Cardinals announce Willson Contreras roster move ahead of Reds series finale

Matt Sullivan

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Cardinals announce Willson Contreras roster move ahead of Reds series finale image

The St. Louis Cardinals are heading into the final weeks of the 2025 MLB season, a year marred by questions and uncertainty. Heading into the offseason, Chaim Bloom, taking over for John Mozeliak, will have plenty of decisions to make regarding player personnel.

One of the players he'll have to decide on is first baseman Willson Contreras. While he has a no-trade clause, the Cardinals might look to move on from the veteran to bolster other areas of their roster or introduce a new first baseman.

For now, however, the Cardinals did announce a Contreras roster move ahead of the series finale against the Cincinnati Reds. It'll not affect him in the offseason, but it does potentially put his 2025 season to a close.

Cardinals announce Willson Contreras roster move

The Cardinals announced that they have placed first baseman Willson Contreras on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 16th, and have recalled infielder Jose Fermin to take his spot on the 28-man roster.

Contreras has a right shoulder strain and is hitting the injured list in mid-September. With just 10 games to go, this move is effectively ending the veteran's season.

If his year is over, Contreras will have finished his 2025 season with 135 games played with a .257 batting average, a .344 on-base percentage, a .447 slugging percentage, and a .791 OPS, the lowest it's been since coming to St. Louis.

He also has had 70 runs scored, 126 hits, 31 doubles, one triple,20 home runs, 80 RBIs, five stolen bases, 44 walks, and 142 strikeouts on the year. It's a career high in strikeouts, RBIs, doubles, hits, and runs scored for Contreras.

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He had been a catcher for the majority of his career, but this season, he was the Cardinals' full-time first baseman, and he thrived in that role. While the team isn't in a position to make the postseason, they saw strong production from Contreras at first base.

At 33 years old, Contreras is heading into the third year of his $87.5 million deal. He'll be a free agent after the 2027 MLB season, though the Cardinals do have a club option for the 2028 season.

He could play out the remainder of his deal in St. Louis, especially with a no-trade clause. But the Cardinals might also be able to convince him to accept a trade, especially if his playing time were to diminish as Bloom resets the roster.

The Cardinals are playing spoiler down the stretch of the 2025 season. But, they'll have to do so without Contreras, as he's hitting the injured list and is likely out for the remainder of the 2025 regular season.

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Matt Sullivan

Matt Sullivan is a freelance writer for The Sporting News, predominantly covering MLB. Matt is a native of Pennsylvania and has worked with Athlon Sports, Last Word on Sports, and other outlets.