The St. Louis Cardinals’ 2025 season was already on life support, but now the team is officially shutting down another core piece.
At 74–78, St. Louis sits 18.5 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central and 4.5 games out of the Wild Card, with several teams ahead of them. Any talk of a playoff push has been little more than empty chatter, and the organization is finally acting like a team focused on next year. Their starting first basement is off to the IL.
This is the same Willson Contreras who has been ejected from numerous games, including hitting a coach with a bat after one ejection.
Shortstop Masyn Winn was already sidelined for season-ending knee surgery, and now Willson Contreras is set to join him. According to the Athletic’s Katie Woo, the veteran slugger has not shown progress with his bicep strain, prompting the Cardinals to place him on the injured list and officially end his 2025 campaign. The Cardinals have recalled INF José FermÃn from Memphis to fill the open roster spot.
Contreras, who had the option to leave for a contender last offseason, chose instead to stick with St. Louis. He even shifted to first base in order to stay healthy and give the club more flexibility behind the plate. While his year began in a slump, he turned things around down the stretch and posted a solid .257/.344/.447 line with 20 home runs and 80 RBIs across 135 games. It marked the second-highest games played total of his career and the most plate appearances he’s ever logged in a season.
The Cardinals’ looming offseason will be fascinating. Chaim Bloom is set to take the reins of the front office, and Nolan Arenado has already acknowledged that he expects trade talks to swirl around him again this winter. Contreras, still under contract and still productive, could find himself in that same boat if the front office decides to fully commit to a youth movement and he’s open to a change.
For now, his 2025 is over, and the Cardinals enter the offseason with more questions than answers about the future of two of their veteran stars.
