The 2025-26 offseason is going to be an important one for the St. Louis Cardinals. After they went 78-84 and missed the postseason for the third straight year, they announced Chaim Bloom as their new president of baseball operations.

It should be a much more interesting offseason for the Cardinals this year, as trades are expected to happen, and some of those trades could include saying goodbye to some big names.

Players such as Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar could be on the way out. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch believes Gray is a strong candidate to be moved.

“Count me in the group that thinks the Cardinals should command a strong offer for Sonny Gray, and that if he’s agreeable the timing is right for the move this winter, not waiting. There are going to be teams that intend to contend that will be looking for a starter exactly like Gray. If he likes the move, the Cardinals should get a solid return,” Goold said in his weekly Cardinals chat.

The Cardinals will have to eat a significant portion of the remaining $35 million on Gray’s contract in order to bring back the best possible return. But it would ultimately be worth it to do that so that they can get what they need, which is young starting pitching that is under club control for several more years.

Gray will be a free agent at the end of 2026, and with the Cardinals not expected to contend this year, it makes sense to trade him. But if they truly want to bring back something valuable, they should sell high on him, while also being willing to eat a significant portion of his contract.

While Gray has been their ace, they need to go younger, as Gray is already 35 years old and likely won’t be back after 2026 anyway. But selling high on him could set the Cardinals up well for the future and give them what they need to truly have a successful rebuild.

It will be interesting to see which teams try to make a play for Gray this offseason and what offers will interest the Cardinals the most as they go about trying to rebuild for the first time in decades.

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