14 Cardinals who won't survive Chaim Bloom's offseason overhaul

The St. Louis Cardinals' 2025 season is officially over, thus marking the end of the John Mozeliak era and the beginning of Chaim Bloom's regime as they embark on a long rebuild.

Translation: Many changes are coming to the Cardinals roster over the next few months.

The Cardinals finished the year with a 78-84 record, missing out on postseason baseball for the third straight year. While the club was technically alive in the Wild Card race until the middle of last week, no miracle run would have saved them from the rebuild that Bloom has been preparing for months now.

I think most fans can agree that drastic changes are much needed and actually welcomed by all. St. Louis wants to see the Cardinals become a true World Series contender again, not stuck in mediocrity with their ceiling being a fringe playoff team. It's going to take time to get there, though, which is why a rebuild is so important.

Bloom, unlike Mozeliak, does not have personal ties to many of the players in the organization, thus making sweeping changes even easier for the new president of baseball operations. Because of this, I've identified 14 different Cardinals on their current 40-man roster who will not be with the organization come spring training for various reasons. Let's dive into those!

Here are the 14 Cardinals who won't survive Chaim Bloom's offseason overhaul

Zack Thompson

Remember Zack Thompson? The Cardinals' first-round pick back in 2019 has been out the entire season due to a lat injury, and with that coming on the heels of a really disappointing 2024 campaign, I don't think we'll be seeing him return to the Cardinals in 2026.

Thompson broke out in a big way for the Cardinals during the 2022 season as a high-leverage, left-handed reliever out of their bullpen. In 2023, Thompson mixed work between the bullpen and rotation, inspiring enough confidence in the Cardinals to tap him as their sixth starter heading into 2024. But that's where the wheels truly fell off.

Thompson pitched to the tune of a 9.53 ERA in five appearances, two of which were starts, and saw a drop off in his velocity after losing weight that offseason. Thompson never really found his footing again down in Memphis, either, and now he's been dealing with a significant lat issue for the last year.

The Cardinals already have a number of arms that are either on their 40-man roster or will need to be added to it this offseason that will miss most of or all of the 2026 season due to injury, so I don't think they can afford to stash Thompson on their 40-man throughout the offseason as well.