It is not ridiculous to say that the last two Saint Louis Cardinals seasons have been horrible. They have missed the playoffs in consecutive years and, in 2023, finished last in their division. While the Cardinals did have a better 2024 season, it was still way short of the fans’ justified expectations for Cardinals Baseball.
The Cardinals should always be a playoff team just like the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. The last two seasons have been quite the fall from grace leaving behind both Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols who retired after the 2022 season. Unfortunately, I don’t see the Cardinals getting back to the level of success they had with Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols, and Adam Wainwright.
They have ushered in a new era that will be focused on player development instead of having high payrolls. This new era will be led by Chaim Bloom who was hired as the next President of Baseball Operations starting after the 2025 season. Bloom has deep experience in rebuilding teams such as the Tampa Bay Rays who were notorious for succeeding with low payrolls.
Needless to say, Cardinals fans should be optimistic for the coming years but still expect a disappointing 2025 season.
As the 2024 season came to a close on October 30th, the offseason began. The Cardinals have a lot of work to do to cut their payroll. They have already started by letting four players on $10 million contract options leave (Lynn, Gibson, Goldschmidt and Middleton). But, there is still more work to be done and I am going to list five potential moves that I think the Cardinals should do here:
- Designate Miles Mikolas for Assignment and Trade Him.
Miles Mikolas is frankly a waste of money and space. He produced some of the worst stats last year for a starting pitcher all while being paid 18 million dollars. A better use of space would be calling up a young pitcher like Quinn Mathews who just won Minor League Pitcher of the Year in his first professional season. Let the young dog eat next year. Possibility: 80% chance to DFA, 10% they find a trade for him.
2. Trade Nolan Arenado to a contending team for 2-3 prospects.
The time we had with both Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado was quite disappointing. In 2022, arguably our best chance at making a run was cut short due to both Goldschmidt and Arenado’s slumps. The last two years also provide case for disappointment. While we begin what the team calls “full reset” it is only right for Arenado to be moved to a contending team like the Dodgers. Because of his lackluster performance last season I don’t see the Cardinals getting much for him, but a couple prospects from a contending team would likely seal a deal. Possibility: 65%
3. Trade Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray for MLB-ready position players.
Contreras and Gray were, without question, the best players on the Cardinals last season. That is why I believe the Cardinals can get some exponential value out of both players. They both have expensive contracts so it would only make sense for them to trade both. Ideally a young first baseman or outfielder and a young pitcher plus some prospects would be nice in exchange for both. Possibility: 75%
4. Do NOT sign a 35+ year old player to a major league contract, UNLESS it is a relief pitcher.
The experiment that we tried last year did not work well at all. Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson did not help the rotation as much as any other pitcher that the Cardinals could have picked up last offseason. Not that I expect the Cardinals to do this since they are cutting payroll, but I would not be surprised if they did make a move for an aging player that has no room on the roster. Possibility: 60%
Longshot Move: Sign Roki Sasaki to a long deal.
Roki Sasaki was just posted by his NPB (Japan’s Baseball League) and it would be crazy for the Cardinals to not at least look at him. He is only twenty-three years old so it would fit into the Cardinals plans of focusing on developing young talent. Only problem: Roki Sasaki probably does not want to come here. My guess is he will likely sign with either the Dodgers or Padres. Possibility: 15%
