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

Sonny Gray

Last offseason, Sonny Gray was given the opportunity to explore trades away from St. Louis as they shifted toward a "reset", which turned out to be just a prequel to their eventual rebuild. Gray opted to remain with the Cardinals, reiterating that he signed with them for a reason and wanted to stick things out.

Well, after talking to Bloom recently, Gray is now open to exploring trades this offseason, being very candid about his desire to win, and that since St. Louis is not going to be doing that soon, he likely needs to land somewhere else this offseason.

It's honestly a shame that things did not work out better with Gray as a Cardinal. When the club signed him following the 2023 season, it was an exciting move, bringing in a player who just finished runner-up in the American League Cy Young voting, but the lack of a second high-end arm to accompany him brought down the enthusiasm level. While Gray wasn't quite what St. Louis hoped he would be over the last two seasons, he was still very effective overall.

Between 2024 and 2025, Gray made 60 starts, covering 347 innings with a 4.07 ERA. His ERA really elevated this past year (4.28), and that's caused a lot of concern amongst Cardinals fans and really hurt the feeling around his contract.

While the ERA has not been what we hoped it would be when Gray signed in St. Louis, the almost 36-year-old had a ton of encouraging signs underneath the hood that should make him an attractive trade candidate for opposing teams. Since becoming a Cardinal, Gray ranks fifth in all of baseball in K-BB% (23%), sixth K% (28.4%) and BB% (5.4%), seventh in FIP (3.26), tenth in fWAR (7.4), and 21st in innings pitched (347), all while carrying the fifth-highest BABIP allowed (.315). All of those advanced metrics point to better success awaiting Gray, and while getting another year older may mitigate some of that, I do still think Gray will be more impactful in the traditional metrics next year.

Thomas Gauvain recently broke down different trade destinations for Gray this offseason, and whatever team lands Gray is going to be getting a big upgrade for their rotation.