3 players the Blue Jays should pick up immediately as Cardinals fire sale continues

The St. Lous Cardinals continue to dismantle their team. Sure it might feel like a necessary move considering the Cardinals have missed the playoffs the last three years and their best finish in that span was an 83-79 record, ten games back in the NL Central Division and six games out of a Wild Card spot.

Already this offseason the Cardinals have moved Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras and their latest move was a shocking trade of 35-year-old third baseman Nolan Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arenado, a potential future Hall of Famer, has long been rumored to be on the trade block. But the shock comes with the fact that the Cardinals are eating $31 million and the Diamondbacks only owe Arenado $5.5 million AAV over the next two years.

With Arenado now gone, it feels like everyone else is up for grabs in a Cardinals uniform and there are a couple of players the Blue Jays should try and pick up before the Cardinals decide the fire sale is over.

3 players the Blue Jays should pick up immediately as Cardinals fire sale continues

JoJo Romero

Romero has developed into a very reliable back end of the bullpen option in St. Louis. The 29-year-old left-hander could fill a couple of roles with the Blue Jays in 2026. Toronto is looking for another high leverage arm, and someone who can throw from the left side. In 2025, Romero gave up just one home run in a high leverage situation and held opponents to a .155/.280/.196 slash line. He also had really good splits with a .642 OPS against with right handed batters and a .533 OPS against with lefties.

The issue with Romero lies in his walk rate, he gave up 4.3 walks per nine innings, but also managed to limit the damage with a 2.07 ERA in 61 innings pitched.

Alec Burleson

If the Blue Jays can't land the big outfield bat they want in Kyle Tucker, perhaps Burleson is a more than adequate alternative. The left handed hitting 26-year-old is coming off two very good seasons in which he's hit a combined .279/.323/.439 with 39 home runs and 291 hits in 291 games. He's been worth 3.0 bWAR, while playing 65 games at first base, 149 games in the outfield, and 82 at DH.

He's shown that he can be incredibly versatile, while also producing at the plate. Look, he's not an elite five-tool player like Tucker, but he does cross off a few things the Blue Jays are looking for. A left handed bat. A guy who can play the outfield, and bonus points that he can be a backup to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first. He's also not going to be a free agent until 2029, so it supplements the Blue Jays if they were to lose Daulton Varsho and George Springer after the 2026 season.

Brendan Donovan

You can take a lot of what was said about Burleson and apply it to Donovan. The main difference between the two is that when Donovan isn't playing in the outfield, he's stationed at second base. Yes, the Blue Jays now seemingly have a log jam in the infield after the signing of Kazuma Okamoto - but there's been varying reports on how tied the Blue Jays are to him being the every day third baseman.

As the offseason moves along it feels more and more like the Blue Jays are open to having a fluid situation to who plays were, and are valuing the versatility that guys like Okamoto, Addison Barger and Ernie Clement can give them. Donovan would fit in with that group and almost be a left handed version of Clement. He hit .315/.383/.471 with an .853 OPS and eight of his ten home runs came against right handers.

He's also under contract until after the 2028 season. The former Gold Glover would be another, cheaper alternative to the free agents Tucker and Bo Bichette. And while he wouldn't be considered a "super star" addition, he would raise the Blue Jays competitive floor a few more feet in the right direction.