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“Different groups have requested about” the various catchers within the Cardinals group, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Put up-Dispatch wrote as a part of a prolonged chat with readers. No particular names are talked about, but since kids Jimmy Crooks, and Leonardo Bernal appear fairly untouchable in the intervening time, Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pages, and Yohel Pozo are the likelier commerce candidates, to various levels.
Whereas the main focus of the Playing cards’ offseason can be transferring veteran expertise and creating alternatives for younger gamers, the wide-ranging nature of this rebuild implies that president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom is more likely to discover each potential avenue for upgrading the roster. Given this youth motion, it’s secure to imagine that Bernal and Crooks aren’t going wherever, except Bloom swings a comparatively uncommon prospect-for-prospect kind of swap. The Cardinals may conceivably package deal certainly one of their very own prospects together with a higher-priced veteran (i.e. Nolan Arenado, Sonny Grey) to persuade a rival membership to tackle extra wage, but dealing a well-regarded prospect simply to economize isn’t occurring except the opposite staff additionally affords prospect package deal that may extra broadly tackle the Playing cards’ wants.
MLB Pipeline ranks Bernal because the 92nd-best prospect in baseball, and the fourth-best prospect within the St. Louis farm system. As Goold notes, the Cardinals should add him to the 40-man roster to guard him from being chosen within the Rule 5 Draft, so Bernal’s inclusion would give the Playing cards 5 backstops on their 40-man. Goold means that Pozo would be the odd man out, maybe designated for project after which re-signed by the Cardinals to a minor league contract. Such a transfer would enable St. Louis to release a 40-man spot and preserve Pozo , although a commerce or waiver declare is a chance in that state of affairs.
Crooks was ranked because the sixth-best Cardinals prospect and outdoors Pipeline’s league-wide top-100, although he acquired some top-100 consideration from Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs this yr. Crooks additionally made his MLB debut this season, however did little or no on the plate in batting .133/.152/.244 over his first 46 plate appearances within the Present. He has hit significantly higher within the minors (together with a .274/.337/.441 slash line in 430 PA in Triple-A), however Crooks is usually considered as a glove-first kind of catcher.
Past this duo, the Cardinals even have Rainiel Rodriguez, the 18-year-old who completed the season in high-A ball and who ranks fifty fifth on Pipeline’s top-100 listing. It isn’t laborious to view Rodriguez, Bernal, and Crooks inside a broad “catcher of the longer term” class, which naturally creates questions on how the Playing cards may strategy the catchers at the moment on the massive league roster.
It must be famous that none of Herrera, Pages, or Pozo are precisely seasoned vets. Herrera received’t grow to be arbitration-eligible till subsequent offseason and he’s managed by means of 2029, whereas Pages is managed by means of 2030. If Pozo is probably DFA fodder, that alone may clear up the catching backlog to some extent, however may the Cardinals go a step additional and transfer Herrera or Pages to create taking part in time for Crooks?
Describing Herrera as a catcher is probably a subject of debate unto itself, as he suited up behind the plate in solely 14 video games this season. Herrera missed time due a bone bruise in his left knee after which a Grade 2 hamstring pressure, plus he was slated for offseason surgical procedure to take away unfastened our bodies from his throwing elbow. These well being points led the Cardinals to make Herrera their main DH, and he additionally made a couple of cameo appearances in left area.
The staff’s plan is for Herrera to spend the offseason therapeutic up, after which to return in Spring Coaching as a viable catcher as soon as once more. There have been some questions on Herrera’s long-term capacity to stay at catcher even earlier than his injury-plagued 2025 season, however there’s little question he can hit. Herrera batted .284/.373/.464 with 19 dwelling runs over 452 plate appearances this yr, and his 137 wRC+ was the Sixteenth-best of any participant within the league with not less than 450 PA.
Transferring such a potent and controllable bat this early within the rebuild course of doesn’t appear too probably for Bloom, except a significant asset could possibly be obtained in return. If the Cardinals nonetheless have misgivings about Herrera’s protection, that would go away the door open a crack for a potential commerce, but it’s truthful to guess that Herrera is fairly far down the listing of Bloom’s potential commerce chips.
Pages ended up changing into the Playing cards’ main catcher in 2025, and his profile is principally the other of Herrera. Pages has hit solely .233/.275/.368 over 607 profession PA within the majors, however he’s an outstanding defender in each side of catching besides his blocking work. This might attraction to golf equipment trying to enhance their glovework behind the plate, although Yadier Molina’s shadow runs lengthy in St. Louis, and the Cardinals themselves have lengthy prioritized having robust catcher protection.
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