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Regarding the semantics of the word “success”, you first have to define the goal. While you always want to win more than you lose, there is also a viable goal to build winner over a number of years. You realistically know you won’t necessarily win today, but are on a path for future “success”. Just like in life – I tell the kids and grandkids it’s not who or where you are today, it is where you are going. Make sure you do things consistently so that tomorrow will be better than today. Or to put it succinctly, invest in yourself.
To wrap it up, maybe the way we look at this is, “are the Cardinals on a pathway to success?”
As most have said, with detailed analytical breakdowns by player and position, I think we are and as part of a longer term goal I would classify 2026 as “successful.”
Is that what happened Bling? Did we suddenly at this point in the year start saying it is a rebuild year or had that not been clearly stated since last off-season?
BikeMike is right. You don’t just accomplish a goal in one step and there is a journey there. You measure your success for that journey as a test of are you making long term progress that is sustainable.
ATM, I think the question posed was whether this year has been a success. Has year one of the rebuild been a success. That depends upon what the expectations were for the first year, in other words how is success to be defined.
That depends upon what the expectations were for the first year, in other words how is success to be defined.
Yes, but isn’t that exactly my question back to you? Wasn’t it made clear what the goals for this year were last off-season to be a rebuild year as the goal?
Yes, this was to be a rebuild year. That was made clear. I agree. So does that mean whatever happened this year it was a successful season? It could have just been declared a success on opening day? Or is there to be some meaningful measure of whether the first rebuild year was successful, and if so, what is that measure? So if we are going to define what success is for this year, I pointed out the surest way to call it a successful year is to define success to encompass whatever happened.
I don’t understand why progress is only evaluated at the MLB level. When you are on a stated multi-year developmental path, you also have to consider if the upper levels of the minor league system are improving, readying the homegrown players expected to contribute in the future years.
The transition to a homegrown ML roster of young players was completed this year. Our token veteran mercenary was offed at the beginning of August, along with JoJo. A squad of young players had all season to get better. So how did that go?
18-13 March, April
13-13 May
13-12 June
10-18 July
14-14 August
7-9 SeptemberWalker started on fire and trailed off a bit. Pretty much the same with Weatherholt. Herrera never rekindled what he had last season. Victor Scott and Nolan Gorman were terrible. Mostly positive for the others, especially the starters. Also, some of the new guys that came after over half the season was finished look like they could make a positive impact next season. Specifically, those are Gastellum, Mathews, Hjerpe, Josh Baez, and Bernal. Also, Blaze Jordan only got in about half a season and has promise. Saggese looks interesting again as well.
All of that is enough to make me think that they could do almost nothing and run back out there the team that is around right now minus Gorman and be ok. At least ok until reinforcements are ready. They aren’t good enough yet to push in all their chips, but they could make a trade or two from depth or sign a couple solid free agents and at least enter playoff contention.
I would suspect that they don’t pick up Stanek’s option, allow Gorman to walk, and sign a decent reliever plus maybe trade a catcher.
–The surest way to achieve success is to define it so as to encompass what you have done.–
I agree with that Bling.
I did indeed get a good deal of enjoyment out of watching these kids this year and I can envision them getting better next year. So if you want to call a sub-.500 season narrowly avoiding the cellar a “success,” I guess we can be assured that 2027 (if there is a 2027) will also be a success, even if we manage to push the Reds from the bottom. After all, baseball thrives on that famous dictum: “Wait’ll next year.”
As a long time fan, there are two things that stand out to me, and both are astonishing. The first is having the two 100 RBI guys centering a homegrown middle of the lineup. We often had to buy the big bats in the middle, or some of it. The second is being able to field an all home grown rotation. Yeah, just now its leaking oil and belching smoke, but so what, its year one of the rebuild and we can already do that much. I know some like to look at how many Texas League meatballs we’re putting in the parking lot or how many future insurance salesmen we’re striking out. I like to keep my eye on the business end of the pipe.
