While there's nothing that says movement can't happen over the Christmas holiday, the baseball world is likely to go on hold for the next two days as players, agents and executives spend time with family and friends.

Most St. Louis Cardinals fans are hoping that Santa Claus will bring meaningful additions to the Cardinals roster for the rest of the offseason, but the reality is that the team is likely to continue subtracting from the roster. After already dealing Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras, it's expected that the Cardinals will trade Brendan Donovan and JoJo Romero, and they still could trade Lars Nootbaar.

As a result of that dynamic, Cardinals fans would be best-served if Santa brought them one specific thing this holiday season: Patience.

Ugh, really?

It's not the most fun gift of a holiday season, we admit it, but it's necessary. 

Consider this: Chaim Bloom took over the Red Sox before the 2020 season and was fired at the conclusion of 2023.

In that time? He found gem Garrett Whitlock in the Rule-5 Draft and drafted Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell, who all became Top-10 prospects. Two of those three have already earned long-term extensions. He also drafted Kyle Teel, who became a big part of the package that eventually landed the Red Sox Garrett Crochet.

He also found Hunter Renfroe, who hit 30 home runs and helped the 2021 Red Sox to the American League Championship Series. He signed Trevor Story, who just helped lead the Red Sox to the playoffs in 2025. He held on to key prospects like Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela, who are now integral parts of the roster. He traded for Wilyer Abreu, who is a two-time Gold Glover now.

MORE CARDINALS STORIES:

Recently-Traded St. Louis Cardinals Veteran Bids Farewell

Get to know the three players acquired for Willson Contreras

Cardinals missed golden opportunity with Murakami

If you look at the Red Sox, who are one of the more exciting teams in baseball heading into 2026, Bloom's fingerprints are all over them. The organization and fanbase just didn't have the patience necessary to see it through with him at the helm.

That's why Santa needs to bring the quality to the Midwest. There's evidence that Bloom can do this, but he'll need time and belief.

After learning from his prior mistakes, and without a global pandemic to deal with this time around, there's reason to believe he can do it faster in St. Louis than he did in Boston.

He just needs to be given the opportunity.

And on another point...

Patience would do wonders for Cardinals fans when it comes to the expectations of top prospects like JJ Wetherholt and Liam Doyle. Understand that the team is not going to compete this season at the big-league level and let these players develop at the appropriate pace. When they're ready, they'll be up, but don't rush the process.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION:

Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!