Many familiar faces are gone as the St. Louis Cardinals hold their first full-squad workout on Monday at spring training in Jupiter, Florida.
Starting pitcher Sonny Gray and first baseman Willson Contreras are in Boston. Ten-time Gold Glove-winning third baseman Nolan Arenado is with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Utility player and 2025 All-Star Brendan Donovan is in Seattle.
That leaves the 2026 Cardinals with a lot of questions to answer ahead of Opening Day at Busch Stadium on March 26 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Here are five of those questions on many fans' minds as some new faces try to step in to fill a big void.
Who will be in the starting rotation?
In addition to Gray, who was the team's No. 1 starter the last two seasons, the team must replace the innings provided by Miles Mikolas (signed by Washington) and Erick Fedde (traded to Atlanta last July). Although neither was very effective, they did take the ball every five days.
Of the returning starters, Matthew Liberatore seems most likely to take the ball on Opening Day. The 26-year-old lefty started 29 games for the Cardinals last season, and his 4.21 ERA was just below league average.
The Redbirds made a short-term investment in former Dodgers and Red Sox hurler Dustin May, signing him to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2027. At his best with the Dodgers, May showcased electric stuff, but he had trouble staying healthy. He missed the entire 2024 season, and although he was healthy last season, he struggled in both Los Angeles and Boston.
Other returning pitchers likely to see time in the rotation for the Cardinals include Andre Pallante (5.31 ERA in 162 innings), Michael McGreevy (4.42 ERA in 95 innings) and Kyle Leahy (3.07 ERA in 88 innings, mostly out of the bullpen).
Two pitchers acquired from the Red Sox in the offseason, Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins, could also be factors in the starting rotation. Fitts posted a 5.00 ERA in 45 innings for Boston last season, while the 26-year-old Dobbins threw 61 innings with a 4.13 ERA. Dobbins' season was cut short by a torn ACL in his right knee last July, but team President Chaim Bloom said recently that he was progressing well.
Who will close out games?
St. Louis dealt closer Ryan Helsley to the Mets at the trade deadline last season, and top setup reliever Phil Maton was traded to the Rangers before signing with the rival Cubs this offseason. Both JoJo Romero and Riley O'Brien closed out games down the stretch last season, and both could be in the mix to do so again in 2026.
The team also signed veteran reliever Ryne Stanek to a contract in the offseason, but he struggled with the Mets last season and has never saved more than seven games in a season. Stanek will likely have a prominent setup role at the start of 2026 and perhaps even get a shot at closing.
Right-hander Matt Svanson was impressive as a rookie, posting a 1.94 ERA in 60 innings, though much of that work came in lower-leverage situations. He'll likely be a seventh- or eighth-inning option to start the season.
What players will emerge as team leaders?
This will be a young team by design, as Cardinals management wants to give younger players an opportunity to develop at the Major League level. The oldest position player currently on the team's 40-man roster is minor league outfielder Bryan Torres, who is just 28.
On the pitching side, Stanek has nine years of experience and won a World Series with Houston in 2022. May pitched for some successful Dodger teams, including a World Series winner in 2020. Pallante, Liberatore and Romero are the three pitchers remaining from the Cardinals' 2022 playoff team.
It will be up to younger veterans like outfielder Lars Nootbaar, who is likely to miss the first few weeks of the season after surgery on both heels, to help guide newer players through the trials of a 162-game regular season. Nootbaar and Nolan Gorman are the only two position players remaining who meaningfully contributed to the Cardinals' 2022 team.
What does success look like this season?
Barring breakouts from several young players, this Cardinals team is unlikely to contend for a playoff spot. The team won just 78 games last season and traded away its most proven players.
But manager Oli Marmol said Friday that he expects his team to be competitive sooner rather than later.
"Sure, we traded away several players, and there's a long-term view of this, but I don't see it being very long," Marmol said. "I trust the guys in that clubhouse. I think a lot of them are going to take that next step in their careers."
Outfielder Jordan Walker is one of those players looking to take that next step. He burst onto the scene in 2023 as a 21-year-old rookie and showed some of the power that made him one of the game's top-rated prospects, hitting 16 home runs in 117 games. But Walker has hit just 11 homers over the last two seasons combined, and although his defense in right field has improved, he has to hit to be a useful player at the big league level.
Marmol said this is a big season for Walker to show what he can do.
"It would be easy to say that he needs to show well or produce, but I think a lot of it is going to have to be how he handles certain situations and what the at-bats look like," Marmol said. "Not just results, but if we're starting to see some of the things that him and [hitting coach Brant Brown] and all of the work he put into this offseason from a posture standpoint and a swing plane standpoint, that those things actually carry into the game."
Infielder Nolan Gorman also showed great potential with his bat in 2023, bashing 27 homers while playing second and third base. His offense also has fallen off over the past two seasons, but with Arenado gone, he will likely get the first opportunity to fill his big shoes at third base.
The Cardinals will also be looking for an unproven pitcher to step up as a reliable starter. That could be Leahy, who has pitched well out of the bullpen the past two seasons, or it could be McGreevy, who showed signs of that capability last season. It could also be Fitts or Dobbins, part of the trade return from Boston.
Ideally, some of the team's veteran signings, like May and Stanek, would pitch well in the first half of the season, allowing the Cardinals to trade them for prospects at the deadline.
So, success will be relative this season, but the Cardinals would feel good if either Walker or Gorman (or both) show they can be productive everyday players and if at least one young starting pitcher emerges as a feasible mid-rotation option.
Why should fans come to the ballpark?
It's been a long time since the Cardinals have gone through a full rebuild. You probably have to go back to the mid-1990s to find a season when the team entered a season with such low expectations.
Fans have also shown their displeasure with the team's lack of competitiveness over the past few seasons, with attendance falling from an average of 40,994 during the 2022 playoff season to just 27,778 last season.
That said, there are still things for fans to look forward to during the upcoming season.
J.J. Wetherholt was the Cardinals' first-round draft pick in 2024 and has rocketed through the team's minor league system. He's a consensus Top 10 prospect in all of Major League Baseball, and Bloom said he is close to being ready for the majors.
"You see what he does on the field, he makes some really difficult things look really easy," Bloom said. "The maturity, the purpose, the intent with which he goes about what he does every day. That, along with the talent, that's a pretty rare combination, and it's exciting."
Wetherholt hit well at both the AA and AAA levels last season, and with Brendan Donovan now in Seattle, there's an opening for him to be the Opening Day second baseman.
St. Louis fans have always appreciated good defense, and the Cardinals have Gold Glove winner Masyn Winn at shortstop and center fielder Victor Scott II providing quality glovework up the middle. They should at least give fans some defensive highlights most nights at the ballpark.
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