Former Cardinals Watch

[mikechamp]

The Rockies are mining the Cardinals' alumni ranks, as today they placed Quintana on the 60-day IL and also signed Brebbia to a minor league deal:

Brebbia - https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/ ... -deal.html

Quintana - https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/ ... -list.html

[Joe Shlabotnik]

That means he'll make at least one HoF ballot.

Ten years of service time is pretty exclusive company - less than 10% of all players who have ever played MLB. It's also worth 200K a year in pension and full health coverage for them and their immediate families.

[mikechamp]

It’s pretty simple; he’s playing in a hitters environment. Busch is not that.

He’s hitting 222/293/407 for a 701 ops on the road this year

At home, he’s sporting a 944 OPS

I’m glad for him, but he wouldn’t be doing this if he was still here

To your point, the following came from a MLB Trade Rumors (paywalled) chat today:

I suggested in a previous chat that Nolan Arenado and Wilson Contreras would have the same fate as other hitters leaving STL/Busch, and it was met with skepticism. I had been hurt too often before. Nolan Arenado is running a wRC+ higher than all but one of his seasons in STL. Same for Willson. Is it just Busch or is it the dev team, or the hitting coaches? Seems crazy how often this happens.

Anthony Franco
Contreras had stretches like this with STL. This is a little above his baseline but he's been a well above-average hitter everywhere he's been.

I think you have more of a case with Arenado's rebound but it's mostly coming at home, where Chase Field definitely plays more hitter-friendly than Busch, and probably has more to do with improved health than anything else.

Interesting debate with how little they've gotten from Gorman if they were better off holding Arenado than giving him away. Felt at the time like everyone needed the clean break, especially with where the organization was going, but you're probably looking at a win or two difference at third base in a season where the Cards are more competitive than they thought they'd be.