The Cardinals have surged into surprising contention in the National League this year, despite explicitly being constructed to contend in the long term rather than the short term. But there remains a fundamental question: Whether gaping holes on the roster, were they to exist, will actively be filled at midseason.
The understanding coming into the year, particularly when it came to the lineup, was that the young players (and they were almost all young players) would have as much rope as they needed to establish themselves as regulars … or make it clear that the Cardinals, in future seasons, would have to find a replacement for them. This was the audition year. It was an ongoing test -- but that was supposed to be all it was.
Some players have passed with flying colors, players who are now likely part of the core: Jordan Walker, most obviously, but also Iván Herrera and JJ Wetherholt. But others have yet to do so, namely Victor Scott II, Pedro Pagés and, once again, Nolan Gorman, whose OPS is down roughly 50 points from his previous career low, set in 2025. The Cardinals actually ranked last in the Majors in OPS out of the 5-9 slots heading into this past weekend, and it was making it increasingly difficult for the team to keep its head above water -- and to remain surprising contenders. Would the Cardinals stay the course with those struggling young players, even if it costs them wins this year?
Last Friday, the Cardinals answered the question. They sent down struggling hitters Yohel Pozo and César Prieto and replaced them with Jimmy Crooks (MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 Cardinals prospect) and Spring Training sensation Nelson Velázquez, who promptly homered on the first pitch he saw as a Cardinal.
Crooks, who had a .412 OBP with 13 homers at Memphis, isn’t so much a replacement for Pozo at catcher as he is a replacement for Pagés. Crooks, with more offensive upside than Pagés, is likely to get regular playing time behind the plate. Velázquez is expected to help lengthen the lineup, as is Lars Nootbaar when he returns from his rehab assignment, likely this weekend. Crooks has a similar opportunity to the other young hitters on the roster in that he can establish himself as a lineup mainstay moving forward, and if Velázquez keeps hitting, he can do the same thing. New president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom and his front office have made it clear: They’re going to go ahead and try to win now.
Tellingly, though, they still didn’t sacrifice any of the future, or any current assets, to do so. They haven’t traded away any prospects, or looked to find some random veteran bat and hope he gets suddenly gets hot. They made improvements, but they did so from within. Crooks and Velázquez can be part of the next good Cardinals team, but they also are needed on this one. The Cardinals looked at the question of whether they would alter this team or they would focus on the future and said … hey, why not both?
It was a nifty piece of roster maneuvering, and it speaks well to Bloom and company’s ability to stay nimble. It’s an effort to keep their eyes on the larger, long-term prize while still not ignoring opportunities that are right in front of them, right now. Crooks, in particular, had earned a callup thanks to his declining strikeout rate at Triple-A, making him, handily, a key cog of the Cardinals future and an improvement on Pagés and Pozo. That’s having your proverbial cake and eating it too. And it’s a sign that the Cardinals’ front office, while making sure it’s building for the future, is not being stubborn or myopic. This team may be good enough to compete for a Wild Card spot this year, but it required some help. So Bloom got some.
This bodes well for current Cardinals prospects who are on the cusp of the Majors, specifically players like No. 25 Cards prospect Blaze Jordan and, especially, No. 3 Joshua Báez, who, intriguingly, has been playing a lot of center field at Memphis while also crushing the ball at the plate. They can look at Crooks and see a teammate who improved enough that the big league club could not deny him any longer … and know that they could be next.
It also bodes well for that current big league team, which is competing hard every night but can see the issues that exist as well as the rest of us, whether that’s at the bottom of the lineup or up and down the pitching staff. (There’s a reason Hunter Dobbins recently arrived in St. Louis, too.)
Bloom and the front office have now established that, even as they build the Cardinals to be annual World Series contenders, as Bloom has said is the goal, they will not be dogmatic: They will do what it takes to win, now, and in the future. Someday, the Cardinals, as a franchise, will reach the fully-realized form that Bloom is building them toward. But even when that happens, those theoretical future teams will still have needs.
We now know, for the first time in the Bloom regime, that they will be addressed. There will be no denial. There will be no kicking the can down the road. They will be smart. But they will also try to win now. It’s exciting for 2026. But it’s exciting for 2036, too.