Cardinals trade Willson Contreras to Red Sox in major pre-Christmas splash

The Chaim Bloom era is officially in full swing. With a self-imposed holiday deadline for another deal, the St. Louis Cardinals' new President of Baseball Operations held true to his word and made another splash on the trade market. After dealing Sonny Gray almost a month ago, Bloom got his old Boston rolodex out again and sent Willson Contreras to the Red Sox.

Cardinals trade Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox

Ever since Bloom left Boston, he has had a continued connection to his former organization in both trades and player acquisitions. Gray has his opportunity to show the Yankees how much he despises New York, and now Contreras will get the chance to help Boston to the top of the AL East. In November, a deal surrounding the Cardinals' first baseman was always possible, but seemed unlikely to me as he repeatedly said he preferred to stay in St. Louis rather than waive his no-trade clause. That tune changed as the team continued to push towards a rebuild, and now Contreras is the next casualty for the rebuilding Cardinals. The former catcher will have the opportunity to slide right into the starting lineup and provide a spark to put Boston back amongst the postseason contenders.

With two years remaining on his contract, Contreras did not fit the timeline for the next great Cardinals team, and, while I can still be upset about the trade personally, it makes a ton of sense from an organizational standpoint. I wrote earlier today how Alec Burleson could become the team's first baseman of the future, and apparently, the future is now. Moving Burly to first base opens up another outfield spot for the injured Lars Nootbaar if he can recover from offseason surgery, but if not, the new hole in the Cardinals lineup will be in the grass. With the trade, the Cardinals have officially kicked the tires on a full-scale rebuild.

At the outset of the trade season, I anticipated that Bloom would be targeting pitching in his major deals and that continues to hold true. After receiving major league arm Richard Fitts and upside prospect Brandon Clarke in the Gray trade, St. Louis is receiving three more pitchers back for two years of Contreras' services in Boston. Coming to the Cardinals are pitchers Hunter Dobbins, Yhoiker Fajardo, and Blake Aita. Of the group, Dobbins is the only with major league experience while the other two have yet to make it to Double-A.

Dobbins, 26, pitched in 13 games for Boston last season, making 11 starts. His season was cut short after he tore his ACL covering first base, but he finished with a 4-1 record and a 4.13 ERA. He has a four-pitch starter's repertoire and is armed with a mid-90s fastball and average or better curveball, slider, and splitter. His minor league track record showed better strikeout stuff than he presented in his first season in the majors, so the Cardinals may anticipate there is more in the tank for the former eighth-round pick. Jeff Jones believes that Dobbins will enter the "probable" portion of the rotation competition, meaning there will actually be a fight for rotation in Spring Training.

Joining Dobbins in St. Louis are the 22-year-old Aita and the 19-year-old Fajardo. The younger righty was ranked in Boston's top 30 prospect list by MLB Pipeline and has shown some potential for a mid-rotation arm somewhere down the road. Pipeline believes that Fajardo is advanced for his age and can push to Double-A next season and has already posted quality strikeout numbers. As for Aita, he worked as an innings eater in 2025, covering 115.1 innings with a 3.98 ERA and middle-of-the-road peripherals. He was drafted in the sixth round in 2024 and his ability to already work to a bigger inning load could help to push him along the pipeline as well.

Moving major league talent for minor leaguers in return is hard to get excited about, but it is the necessary reality of the Cardinals' situation. With the rebuild in full go, I anticipate we will see more moves quickly after the holidays if something does not happen in the next couple days.