St. Louis

Cardinals

The Cardinals claimed Kent off waivers from the Guardians on December 5th, but will now have to waive him to make room for another former Guardians reliever, Justin Bruihl, who they traded for on Tuesday. Kent had a 2.84 ERA in Triple-A in 2025 and should find a home somewhere.

The Guardians acquired Bruihl from the Blue Jays on December 17th and then designated him for assignment three days later. The left-hander has a 4.72 ERA in 89 2/3 major league innings.

Burleson figures to move to the cold corner full-time next season after the Cardinals shipped Willson Contreras to the Red Sox earlier this week. The 27-year-old hit .279/.328/.439 with 39 homers, 147 RBI and 14 steals in 291 games over the past two seasons. He’s a decent bet to reach the 20-homer plateau with double-digit steals and a respectable batting average. That makes him a borderline mixed-league starter at first base, especially in deeper formats, heading into drafts next spring.

The two teams — Chaim Bloom’s former club and his current club — have already swung a decade’s worth of deals in the last five months, with the Red Sox acquiring Steven Matz at the deadline and Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras in separate trades in the offseason. The Athletic recently placed the Giants and Mariners as the frontrunners for Donovan. The Red Sox and Rays are among the teams that have also sought Ketel Marte for second base, but while Marte is the better player, Donovan has a more varied market because of his ability to play several spots. The Red Sox would probably put Donovan at second, but having him at third and Marcelo Mayer at second might make more sense for them.

Jordan Walker seemed like the biggest beneficiary of last night’s trade, and it still might work out that way, but it could hinge on whether this right-handed bat is someone who would start or someone who would fill in for Lars Nootbaar and/or Victor Scott II against lefties. Austin Hays and Chas McCormick are a couple of guys who could be in the Cardinals’ price range. Tommy Pham, too, but his second stint in the organization didn’t go so well.

The Cardinals are sending along $8 million. Since he received a $1 million bonus to waive his no-trade clause, Contreras is due to earn $42.5 million for two years or, if his 2028 club option is exercised, $55 million for three. After missing out on Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso, getting Contreras could be seen as a letdown for the Red Sox, but this is a truly excellent hitter who still might yet have a career year in him after being freed from catching duties. His OPS+s the last four years have ranged from 123 to 138, and he was still showing 95th-percentile bat speed at age 33 last season. This is also a nice little ballpark upgrade for him, adding to his fantasy value. He’ll probably be Boston’s first baseman on Opening Day, though he could do more DHing if the Red Sox trade an outfielder and Triston Casas proves more worthy of playing time than Masataka Yoshida.

As a 25-year-old rookie, Dobbins had a solid 4.13 ERA in 11 starts and two relief appearances for the Red Sox before tearing his ACL while going to cover first base in July. If he’s not ready for the start of 2026, he shouldn’t be far behind, and he’ll definitely get a look in the rotation at some point. While his ceiling seems limited, Dobbins has the varied arsenal, above average command and solid groundball rate of a No. 4 starter. Contreras’s exit leaves a big hole in the St. Louis lineup, but the Cardinals are rebuilding anyway and now there’s another 600 plate appearances freed up for Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman and Thomas Saggese. Or maybe they’ll want to give Iván Herrera a look at first, which would open the door for catcher Jimmy Crooks to play a significant role.

It’s already the second trade of the career of the young Fajardo, who just turned 19 in October. Oddly enough, the Red Sox picked him up from the White Sox for Cam Booser a year ago today. He had a 2.25 ERA and an 83/27 K/BB in 72 innings as a starter between Rookie and Low-A ball last season. MLB Pipeline had him as Boston’s No. 23 prospect, while SoxProspects.com placed him eighth in the system.

Aita, a 22-year-old righty, had a 3.98 ERA and a 99/30 K/BB in 115 1/3 innings between Low-A and High-A in 2025. MLB Pipeline did not include him in their most recent update of Boston’s top 30 prospects.

The former Braves prospect moved to the bullpen midway through the 2024 season and has pitched there for the last two years with the White Sox and Athletics. The results have not been great with Shuster combining for a 6.94 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, and 28/14 K/BB ratio in 35 innings at Triple-A last year.