When it comes to early offseason rumors, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of the more active clubs. However, Willson Contreras is one current Cardinals player that you don’t hear much about. That’s one of the reasons it seems unlikely that he will be switching uniforms.
MLB Trade Rumors recently released a new rumor regarding the St. Louis Cardinals’ offseason plans. Rumors that we’ve already heard about interest in Brendan Donovan and the Cardinals’ plans to find new homes for Nolan Arenado and Sonny Gray are included in those notes. They said something I hadn’t considered, but none of those were fresh to me. They claim that despite their theory that Willson Contreras would be the simplest to trade due to apparent interest in his offense, there was no talk about him at the most recent GM meetings.
Now that I think about it, I can’t remember a single plausible report linking Willson Contreras to any other team, therefore there are two possible outcomes. Either Chaim Bloom and his staff are following my advice from a few days ago and keeping their plans under wraps, or the St. Louis Cardinals are not actively seeking a trade partner for Willson Contreras. Even if I prefer the second alternative, it’s difficult to prevent at least imprecise rumors from spreading in the internet age. That makes me think that Willson Contreras won’t be one of the veteran players traded.
What we know for sure is as follows. We know that Willson is willing to waive his no-trade clause if the appropriate circumstances arise, but he has stated that he would prefer to remain a Cardinal and be a leader on a young club. The only veteran I believe the Cardinals would be better off keeping is him. The lack of intensity on recent St. Louis Cardinals teams is one of my pet peeves. Losing is one thing, but showing no resistance is even worse. One player who can never be accused of that is Willson Contreras, who always seems to have the passion you want to see.That’s what I’ve always valued in Yadier Molina. He expected the rest of the squad to put in their best effort, as you always knew you would. We need players like Contreras to convey that desire for intensity to the upcoming youth as the Cardinals rebuild.
Here’s one last thing. The offseason is still very early, and as the winter meetings in December approach, a lot could change. Will Willson be more inclined to desire to be traded if the Cardinals are successful in trading Arenado and Gray? Willson Contreras doesn’t seem to be like that. According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Willson told Chaim Bloom in late September that he wanted to remain with the Cardinals, and I think that’s become more likely.