is batting .285 with 27 homers, 96 RBIs, 18 stolen bases and 28 doubles in 129 games played. The offense has had few better weapons in 2026, and he now looks like a centerpiece rather than just a promising talent.
Alec Burleson belongs in that core discussion too, even if he’s older than Wetherholt and Walker. Burleson has turned into one of the best offensive first basemen in baseball, hitting .291 with 21 homers, 96 RBIs and a league-leading 33 doubles. That production has put him firmly in the long-term mix.
Masyn Winn is a little different because he’s on the Injured List and hasn’t had his best offensive season, but the Cardinals still have a 24-year-old shortstop who is elite defensively at one of the toughest positions in the sport. That alone makes him a future piece worth keeping around.
The list of players who don’t look like core pieces is just as important.
Matthew Liberatore was the Cardinals’ Opening Day starter, but his season has gone the wrong way. He has a 5.44 ERA in 26 starts, and while St. Louis needs him because the rotation is thin, he shouldn’t still be there beyond 2026.
Nolan Gorman got another chance when Winn went down, but the Cardinals already sent him back to the minors after he struggled badly at the plate. He’s had plenty of opportunities, and he doesn’t look like the answer at third base.
Then there’s Jimmy Crooks, who is batting .173. With St. Louis loaded with catching prospects, he doesn’t appear to be the one the organization should be building around.
In Other News...
Springfield Cardinals Have Already Picked Their New Name
The Springfield Cardinals are already moving well beyond a simple offseason refresh. The club announced that after the 2026 season, it will unveil a full rebrand with a new name, logos, and jerseys, and it has also leaned into the transition by renaming its stadium Route 66 Stadium. For a franchise that has carried the Cardinals identity for years, the shift signals a bigger effort to tie the team more closely to the community it represents.
What makes the project especially intriguing is that the hardest part appears to be done. The organization says it has already picked the new name, though it is not ready to reveal it publicly, and it has framed the process around finding something that reflects Springfield while also clearing trademark hurdles. For fans, that leaves the important question hanging in the air a little longer, even as the path to the next identity is already set. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Suddenly Face A Masyn Winn Problem They Can't Ignore
Masyn Winns trip to the injured list arrived at a moment when the Cardinals could least afford another crack in the plan. The shortstops fractured hand is affecting his swing, and the expectation is that he will miss only the current homestand, but even a brief absence changes the feel of a roster already searching for stability. St. Louis has dropped four straight and sits at 66-67, a frustrating place to be in a division where the margin for error keeps shrinking.
Nolan Gorman was brought back to help cover the gap, yet his first game back did little to calm the concern around the lineup. The Cardinals are third in the NL Central and five games back in the wild-card race, which means every day without Winn has a little more weight than it did a week ago. For a club trying to stay relevant into September, the issue is no longer just replacing one player for a homestand. It is whether the rest of the roster can avoid letting a temporary injury turn into a much larger problem. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Face A Rotation Decision Fans Will Have Strong Opinions On
With the Cardinals working through a thin starting rotation, the conversation around how to fill the gap has naturally picked up speed. Miles Mikolas has been floated on social media as a possible answer, a familiar name that would immediately stir up debate among fans looking for stability while the club waits for Andre Pallante to return.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, though, that St. Louis is not considering a Mikolas signing right now and is instead weighing other internal and external ways to patch things together. For a team trying to stay afloat in the short term, the next move matters, and it may not be the one many fans assumed was coming. [Read more 🡒]