Greetings. Welcome to The Bits. I’m happy. And I hope you are too. Lots of good stuff to write and talk about…
STILL WAITING FOR A BRENDAN DONOVAN TRADE
Chaim Bloom is working on it. I’m not taking a shot, or anything, but I think Brian Wilson took less time to compose and arrange the iconic “Pet Sounds,” album back in the day. This is like waiting for Kate Bush, Dr. Dre, The Pixies, or Portishead to drop some new music after an extensive gap in the catalogue. Steely Dan once needed 20 years in between albums. I waited a long time for Chuck Berry to release his rumored and much awaited final album in 2017. (RIP.) I wanted Kendrick Lamar to get after it with “GNX” a follow-up to his breakthrough “Damn,” and seven years later it arrived. It was worth it.
I’m not saying Chaim is being a slow poke or anything, but why is this turning into a Guns N’ Roses hiatus? Their fifth album was “The Spaghetti Incident” in 1993. Their next piece of vinyl came 15 years later, with “Chinese Democracy,” and it wasn’t worth it.
Here’s Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic:
“Why have the Cardinals not yet traded Donovan, the player who can bring them the most in a deal? It comes down to a difference in perceived value. The Cardinals view Donovan as a star player while not all clubs see him that way, according to people briefed on the conversations.
“Donovan, who turns 29 this month, offers many appealing qualities, from his swing decisions to his bat-to-ball skills, his defensive versatility to his makeup. But his career-best fWAR, achieved in 2024, was 3.2. Hoerner was at 4.8 last season, Marte at 4.6 – the latter in only 126 games.
“Donovan also is under club control for only two more seasons, the second of which is threatened by a lockout. The Kansas City Royals remain among the teams interested, but if the Cardinals prefer premium young bats, the Seattle Mariners are perhaps the best fit.”
Bernie’s Take: So in other words, Chaim Bloom is acting like a Cardinal fan … which means he’s overrating Donovan, trying to market the Donny as an essential franchise-piece player … all because the Cardinals have no stars, and in the void their good players are viewed as great players. Donny is really good, much love and respect to him and all of that … but he’s a complementary ballplayer. Which doesn’t make him just a guy. He definitely has value, but how much? There seems to be a difference in opinion (so far) between Bloom and potential trade partners. So when Bloom makes his pitch to, say, Seattle – unfortunately the Mariners aren’t being run by Cardinals fans who would give up Bryan Woo and Julio Rodriguez for Donovan.
Maybe Chaim is overreaching. Hah. Chaim is just working it … playing one team against another … and trying to maximize the return on Donovan. Which is what he should be doing.
NOLAN ARENADO A NO GO?
About that speculated Arenado-to-Anaheim trade. Here’s longtime baseball insider Jon Heyman. “My understanding is he does not want to go there, that’s number one. And number two, they don’t want to pay. So not gonna happen, I don’t believe.”
Bernie’s Take: Yes, Arenado can veto any trade. That’s his contractual right. I respect that. But I hope his agent will let him know that the Dodgers aren’t interested, and other contenders are waiting to make a play on a more viable and productive hitter who can play a sold third base. Does ‘Nado want to play for a rebuilding Cardinals team over the next two seasons? Well … if Arenado believes he’ll be in charge of his own playing time, and will write himself into the lineup, knowing the manager will stand down …yeah, ‘Nado could probably live with that. In addition to his trade–veto power, Arenado may have lineup-veto authority in his contract.
AN APPRECIATION OF BLOOM’S DIPLOMACY
The Cardinals had seven arbitration-eligible players. All seven agreed to accept the Cardinals offer. This is new. This is unusual. I thought a president of baseball operations was supposed to declare war on the arbitration-eligibles, and take them into an arbitration-hearing pit, and tell them face to face why they suck and aren’t worth the money they’re asking for, and point out all of their flaws, try like hell to make them feel bad about themselves – to the point where they can’t wait to get away from the Cardinals. Why build morale and loyalty when it’s a lot more fun to insult the players to save a relatively small amount of money just to “win” the hearing? And yet, Mozeliak had no problem dishing five-year contracts to Dexter Fowler and Mike Leake for a total investment of $162.5 million.
Mozeliak once told Donovan that he’d have more value to the team as a utility player. But then, in the arbitration tussle, the POBO said utility players aren’t as valuable as Donovan presumed.
So I sincerely appreciated the way Bloom handled this. One of things the Cardinals must do is make their own players feel wanted and appreciated instead of denigrating them for no good reason. Bloom did the right – and smart thing – by quickly settling on one-year salaries for Donovan, Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar, Nolan Gorman, JoJo Romero, Matthew Liberatore and Andre Pallante.
IS THERE A RABIES VACCINE IN THE BLUES TRAINING ROOM?
I ask because I’m concerned about Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington … who is having a Jordan Walker season. I was relieved to learn that Binnington stayed on the ice after coach Jim Montgomery tried to pull him from the goal after Chicago peppered Binnington for seven goals on 35 shots in a diabolical 7-3 win over the Moody Blues. At first, it appeared that Binnington had refused to vacate the ice. That wasn’t the case. The other goalie, Joel Hofer, was in the locker room at the time. And Monty said Hofer was only half dressed and not ready to enter the game with 7 minutes left in the third period.
