ST. LOUIS -- As promised by new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom earlier this offseason, the Cardinals have continued to bolster their manpower in their scouting department.
On Friday, the Cards hired former Pirates front-office staffer Joe Douglas to be their director of pro acquisition, and they added suburban St. Louis native and former Astros player development director Jacob Buffa as their new senior director of international scouting.
Douglas will oversee the Cards’ pro scouts and the club’s pro acquisition team, and he will report to assistant GM and director of scouting Randy Flores. Buffa, who has worked in a variety of roles with the Astros since 2019, will work under assistant GM, international scouting Moisés Rodríguez.
The moves fall in line with what Bloom said upon taking over front-office control following the Cardinals’ 78-84 season, one that left them out of the playoffs for a third straight season. Bloom, who worked as an advisor for the club for two seasons before taking his current job, said that he liked much of the structure already in place in the front office and didn’t see the club replacing members of its senior staff. He hired assistant GM Rob Cerfolio, player development director Larry Day and pitching director Matt Pierpont last year to enhance the front office and mesh with the staffers already in place.
“I have a lot of respect for the people who have been here,” said Bloom, who repeatedly noted how much his time with the staff over the past two years will ease his transition for the 2026 season. “I would like, hope and expect [that] our senior folks will all go forward with us. I do anticipate that we will have some additions to the front-office group … .”
Douglas worked for the Pirates for eight years, most recently as their head of player analysis. Buffa -- who hails from Chesterfield, Mo., and graduated from Missouri State -- was the Astros’ senior director of player development and performance science prior to taking the job with the Cardinals.
Principal owner Bill DeWitt Jr. didn’t address questions about the team’s payroll following the season, but Bloom has said the club should have the financial resources to improve the roster for the 2026 season. The Cardinals have just one free agent -- veteran right-handed pitcher Miles Mikolas -- but they have nine players eligible for different levels of salary arbitration.
The club has until Nov. 18 to determine which prospects it is going to put on the 40-man roster to avoid exposing them to December’s Rule 5 Draft. The Cardinals must decide which players they will tender contracts to by MLB’s Nov. 21 deadline. Third baseman Nolan Arenado, right-handed pitcher Sonny Gray and first baseman Willson Contreras -- three veterans with a no-trade clause in their contract -- have guaranteed deals for 2026, but the Cards could look to deal them to save salary and potentially speed up the club’s rebuilding efforts.