Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Have Opportunity For Monumental Reunion In Wild Offseason Spending Spree

St. Louis has the chance to bring back some familiar faces this winter

Nate Hagerty

Sep 22, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals salute their fans after their final home game of the season and a victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Sep 22, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals salute their fans after their final home game of the season and a victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
In this story:

The St. Louis Cardinals are just days away from entering the offseason and will have a head start on plotting their plans while playoff contenders battle it out for the World Series trophy.

That said, the Cardinals have the advantage of time. With plenty of big-market teams looking to cash in on this winter's free-agent market, St. Louis must be prepared to spend.

In what would be an unprecedented offseason, the Cardinals have an unusual chance to re-sign a haul of former St. Louis players who will become free agents this winter.

Former Cardinals outfielders Tyler O'Neill, Harrison Bader, Marcell Ozuna, infielders Kolten Wong and Paul DeJong and right-handed pitchers Giovanny Gallegos, Michael Wacha and Jack Flaherty could be available for a reunion this winter, with all mostly having expiring contracts.

Wong is already a free agent and Ozuna has a 2025 club option with the Atlanta Braves, which hasn't been picked up. Every other former Cardinals player mentioned above will become a free agent this offseason, opening the door for St. Louis to re-sign several familiar faces.

The odds of the Cardinals re-signing all impending free agents is slim-to-none but it's still interesting that all former St. Louis players will be available at the same time.

A few players on the list, such as Flaherty, Wacha, and O'Neill, could make sense for a reunion this winter. All other names mentioned either man a position already occupied on the Cardinals roster or their performance this season was so unimpressive that re-signing them wouldn't make sense.

More MLB: Cardinals Legend's Shocking Move Could Enable Exciting Oli Marmol Replacement

Published
Nate Hagerty
NATE HAGERTY

Nate Hagerty joined “Inside The Cardinals” as a content creator to spread knowledge about his favorite childhood team. A hometown native of Boston, Hagerty chose at an early age of six years old to follow the St. Louis Cardinals. The miraculous season of 04’ for the Red Sox did not deter Hagerty from rooting against his hometown team, nor did it in 2013 against the Red Birds. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu 

Home/St. Louis Cardinals News