After an Impressive Season, the Cardinals’ Catcher Faces a Future No One Saw Coming.yv

The main story around the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason is going to have to do with the trade market. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

St. Louis has plenty of pieces to watch this offseason including the obvious ones, like Nolan Arenado and Sonny Gray. But, that may not be all. The Athletic’s Katie Woo weighed in on the Cardinals’ catching situation and noted that Pedro Pagés could be someone on the trade block this offseason as well.

“St. Louis also has an abundance of catchers at the major-league level and coming up through the minors,” Woo said. “The plan is for Iván Herrera to return behind the plate next year, though not in a full capacity. He could split time with rookie catcher Jimmy Crooks, with Leonardo Bernal, who won a minor-league Gold Glove for Double-A Springfield, likely to make the jump to Triple A. That leaves Pedro Pagés as the odd man out and another potential trade candidate.”

Pagés stepped up in 2025 when St. Louis needed him. The Cardinals have a surplus right now at catcher, but that wasn’t the case early in 2025. Iván Herrera was going to be the guy, but he got hurt and couldn’t catch for most of the season. Yohel Pozo got an opportunity, but Pagés became the guy for a while there.

In his second season in the big leagues, Pagés slashed .230/.272/.363 with 11 homers and 45 RBIs in 112 games played. Down the stretch, the Cardinals worked Pagés, Pozo, and No. 6 prospect Jimmy Crooks into the equation. Now, with Herrera expected to get back behind the plate in 2026, there just isn’t a lot of space to go around.

Pagés is someone who is 27 years old and showed over the last two seasons that he can be a capable catcher for a team. He’s most likely a No. 2 catcher for a team at this point, but would be a very good one at that.

If the Cardinals cut ties with him, it would open the door wide for Crooks to have a significant role in 2026. That’s important in itself, because the Cardinals need to see if he’s a long-term answer or if someone like Bernal down in the minors is someone to build the position around along with Herrera.