The St. Louis Cardinals must be flexible in a rebuilding year

The St. Louis Cardinals are known as a team that has historically relied heavily on veteran players. This approach to team building has forced the club and its manager to be rigid in their ways.

Since 2023, the player who has led the Cardinals in plate appearances is Nolan Arenado. However, Arenado had the sixth-worst wRC+ among qualified Cardinals during that time. Miles Mikolas has led the team in innings pitched (529.1 innings) since 2023. Among Cardinals who have thrown at least 200 innings since 2023, Mikolas ranks dead last on the team in ERA- (120), an advanced metric where 100 is average and anything greater than 100 is bad.

Suffice it to say, the Cardinals have been playing unreliable veterans and leaning on them to lead the team over the last three seasons. It hasn't been a successful strategy, and the club's unwillingness to adjust on the fly has hurt them.

The St. Louis Cardinals, led by Oli Marmol and Chaim Bloom, must adapt and adjust more quickly in 2026 than they have in the past.

In an interview with Tom Ackerman of KMOX, Chaim Bloom discussed the potential for a six-man rotation to start the season. While Bloom's quote about being adaptable was related to this topic, I think this approach should be (and will be) expanded across the entire roster throughout the entire season.

"As this thing unfolds, we're going to have to adapt and adjust," said Cardinals' president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom in reference to a potential six-man rotation. Let's take that "adapt and adjust" approach and expand it to the entire roster.

While 2026 isn't being dubbed a "runway" year like 2025 was, there will be plenty of time for young players to prove their value. From Jordan Walker to Nolan Gorman to Kyle Leahy to Gordon Graceffo, players will have plenty of pressure to rise to the challenge and prove that they are major-league ready.

Baseball is a game where small sample sizes can be insufficient when it comes to evaluating players. A two-week stretch for a hitter in which he mashes 5 home runs and has an OPS north of 1.000 could be very misleading, especially if that player hasn't shown those abilities previously. A usually stout starting pitcher who has rough back-to-back starts also isn't a bad sign.

However, the Cardinals must learn to adapt quickly in 2026 even amongst small sample sizes. If a hitter isn't playing well over an extended period of time, he should be replaced, at least temporarily, by another player. If Nolan Gorman has a rough stretch in the middle of June, perhaps someone like Thomas Saggese or Ramon Urias should see more innings even though Nolan Gorman is the preferred player in 2026.

If Andre Pallante shows that he can't rebound from a rough 2025 season by the time May comes around, Richard Fitts or Quinn Mathews should be promoted rather than struggling to watch Pallante try and figure it out.

After a barrage of offseason trades net the Cardinals a stable of reliable minor leaguers, Chaim Bloom and his team should be comfortable promoting young studs to the majors to give them a chance. Richard Fitts, Quinn Mathews, Hunter Dobbins, Liam Doyle, Cooper Hjerpe, Brycen Mautz, and Jurrangelo Cijntje should all be ready by the end of the year.

On the position player side of things, Thomas Saggese, Joshua Baez, Leo Bernal, Jimmy Crooks, and Blaze Jordan could all be knocking at the door of the majors sooner rather than later.

Established guys like Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Andre Pallante, Michael McGreevy, and various relievers should get the first crack at significant playing time this year. However, the front office shouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on a roster move if they see something they don't like.

The Cardinals aren't looking to be contenders in 2026, but that doesn't mean they should throw their hands in the air and let things ride in this pivotal rebuilding year. Instead, manager Oli Marmol and POBO Chaim Bloom should make changes on the fly, something the Cardinals as an organization haven't done in over half a decade.