Thomas Gauvain Scott Plaza interview on Cardinals 2027 rebuild

The Thomas Gauvain Scott Plaza interview centered on a demand for one substantial St. Louis Cardinals move that would help beyond 2027. Gauvain expects the club to rely on internal options rather than sign Alec Bohm at third base, supports moving Matthew Liberatore to the bullpen and wants Chaim Bloom to strengthen the rotation or center field instead of treating 2027 like another holding year.

What did Thomas Gauvain say about Alec Bohm and Cardinals third base?

Thomas Gauvain expects the Cardinals to start with their existing third-base options, particularly Blaze Jordan, Thomas Saggese and Nolan Gorman. He would welcome a serious attempt to sign Teruaki Sato, but he does not think Alec Bohm or J.P. Crawford would do enough for the major league team or its development plans to justify the move.

Internal options and Teruaki Sato

Gauvain said Jordan offers a right-handed option, while Gorman can play from the left side. He acknowledged that another look at Gorman would not excite every fan, but pointed to the possibility of improvement through Gorman’s offseason work with Driveline Baseball. He compared that hope with the improvements he saw from Jordan Walker.

Sato is the outside option that interests him most. Gauvain doubts a deal will happen because he expects bigger-spending clubs to compete for Sato and specifically mentioned the New York Yankees as a possible destination. He also wants the Cardinals to avoid blocking Jesús Báez if the prospect continues to progress; Gauvain suggested Báez could arrive around August or September of the following year, while stressing that prospect development is not guaranteed.

The Junior Caminero trade idea

For a much bigger swing, Gauvain would love Junior Caminero, although he said Caminero was not on the trade market and considered a deal unlikely. He generally prefers acquiring proven stars to holding every prospect, but expects the Cardinals to reserve a major prospect package for a starting pitcher or a cornerstone center fielder rather than a third baseman.

Why does Thomas Gauvain want the Cardinals’ 2027 rebuild to advance?

Thomas Gauvain wants the Cardinals to begin adding established talent around their young players instead of treating 2027 as a repeat of 2026. He trusts the direction Bloom has set, but wants trades or free-agent signings that improve the major league club now while its farm system and player development continue to produce prospects.

Gauvain sees the rebuild as further along than its official timeline might suggest. In his view, the process began when Bloom arrived, brought in his people and the club started exchanging proven major leaguers for prospects. That is why he wants to see a step forward rather than wait for an abrupt change in 2028.

Prospects excite him, but he distinguished their potential from contributions already made to the major league team. He said the Cardinals can keep developing players while using some of that prospect depth in trades and entering the free-agent market. His concern is not that Bloom lacks a plan; it is that the next stage of that plan may come too slowly.

How would Thomas Gauvain improve the Cardinals’ bullpen?

Thomas Gauvain would like the Cardinals to pay for a better reliever rather than repeat the same bullpen construction. He sees young starting-pitching prospects as possible sources of relief innings, but said the club should also consider spending more than it did on Ryan Stanek for a pitcher with better stuff.

Liam Doyle could get his feet wet in a seventh-inning role, Gauvain suggested, while Tanner Franklin could receive some relief innings. He did not present that as a complete solution. His preferred approach is incremental: spend more money for a better player and give the bullpen a stronger chance over a full season.

Among left-handed options, he named Sean Newcomb, Gregory Soto and Alex Vesia, whom he said he had liked for a couple of years. Gauvain acknowledged that relievers with harder fastballs may also be wilder. For him, that is a risk worth examining if it brings the kind of velocity the Cardinals are seeking. He did not argue that the club must spend its bullpen money on a closer specifically.

Would Thomas Gauvain move Matthew Liberatore or trade Andre Pallante?

Thomas Gauvain supports moving Matthew Liberatore to the bullpen, where he believes shorter outings could let the left-hander throw harder and improve his stuff. He would consider trading Andre Pallante only in the context of other rotation moves: if the Cardinals first add a starter, a Pallante deal becomes easier to entertain.

