51ºÚÁÏ

If you were somehow still in denial, clinging to new Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom’s declaration this fall that the club will “not concede anything� in 2026, you can now drop that brave façade and embrace the rebuild.

Resistance is futile. You’re only hurting yourself by continuing to live that lie.

Recalling the conversation he had with Willson Contreras during the final days of the 2025 season, Chaim Bloom, the Cardinals’ new president of baseball operations, left with clarity on Contreras’ commitment to remaining with a Cardinals club set for a winter retool.

“He basically said this wasn't something where he was looking to leave,� Bloom said Monday via Zoom.

51ºÚÁÏ Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom talked about the Willson Contreras trade, the young pitchers the Redbirds acquired and the possibility of future moves.

Here's a sampling of what he had to say.

The four-player deal between the Cardinals and Red Sox that sends first baseman Willson Contreras to Boston was made official Monday.

In the deal, which was struck between the two clubs Sunday, the Cardinals sent Contreras and cash considerations to the Red Sox in exchange for three right-handed pitching prospects, headlined by 26-year-old Hunter Dobbins.

Hi everyone, welcome to the Monday Cardinals chat at STL Today dot com. Post-Dispatch writer Daniel Guerrero here. I hope the holiday season has treated everyone well. Quite the busy Sunday for the Cardinals, huh? In case you missed it: The Cardinals are adding to their pitching depth by trading Willson Contreras to the Red Sox. Oh, and some news on Cardinals broadcasts. The Contreras deal has yet to be made official, but it is expected to be announced at some point early today. With that being said, I apologize in advance if there is a lengthy pause in the chat once news pops up since I’ll need to get on that to meet deadline on a story for Tuesday’s paper. Anyway, what do you want to talk about?

(A transcript of today’s chat will be updated below the text box.)

The Cardinals struck a second deal this offseason with the Red Sox, this time sending first baseman Willson Contreras to Boston in exchange for three right-handed pitching prospects, the Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold reported Sunday night.

Sunday’s trade with the Red Sox, made possible after Contreras waived his no-trade clause, will bring righties Hunter Dobbins, Yhoiker Fajardo and Blake Aita to the Cardinals. The move to bring in the three prospects in the Contreras trade comes after the Cardinals acquired righty Richard Fitts and lefty Brandon Clarke from the Red Sox for veteran Sonny Gray in a deal completed in late November.

The Cardinals’ broadcast partner did not make its December payment due last week, signaling the latest spasm in the unsteady regional sports network model and perhaps changing how fans watch the team — but not whether they’ll have access in the 2026 season.

FanDuel Sports Network's parent company, Main Street Sports Group, notified the Cardinals this past week that it would not meet its rights-fee obligations for December, an official confirmed. The company also said if its unable to complete a new ownership deal with streaming service DAZN in the near future, Main Street Sports would begin to dissolve. That move would return the Cardinals’ broadcast rights to the team and likely lead them to join the six other clubs who are already relying on Major League Baseball’s in-house media group to distribute games.

The Cardinals are completing a deal that will send first baseman and former All-Star catcher Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox for three pitchers, per a source.

Contreras waived his no-trade clause to make the deal possible.

Some 70 winters ago, the boy’s mother would drop him off at the old fieldhouse. Inside, Lewis Levey would ecstatically escape into the entrancing world of basketball. And then, when the game ended, he’d spend a nickel in the phone booth to call home. Mom soon arrived and returned him to reality.

At that old fieldhouse, 51ºÚÁÏ’ Concordia Seminary played a competitive hoops schedule. And Levey, now 83, recalled a particular game by phone this week.