Cardinals transactions: Recapping the minor deals in Chaim Bloom's first offseason

Chaim Bloom has been busy in his first offseason as the President of Baseball Operations for the St. Louis Cardinals, but much of the attention has been on the moves surrounding the major league roster. During a clear beginning of a rebuild, Bloom has traded away expensive veterans and received quality and quantity in return.

While Bloom has focused on the 26-man roster thus far, he has not shied away from adding low-risk options to 40-man or minor league contracts. The Cardinals did make a couple moves right when November began, outrighting some players and re-signing some familiar names like Yohel Pozo and Sem Robberse. Since then, Bloom has dabbled with some cheap arms to challenge the player development system to find some diamonds in the rough.

Chaim Bloom has sprinkled in low-cost signings along with his major league roster shakeup

At the end of November, the Cardinals signed 29-year-old reliever Scott Blewett to a minor league deal, presumably with an invitation to major league Spring Training. Blewett does not have much of a major league track record, pitching in 43 games over parts of four seasons with a 4.21 ERA and below average strikeout and walk rates.

Next up, the Cardinals swiped up righty Zak Kent from the Cleveland Guardians after the reliever was designated for assignment. Kent was an intriguing enough get for Bloom at the time and had enough potential to work his way into the bullpen conversation. However, Kent has since been designated for assignment and claimed by the Texas Rangers after the Cardinals acquired lefty reliever Justin Bruihl a month later.

In between the Kent and Bruihl moves, the Cardinals signed 30-year-old pitcher Bruce Zimmerman to a minor league contract without offering him a 40-man roster spot. Zimmerman was a former Atlanta Braves draft pick, and the soft-tossing lefty spent just over a year in the Atlanta organization before being included in a trade deadline deal. In 2018, the Baltimore Orioles acquired Zimmerman and three others in exchange for Kevin Gausman and Darren O'Day. The southpaw was with the Baltimore system until 2025, appearing in a total of 31 games for the O's from 2020-2023. A hamstring injury in July of 2024 sidelined him for nearly two months before he reached free agency after the season. Zimmerman then latched on with the Milwaukee Brewers last year and put up a solid, yet unspectacular campaign, spending most of his time in Triple-A. He pitched in a total of 29 games, with only one coming at the big league level. Over 138 minor league innings in 2025, Zimmerman went 10-7 with a 4.11 ERA. Without a 40-man spot, Zimmerman will hope to impress the coaching staff in Spring Training and can provide starting depth for a mostly unproven pitching rotation.

Now comes the aforementioned Bruihl, whom the Cardinals grabbed from the Cleveland Guardians for cash considerations. Bruihl was awarded a 40-man roster spot, giving him a leg up in the bullpen competition that currently only has JoJo Romero and Nick Raquet as left-handed options for Marmol.

For now, Chaim Bloom has done what was necessary to get the transition period started, but those moves hurt the talent on the major league roster. In their current position, the Cardinals are not in a spot to overpay for quality talent, so Bloom seems to be grabbing low-risk guys in hopes the player development system can make something out of them.