Matthew Liberatore in relief

Gauvain pointed to Liberatore’s strikeout ability in the starting rotation and expects a relief assignment to provide a further boost. He also thinks the move could give the Cardinals a more dependable bullpen option while creating room to strengthen the rotation. His support for the change is part of a broader pitching plan, not a call to leave a rotation spot unfilled.

Andre Pallante and Steven Kwan

If Pallante is moved, Gauvain is interested in a trade that addresses center field. He raised Steven Kwan as a player with the top-of-the-lineup profile the Cardinals could use, while acknowledging that Kwan is not an elite center-field defender. Gauvain also said a deal would depend on the money lining up and floated the possibility of a prospect coming back from Cleveland. He offered Kwan as an idea, not as a trade he knew was being discussed.

Which starting pitchers does Thomas Gauvain want the Cardinals to pursue?

Thomas Gauvain’s ambitious rotation target is Michael King on a multiyear contract. He sees King as a steady pitcher who could remain in place while younger arms arrive. Gauvain also identified Hiromi Ito, Shane Bieber and several mid-tier possibilities, but viewed a King signing as the clearest sign of a longer-term commitment.

Gauvain said a three- or four-year King deal would tell him the Cardinals expect progress in 2027 and have a fuller push in mind for 2028. He also expressed interest in Ito from Japan and said Bieber had seemed like a potential Cardinals fit for several years.

His wider list included Kris Bubic, Dustin May, Tyler Mahle, Zac Gallen and Casey Mize. He described that group as the sort of market in which a club might sign a pitcher hoping for a strong season, then decide whether to retain or trade him. Gauvain separately raised Adrián Morejón because of the possibility of using him as either a reliever or a starter; to Gauvain, that would show flexibility in the Cardinals’ pitching approach.

What did Thomas Gauvain say about Joel McKeithan and the hitting coach change?

Thomas Gauvain does not expect a dramatic change in the Cardinals’ offense solely because Joel McKeithan replaces Brant Brown as hitting coach. He values McKeithan’s Driveline Baseball background and believes a different voice could help young hitters, but does not put too much weight on a coach as the explanation for a player’s results.

Gauvain said McKeithan’s experience could help him balance data analysis with a more traditional approach. He recalled similar discussion around Brown when the Cardinals hired him, which is one reason he is cautious about predicting a major shift from the change alone.

For developing players, Gauvain sees value in hearing another perspective. He stopped short of promising that a new coach would produce leaps like those discussed with Jordan Walker. His assessment was that McKeithan may help players see something they had not considered without becoming the single reason they improve or regress.

What did Thomas Gauvain say about Randy Flores, Rob Cerfolio and Bloom’s next move?

Thomas Gauvain is happy Randy Flores received a general manager opportunity with the Houston Astros, although he considers Flores’s familiarity and track record a loss for St. Louis. He expects Rob Cerfolio to be capable in the Cardinals’ GM role and sees alignment with Bloom, but still wants their front office to make one lasting addition.

Randy Flores’s move to Houston

Gauvain praised Flores’s work in St. Louis and said he had earned the Houston job. He also wondered whether the move could have further effects, including other people joining Flores there or future trade opportunities between the clubs. Those were possibilities he raised, not developments he said had happened.

Rob Cerfolio and the offseason test

Cerfolio has been visible and approachable in interviews and on social media, Gauvain said. He believes Cerfolio and Bloom share a vision, while agreeing that senior decision-makers still need to challenge one another and consider different perspectives.

At the end of our conversation, Gauvain reduced his offseason wish list to one move that lasts. As he put it:

I just want one big-ish move to say this is the beginning of something in 2027

That could mean a pitcher signed for several years or a trade for someone who fills a cornerstone need in center field or the rotation. The point, for Gauvain, is to add a player who can help for more than one season and show that the Cardinals are beginning to move forward.