The Cardinals could face a daunting task in finding suitors for Sonny Gray

As the St. Louis Cardinals head into the offseason, they'll be tiptoeing in unfamiliar territory as they embark on a full-scale rebuild for the first time in decades. With the team not expected to be serious contenders in 2026, some players have hinted that they may be looking for greener pastures this winter.

One such Cardinal is Sonny Gray, who served as the team's No. 1 starter for the past two seasons. After the Cardinals were eliminated from postseason contention, Gray was candid with MLB.com reporter John Denton and said that he may need to request a trade. However, several hurdles exist that are out of the Cardinals' control.

Gray may get lost in a potential deluge of trades involving star pitchers.

There are plenty of top-tier starting pitchers who are reportedly on the trade market this offseason. Leading the charge is the Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal, who has been among the best pitchers in the game over the past two seasons. With one year remaining on his contract and the Tigers reportedly nowhere close to agreeing to a monetary amount with Skubal, there are ample questions regarding his future with the team.

Freddy Peralta is another pitcher who could be shopped. The Milwaukee Brewers hold an $8 million club option on Peralta for 2026 but could opt to trade him before that kicks in. Other potential trade candidates around the league include Hunter Greene, Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez. That's not to mention the pitchers who are set to be free agents in 2026, a list that contains Chris Sale, Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez.

With so many lucrative options available to teams yearning to contend in 2026, Gray looks to be far down on the list of pitchers whom an aspiring playoff team would desire. At 36 years old and with numbers trending in the wrong direction, Gray may be no more than a No. 3 starter for a postseason hopeful, so any return for him in a trade would likely be unremarkable.

Further hampering possible trade destinations may be Gray's struggles to pitch in hot weather. With most of Gray's teams prior to St. Louis calling cooler climates home, this revelation might scare away several teams that play half of their games in hotter areas.

Finally, Gray holds a somewhat unwieldy contract that other teams are unlikely to want to take on without the Cardinals eating a substantial portion of it. Although not as extreme as Nolan Arenado's contract, which the Cardinals have tried and failed to get out from under, Gray's backloaded deal will likely set the Cardinals back a cool $40 million in 2026 if they can't find a trade partner.

The long list of elite pitchers who could be changing uniforms over the offseason will undoubtedly make the Cardinals wince as they look to deal Gray for some semblance of prospects. Perhaps Gray will be more amenable to waiving his no-trade clause to a larger bunch of teams than Arenado was. For the sake of the Cardinals' future, let's hope the Cardinals can swing a respectable deal for him.