John Denton of MLB.com said recently that fan-favorite players may be traded away this offseason.

Well, folks, be prepared for a difficult offseason.

While the St. Louis Cardinals‘ front office and ownership have been hinting at trading away veterans to lean more youthful and inexpensive, specific names and players haven’t been listed. Fans have largely been able to speculate, some more hesitantly than others, who will stay and who will go.

Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Erick Fedde, and Ryan Helsley would be the most talented veterans to be traded. Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz would be the other side of this (apparently very expensive) coin. Several of those players would net a strong return of prospects from a variety of teams while also seeing their contracts go elsewhere. Moving others may not be worth the effort.

John Denton of MLB.com recently appeared on The Opening Drive for 101 ESPN. The bulk of the conversation with Randy, Brooke, and Dan revolved around the front office shake-up. He also braced fans for potentially franchise-altering trades this offseason.

There’s a lot up in the air still with the revenue streams…We all know that there are going to be certain guys that are not going to be back here. When Ryan Helsley is not back here next season, it’s going to be incredibly painful…I don’t believe Nolan Arenado wants to go through a rebuild…A lot of those guys aren’t going to be back here. It wouldn’t shock me if the payroll is maybe cut by a third…They’re going to get rid of these high-priced guys…Fans need to get ready for it now.

Yikes.