“Joel Hofer wasn’t ready, and it kind of symbolizes last night’s play,” Montgomery told the media. “Our special teams weren’t ready. Joel Hofer wasn’t ready.”
Monty confirmed that the Blues did in fact have have two goalies … and neither one of them were ready to play against the Blackhawks.
Bernie’s Take: So cancel the rabies shot. Binnington didn’t do anything wrong – well, except for the part where he yielded seven goals, on home ice, to the Blues’ despised arch rival in an evening filled with humiliation and degradation. Other than that, all good! But there will be another Binner blowup sooner than later. If we go by statistics, he’s the worst goaltender in the NHL these days – and Binnington is having one of the poorest seasons by a Blues goaltender in franchise history.
LET’S LOOK AT THE BINNINGTON STATS
— Among the 30 NHL goalies that have played at least 1,200 minutes this season, Binnington ranks 30th in save percentage (.871), goals-against average (3.55), and high-danger save percentage (.753). His goals saved above average metric (GSAA) is also the worst in the league.
— Per Hockey Reference, Binnington has only eight quality starts in his 24 starts, and that quality-start percentage (.333) is the worst in the league among goaltenders that have started 20+ games.
— Also per Hockey Reference, Binnington has been charged with 11 “really bad” starts. And that’s what they’re called … really bad starts. So his really-bad starts percentage (.458) is the poorest in the NHL. In Binnington’s other five starts, he graded out as averaged.
I’m sorry to bomb you with stats, but I wanted to put Binnington’s season performance in perspective. Because the numbers tell us a story … and it’s a sad story.
Binnington has been with the Blues for the last eight seasons, starting with his callup that gave him an opportunity that led to the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Binnington was amazing. He was a hero of hockey. It was an extraordinary – and unexpected performance. In that 2018-2019 season Binnington was Kurt Warner in 1999, and David Freese in the 2011 MLB postseason. That, however, was a long time ago.
Here is where Binnington’s current in-season performance fits among his last eight seasons with the Blues.
Goals-against average: 8th. Last. Before now, Binnington’s worst GAA was 3.31 in 2022-2023. His best GAA was 1.89 in the Cup-winning season.
Goals saved above average: 7th. Binnington’s current GSAA rate is minus 17.3 goals. (Meaning that opponents scored 17 more goals on Binnington than they should have.) In 2022-23 he was 19.2 goals allowed below average.
Save percentage: 8th. During this eight-season run, Binnington had a save rate under .900 only one time. That was .894 in that lousy 2022-23 season.
Quality-start percentage: 8th at .333. Over his previous seven seasons, Binnington’s average quality-start rate was a strong .542,
Really bad start percentage: 8th at .458, and no other Binner season has come close to being that gruesome. Here’s a peek at Binnington’s really bad start percentage in each of his last eight seasons.
2019: 3.3 percent
2020: 10%
2021: 12.1%
2022: 19%
2023: 21.6%
2024: 12.7%
2025: 22.2%
2026: 45.8%
Bernie’s Take: Wow. This borders on disbelief.
MEANWHILE, DOWN ON THE FARM
— MLB Pipeline put the Cards’ fast rising outfielder Joshua Baez on its list of the six players that could make the biggest leap onto the Top 100 prospects honor for 2026.
Here’s Jim Callis: “Baez featured some of the best raw power in the 2021 high school class, which earned him an over-slot $2.25 million bonus as a second-rounder. After a left wrist injury derailed him in his first full pro season and swing-and-miss issues plagued him in his next two, he adopted a more upright stance and tighter right-handed swing in 2025 and batted .287/.384/.500 with 20 homers and 54 steals in 117 games between High-A and Double-A. The pop is real, he's showing the ability to tap into it and his plus arm strength adds to his right-field profile.”
— Our friends at Baseball America put up a new list this week: “One Breakout Pitching Prospect For Every Team Hiding Behind Ordinary Stat Lines.”
The Cardinals’ selection was 23-year old righthander Skylar Hales, who came over to St. Louis last summer in the deal that sent reliever Phil Maton to the Rangers. Skylar had a 6.79 ERA last season … so what’s the big deal?
Here’s the BA explanation: “Even though Hales’ surface numbers didn’t stand out, his underlying data illustrates a promising fastball/slider combination. Hales combines above-average extension and a low release height in his delivery. His fastball averaged 95.8 mph in 2025 and topped out at 99. It plays when he gets it elevated above the zone, and the pitch had an above-average whiff rate of 30% and chase rate of 31%.”
Baseball America also noted the pitcher’s lack of command which causes him to leave too many pitches over the middle of the plate. And the prospect-tracking site praised Hales for his slider and said he profiles as a reliever. The Cardinals new pitching-development department – which is superb – should be able to help Hales’ and many other pitching prospects in the organization.
— One other note from BA: five of the pitching prospects acquired by the (Bloom) team in trades since the 2025 deadline have made it to Baseball America’s updated Top 30 prospects list:
* Brandon Clarke (from Boston) at No. 6
*Yhoiker Fajardo (Boston) at No. 11
* Frank Elissalt (Mets) at No. 24
* Nate Dohm (Mets) at No. 25
* Blake Aita (Boston) at No. 30
Another prospect acquired from the Mets in the trade for Ryan Helsley – left-side infielder Jesus Baez – is 16th on STL’s revised top 30 prospects listing by BA.
I’m out of words …
Pardon my typos …
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach.
Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.