The St. Louis Cardinals are essentially out of the playoff race for this season. Sitting a few games below .500 and several games out of a Wild Card spot, the front office is gearing towards next season with many decisions to make.
A significant part of that decision-making process will involve addressing the outfield logjam. 2025 marks the third-straight season of the Cardinals being below expectations, and with Chaim Bloom stepping into the president of baseball operations role, there are surely going to be personnel changes.
Cardinals' outfielders are playing for their future
One name to keep an eye out for over the final month of the regular season is Lars Nootbaar. He is currently on a one-year deal, but is arbitration-eligible after this season, and is playing for a potential raise. Nootbaar has two more arbitration years before he is a free agent.
With the Cardinals expecting not to compete next season, Chaim Bloom likely is looking at all Cardinals outfielders under a microscope. That includes Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker.
Katie Woo of The Athletic provided some insight on why Nootbaar and others are playing for their spots:
"This next month is going to be about the future. We have talked about the runway for Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker to an exhausting point...As we find ourselves in the final five weeks of the season, 30-plus games to go, it's pretty clear that Nootbaar is going to be playing for his future as a Cardinals this final month. Let's see what he is going to do there. He's going to get some consistent time, especially with Victor Scott out."
Nootbaar is having a prototypical "league-average" season. His OPS+ is exactly 100 in over 100 games played, and he's hitting .236 with 13 home runs. Good, not great, and Nootbaar could potentially be on the trade block with his couple years of team control left.