Cardinals: DeWitts deserve their flowers for Chaim Bloom's trades this winter, too

At the St. Louis Cardinals' press conference where they introduced Chaim Bloom as the next president of baseball operations for the club, Bill DeWitt Jr. spoke about the club's financial state. While he didn't give a specific dollar figure regarding the club's payroll for the 2026 season, he did ensure that Chaim Bloom would be able to do whatever he needed to accomplish his goals.

“Chaim and I haven’t even talked about payroll,” he said. “We don’t know what our payroll is going to be. I can’t tell you right now. But we are going to provide the resources for him to build what he’s talking about building.”

This comment was more so directed at acquiring players with cash rather than sending money with them in trades.

Little did fans know that a portion of the team's 2026 and 2027 payrolls would be spent on players not even playing for the Cardinals.

The DeWitt family has historically been hesitant to send money with players. In 2017, the Cardinals sent $17 million with Mike Leake to the Seattle Mariners. That $17 million would help cover the remaining $48 million on Leake's contract. In 2021, the Cardinals traded Dexter Fowler to the Los Angeles Angels. They also sent $12.75 million with Fowler to help offset the rest of the money owed to him.

In order to net meaningful prospects this winter, Chaim Bloom needed to send some money with pricey veterans like Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado. And send cash he did.

Altogether, the Cardinals will pay $54 million in total to the Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks over the next two years. In 2026 alone, the Cardinals will pay $41 million to these two teams. According to Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat and Jon Becker at FanGraphs, this is the second-highest amount of money any team has paid in traded salaries behind only the 2024 New York Mets. The Mets paid approximately $65 million in trades involving Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

The DeWitt family also deserves recognition and praise for being willing to send out so much money in trades involving Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado.

Finding willing trade partners and convincing the players to waive their no-trade clauses is admirable of Chaim Bloom. Bringing back solid prospects adds to the wonders of his efforts this winter. While it's difficult to see talented players depart, fans are trusting that Bloom is building a strong farm system that will contribute to the team for years to come.

An unrecognized group in these trades in my mind has been the DeWitt family, primarily Bill DeWitt Jr. For the next two years, they'll be paying Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras, at least partially, to play for other teams. On occasion, they'll be paying these players to play against the Cardinals themselves.

However, the DeWitt family has been willing to send decent amounts of money in each of these trades. They've been able to bring back prospects that will help the team down the road at the expense of current finances.

Chaim Bloom has been the key orchestrator in these transactions; let's not discount his efforts here. However, I think it's important to also consider the DeWitts' willingness to send money with these veteran players in trades.