Chaim Bloom works his magic as he trades castoff Cardinals reliever for prospect

The St. Louis Cardinals just turned a desperation roster shuffle into a trade that netted them a prospect. Chaim Bloom sure seems to run a different show from what we got used to with John Mozeliak.

The Cardinals announced a trade Monday evening involving recently DFA'd left-handed reliever Nick Raquet, sending him to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for OF/UT Brayden Smith. The move came to fruition because of the bullpen crunch the Cardinals found themselves in to start the 2026 season.

Cardinals make the most of their chaotic roster shuffle by trading Nick Raquet for prospect Brayden Smith

Due to option rules, the Cardinals could not recall a reliever on their 40-man roster until April 10th. Any pitcher optioned to the minor leagues, which every arm that didn't make the Opening Day roster is officially optioned on the first day of the regular season, must wait 15 days before being recalled to the Major Leagues, unless it's to replace an injured player. In order to get around this, the Cardinals designated Raquet for an assignment, who was on the 40-man roster but in Triple-A, freeing up a 40-man spot for Jared Shuster, and then calling him up to St. Louis to replace Chris Roycroft.

Option rules do not apply to players not on the 40-man roster, which is why Shuster was able to be added and called up before that April 10th date.

Raquet made his Major League debut with the Cardinals last season, posting two scoreless innings in his only two outings with the club. Raquet was viewed as left-handed reliever depth entering the season behind JoJo Romero and Justin Bruihl, but the Cardinals really needed a fresh arm this week and had to part ways with him to do so.

Bloom and the Cardinals' front office did make sure to get any value they could for him though, rather than just losing him to waivers. Smith was a 13th-round selection by the Orioles in the 2025 MLB Draft out of Oklahoma State, and while he hasn't done much of note at the professional level in his just 17 professional games, clearly, the Cardinals' revamped scouting department had an eye for him.

The left-handed hitting 22-year-old has already appeared in both corner outfield spots and second base at the professional level, and he may be able to handle center field long-term as well. Smith slashed .304/.388/.548 with 11 home runs, a 19.4 K%, and 11.1 BB% in his final season with Oklahoma State in 2025.

Whether it was the recently invested in professional scouting department, based on feelings they had about Smith as a draft prospect from their amateur scouts, or a little bit of both, deals like this (and obviously the big ones) are why Bloom decided to invest heavily in scouting this offseason, while some organizations are actually cutting costs there. These deals usually don't amount to much, but when they do, it's such a boost to an organization to "hit" on seemingly insignificant deals.