The Rebuild: Year 1

The St. Louis Cardinals are entering the first year of an actual rebuild after three straight seasons of baseball purgatory, stuck right in the middle between competitiveness and irrelevancy. Former President of Baseball Operations, John Mozeliak, had plenty of success while at the helm in St. Louis, but made his way out of town, headed into 2026, to give way to his successor, Chaim Bloom. 

Bloom is widely known for his antics in Boston, where he was tasked with slashing payroll to its bare bones, with big contracts on the roster and other players who were soon to demand large sums of cash. Obviously, this strategy didn’t work very well, and the Mookie Betts trade still haunts the Beantown fanbase to this day. Although on the surface it looks like Chaim Bloom was a blunder in Boston, let’s take a look under the hood. 

The Red Sox lineup since Bloom did his due diligence is now constructed of homegrown studs with lots of team control. The benefit to players of this caliber is that they are not only valuable on the field, but also as trade bait. Names like Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Roman Anthony, and Brayan Bello are all products of the Bloom regime that prioritized development, even when it demanded big blows to the immediate roster. How will this mentality factor into his new home with the Redbirds? 

St. Louis has been in dire need of a true rebuild for a couple of years now. Since the departure of near-surefire first ballot Hall-of-Famers Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina, alongside Cardinal legend Adam Wainwright, the Birds on the Bat have been aimless and full of regret. 

The Cardinals have deemed 2026 a year for youngsters to garner experience and for the club to retain clarity. Competing for a playoff birth feels out of the question, but what does this actually mean for 2026? 

It’s gonna be hard, but the Cards have to commit to the bit. Aging veterans with minimal upside can’t be permitted on this roster at a high rate. An occasional vet to point rookies in the right direction could actually prove helpful, but to riddle starting rotation spots, leverage-inning reliever roles, and position players who play day-to-day with older players past their prime is a disservice to what the Birds are trying to accomplish. 

Newly acquired talent like Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitts should both see legitimate time in the rotation alongside other young hurlers like Michael McGreevey and Matthew Liberatore. On offense, JJ Wetherholt is a Spring Training away from his imminent Major League debut, and other developing bats like Raniel Rodriguez and Chase Davis have chances to solidify their prospect pedigree.

With so many unanswered questions, it’s imperative that the St. Louis eyes remain on the prize. The prize? An eventual World Series. The questions that need to be asked are: Can we build around this player? Will this decision help us go forward? Not, how can we be better right now? Or, who should we sign in free agency? The pipeline of talent that’s to come from this is well worth the wait. Strap in, Cardinals fans, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride, but we’ll get through it together. 

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