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

Nick Raquet and Anthony Veneziano

Similar to Roddery Munoz and Jorge Alcala, Nick Raquet and Anthony Veneziano represent two bullpen arms who I really don't see much of a future with the Cardinals.

As I briefly mentioned earlier, the Cardinals have pitching prospects they need to protect this offseason from the Rule 5 draft, as well as arms on their 40-man roster who are injured but still take up space during the offseason since there is no injured list to place them on until the 2026 season starts.

Tekoah Roby and Sem Robberse are both already on the 40-man and are rehabbing from significant injuries, while Tink Hence battled injuries again in 2025 and may not be ready to pitch at the Major League level for most of, if not all of, 2026. Then, if the Cardinals want to add Cooper Hjerpe to their 40-man roster (which they should), he also will be out for a lot of the 2026 season. Brycen Mautz, who had an excellent season for Springfield this year, also needs to be added to the 40-man roster for Rule 5 protection, and Max Rajcic may be worth adding too.

Anyways, all of those arms needing to hold 40-man roster spots means they need to free up spaces elsewhere, and both Raquet and Veneziano seem like clear candidates to non-tender and create that space.

Raquet, 29, was incredible for Springfield this year, posting a 0.77 ERA, but was terrible at run prevention with the Memphis Redbirds, posting a 5.19 ERA. He pitched in two games for the Cardinals this year, covering two innings of work without allowing a single run. I don't think he'll be back.

Veneziano, who the Cardinals claimed off waivers in August from the Marlins, is 28 years old and has not been able to land in a big league bullpen since debuting in 2023. He boasts a 3.98 career ERA in 40.2 big league innings, but I can't say he was all that impressive in his two games and four innings of work with St. Louis this year. His 4.50 ERA helped get the job done, but I'm guessing he's gone this offseason.

I may end up being wrong on a few of these predictions as the offseason goes on, but I feel pretty confident in most of them. Expect Chaim Bloom to make a lot of moves, decluttering the organization this offseason as he moves the Cardinals closer and closer to his vision.