Cardinals may trade a catcher this offseason, with Leo Bernal set to lead the depth chart

What happened

The St. Louis Cardinals enter the offseason with a catching depth chart that has drawn interest from other clubs for more than a calendar year, and per MLB Trade Rumors' Anthony Franco, that conversation is unlikely to go quiet. With four catchers currently on the 40-man roster — Leo Bernal, Iván Herrera, Jimmy Crooks, and Pedro Pagés — and a top prospect named Rainiel Rodriguez ascending through the system, the Cardinals reportedly have more options behind the plate than they have roster spots to accommodate them. The question Franco poses is not whether St. Louis will field calls, but which catcher they might actually move.

Why it matters

The Cardinals finished 77-85 this season, sitting fourth in the NL Central and 26 games back in the division. A week removed from Cardinals president Chaim Bloom publicly reaffirming that the rebuild continues into 2027 and ruling out an aggressive pursuit of high-priced veterans, the front office's offseason calculus is less about adding star power and more about converting organizational surplus into the kind of return that accelerates a retool. Catching depth, per Franco's reporting, is one of the few areas where St. Louis has something other clubs want.

That context shapes every conversation about this particular position. A rebuilding club moves a catcher to acquire the pitching it doesn't yet have. Per Franco, the Cardinals almost certainly fall into that category — and the catching market, accordingly, is where they may have the most leverage heading into the winter.

The numbers

Leo Bernal arrived in St. Louis with the September roster expansion and made an immediate impression. Per Franco's reporting, Bernal started 22 of the Cardinals' final 24 games, logging 15 assignments behind the plate and seven more split between first base and designated hitter. He batted .284 with five home runs in that stretch. He also committed six errors, and Franco notes that most scouting reports believe he will be serviceable defensively — a projection the Cardinals appear to share. Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests the club would prefer to hand Bernal the primary catching job in 2027, per Franco's piece.

Bernal turns 23 in February, per the report, and this past September marked the first time he appeared on an MLB roster. Twenty-two starts in the final weeks of a lost season is a modest audition by most measures, but .284 with five home runs is the kind of first impression that tends to settle internal debates quickly.

Rodriguez, the top prospect Franco describes as unlikely to need an offseason 40-man spot, hit .328/.408/.591 as a 19-year-old in Double-A. Franco reports there is a chance Rodriguez earns an MLB look next season, and that he will at the very least advance to Triple-A. Per the report, if Rodriguez were to debut next season, he would likely be the second rookie catcher on the active roster — which tells you something about how quickly this depth chart is being repopulated from below.

On the trade side, Iván Herrera's defensive profile is the most discussed variable. Among the 94 catchers Franco tracked by average pop time on throws to second base, Herrera placed 79th, clocking in at 2.00 seconds flat. St. Louis gave him 52 starts behind the plate compared to 108 appearances at designated hitter. Per Franco, clubs that prioritize catcher defense are unlikely to view Herrera as a viable primary option, and some teams may consider him an emergency catcher only. His receiving metrics, Franco notes, are middle of the pack — but his ability to halt the running game may be the worst in the league by that measure. That is a specific and uncomfortable distinction to carry into trade conversations.

Where the club stands

St. Louis closed the season at 77-85 (.475), fourth in the NL Central, eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race. The club enters the offseason on a four-game losing streak and ranked seventh in Wild Card positioning, 11.0 relative to the cut line. Bloom's public comments, made earlier this week, frame the winter ahead as a continuation of the rebuild rather than a pivot toward contention — which means the front office's decisions at catcher will be evaluated against a longer timeline than a single season.

For a club that finished 26 games out of first place, the catching surplus is one of the more enviable problems in the NL Central. The challenge is converting it into something that moves the needle on a roster that still has meaningful ground to cover.

What we don't know yet

Franco's piece is an analytical framing of the Cardinals' options, not a report of active trade discussions. No specific trade talks are reported, no teams are named as suitors, and no deal is described as imminent or even likely. The reporting establishes that St. Louis's catching depth has intrigued other clubs for over a calendar year, but whether that interest translates into a transaction this winter is unresolved.

It is also unclear what the Cardinals would require in return. Franco notes that Bernal would be unlikely to move unless another team offered an especially high-upside starting pitcher — a threshold that, by its nature, narrows the field considerably. For Rodriguez, Franco reports that a retooling St. Louis club almost certainly isn't moving him, but that framing stops short of ruling it out entirely.

The roles of Crooks and Pagés are not detailed in Franco's reporting beyond their presence on the 40-man roster. Where they fit into any potential trade scenario, or whether either is considered a candidate to be moved, is not addressed in the piece.

What to watch

### So who actually gets traded?

Per Franco's reporting, Herrera is the most likely candidate to generate trade interest, though the nature of that interest — and whether it rises to the level of a deal — is unknown. His offensive profile at designated hitter gives him a different kind of value than a pure backstop, but clubs seeking a primary catcher with strong defensive credentials may look elsewhere. Bernal's path, per Goold's reporting as cited by Franco, appears to run through St. Louis's 2027 roster rather than out of it — barring an offer centered on a high-upside starting pitcher.

Rodriguez's timeline is worth monitoring as spring approaches. If he advances to Triple-A as Franco expects and continues to hit, the Cardinals will face a familiar organizational math problem: more catchers than the roster can comfortably hold. That pressure, more than any single trade conversation, may ultimately be what forces the front office's hand.

The Rule 5 draft, a general roster mechanic that requires clubs to protect prospects on the 40-man or expose them to selection, adds a layer of complexity to how St. Louis manages its catching depth this winter. Rodriguez, per Franco, won't need a 40-man spot this offseason — but that calculus shifts as he moves closer to the majors, and the Cardinals will need to plan accordingly.

Whether St. Louis converts its catching surplus into pitching, holds it as organizational depth, or some combination of both is the question that will define a meaningful piece of their offseason. The front office has had a year of interest and, so far, no reported deal. The winter is young.