Interesting article over on CBS Sportshttps://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/nationals-cardinals-speed-up-rebuilds/…
Thanks for the link, and oh boy, a new stat!
” a reliever earns a meltdown when he worsens his team’s odds of winning a given game by 6% or more during a given appearance.”
The Cardinals pen has 106 meltdowns, 2nd most in MLB. Also 30 blown saves, 3rd most.
Chiming in again, I call this season a success. Without getting into the weeds too much but looking at a top level, we are farther along towards a post season caliber team today than we were in February. I think that was the goal coming in, and it was accomplished. This late season dive has tarnished things a bit, but still there is a lot to like and overall we passed the test.
Now for next year, to be successful we need to take the next step. Assuming the 2027 season is played, have a better winning percentage than 2026, and continue to see some organizational players come up to the big league club and have an impact.
I expected nothing this year, so with the retooling I have been pleasantly surprised. It’s just too bad we didn’t end the season well. But I now have higher expectations in the coming years. I could also tie my comments in with the Oli Marmol thread, as I don’t think we are going anywhere as long as he is our manager. I like the additions of Mathews, Baez, Bernal and Hjerpe.
Tickets sold
2022 3,320,551 40,994
2023 3,241,091 40,013
2024 2,878,115 35,532
2025 2,250,007 27,777
2026 2,233,902 27,579I saw a reference to an article somewhere which celebrated the fact that attendance only dropped slightly compared to last year. Can’t remember where and I didn’t go looking for it.
They remained identical to last season insofar as where they placed in home attendance in the NL.
’22…2nd
’23…3rd
’24…6th
’25…11th
’26…11thAfter a rapid and alarming descent that placed the team at tree top level and barely aloft in the NL, at least Willie Jr. can take a bit of solace knowing that ticket sales from the BFIB seem to have trimmed out and stabilized. His team can’t get much lower before it hits the NL deck…I’m guessing that he wouldn’t like that too much.
Next year’s main goals – a third baseman and pitching upgrades in both the rotation and ‘pen. And boosting the win total to at least the mid 80s.
And I guess we should say that the gains accomplished this year do not regress, at least not too far. Some guys might not attain their ‘26 numbers, but just don’t fall way off. Chances are some guys may not be quite as good but others will hopefully advance and offset them.
I don’t know if I would call it a slam dunk success. Progression has been maybe in the minors and with skme of the roster at the majors level. More work is to be done.
We will see on the pitching side how it shapes up. Far as position players we seem to have aome guys and some on the way. They positions that concern me the most are 5 and 6. Winn is an absolute whiz with the glove and he has the howitzer. The concern is if this is the bat then it is imperative that we either develop a guy at the hot corner or buy one and I don’t think ownership wants to go down that road of buying one yet.
Cardinals27
Third base
Gorman F, he has regressed so much that I don’t think he has a future with us.Left field
Baez, incomplete, he has to make more contact. He proved he can do this in his breakout 2025 season I just hope he can improve and not be another Gorman.I can’t help but wonder what our team would have looked like with Arenado, Gray, and Contreras still on the team.
If Burleson moved to LF, and Arenado was at 3B with his 28 HRs, we would have had a couple massive holes that we don’t have to fill. With both being under contract anyway, the two Baez’s could slide into those spots gracefully over 27/28.
Gray would have provided an obvious help.
What would we have lost? Fitts, Clarke, Dobbins, and Fajardo….and $38M that went straight into the owners pockets.
(And yes, I know that these players likely don’t have the same numbers in STL, but it’s all we have)
I view 2026 as a success because while the payroll cratered the W-L record did not and we rebuilt the farm.
Now despite all of the upcoming excuses regarding the CBA and players still needing more runway, etc.. blah blah blah, the team needs to make improvements for 2027. Does that mean going on a wild spending spree? Of course not but we need to strive for an 85 win team next year, whatever that entails.
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