The Cardinals may be the NL Central club most comfortable with its future in the front office, but the rest of the division could be heading into a winter of change before the lockout even hits.
In St. Louis, the first season under Chaim Bloom has gone well enough to make the “rebuilding” label look outdated.
The Cardinals are still alive in a crowded National League Wild Card chase, and several young players have already stepped forward as real building blocks for what comes next. For now, the move from John Mozeliak to Bloom looks like a clean handoff.
That kind of stability is not guaranteed elsewhere in the division. The Cubs, led by Jed Hoyer, and the Brewers, run by Matt Arnold, have stayed successful at the top end.
But the Pirates and Reds are a different story. Both clubs made win-now moves last winter and still find themselves buried in the NL Central.
With a lockout looming, both could be staring at front office turnover.
Cincinnati feels like the clearest case. FanSided’s Robert Murray singled out Nick Krall after the Reds’ trade deadline, calling it the "most confusing deadline of any team." That kind of comment landed like a warning shot for the president of baseball operations.
The results under Krall have not given the Reds much room to argue. Since he took over baseball operations in 2021, Cincinnati is about 40 games under .500 and has finished third or worse in the division every season. The only playoff trip came last year, when the Reds slipped in as the final Wild Card team and were promptly beaten by the Dodgers in the first round.
Even after that October stumble, the direction has not improved. The team has gotten worse, the deadline did not do much to build for the future, and bigger calls are waiting, including an Elly De La Cruz contract extension. With that backdrop, it would not be a shock if the Reds brought in a new voice to lead them into 2027 and beyond.
Pittsburgh is a little harder to read. Murray also took aim at Ben Cherington, noting that the Pirates still have not found sustained success under his watch. Cherington’s run as general manager has now reached 1,000 games, and in seven years the club has not produced a winning season or a postseason appearance.
Still, Murray stopped short of predicting a change. "On the Pirates: with Ben Cherington signed through 2027 and the lockout uncertainty, I'm leaning toward him staying in Pittsburgh after this season."
That stance could shift if the Pirates’ rough second half keeps dragging them down the standings. But this is a franchise used to tough stretches, and after sticking with Cherington this long, it would not be surprising if they gave him another season to build off the stronger first half of 2026.
In Other News...
Masyn Winn Return Still Leaves Cardinals With One Infield Concern
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Cardinals Just Made Cooper Hjerpes Role A Lot More Interesting
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Cardinals Fans May Need To Rethink What Counts As A Starter's Workload
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For Cardinals fans, that can take some getting used to, especially when a young arm is handled in shorter bursts or asked to build up gradually over the course of a season. Leahy and Tanner Franklin are both examples of that careful approach, with the organization balancing present usage against future durability, and the bigger question is no longer whether the Cardinals are being conservative but how much of the modern starters job description has changed for everyone. [Read more 🡒]