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Just because there is a work stoppage next December doesn’t mean opening day in 2027 will be in jeapordy. My guess is that these guys will talk tough for a couple of months before coming to an agreement. The owners seem adamant about wanting a salary cap but the funny thing is that they already have something very similar to one. They should just work on tightening up the CBT.
This ESPN article does a good job of laying out the issues. They are not particularly optimistic.
My personal approach is to expect the worst and hope for the best.
Many of these guys they’d want to have playing at Triple-A. So it would still hurt.
Yea that’s no good.
I hate to see a work stoppage because the owners always lose, and prices for fans always keep rising. The players have nothing to lose by not playing, whereas the Cardinals, for example, have at least 401 staff, by mudville’s count, who are not on strike and have to be paid unless ownership is willing to dismantle the whole organization. Yes. There is always the possibility of something different this time. But the history of these negotiations says otherwise.
As I recall the great MLB lockout of 2021 did not lead to any missed regular season games. It was resolved in early March. It wouldn’t surprise me to see this one being similar but you never know I suppose.
I want to add that what typically happens is the lower revenue owners start bellyaching about how they can’t afford being on strike so long, and the highest revenue owners say ‘We don’t care about the cost of what the players want. Let’s play ball.’ So In the end, the players get what they want. And the strike/lockout comes to an end. There’s little reason to think that history won’t repeat itself this time. Meanwhile the fans keep paying and paying.
Yes. There have been times when the owners see the writing on the wall and settle before the pain starts to set in.
Long post but very interesting.
Christmastime seems like the perfect point in the offseason to assess spending. Considering there are still a half-dozen potential nine-figure players in free agency, there should be more spent after Dec. 25 than before (a little over $1.5 billion). Here are three lists that…
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 24, 2025
Here we have a bunch of millionaires who work eight months a year playing a wonderful game struggling against the awful conditions forced upon them and another bunch of millionaires/billionaires busy inventing ways to squeeze even more money out of real working Joes.
Those of us who can remember $1.50 grandstand seats and an affordable beer and a dog can understand the realities of modern life and a bygone age but that don’t mean we have to love it. It’s hard to find anybody to feel sorry for in this situation … except for loyal fans.I just read another ‘patience with Walker’ piece that seem to be en vogue these days.
I don’t mind keeping him —- just in Memphis not in StL.
As far as I recall he has never dominated AAA pitching and has been historically bad at the ML level the last 2 years.
Personally I don’t want to see him polluting RF and the batter’s box in StL.
Surely there is a reasonably priced journeyman outfielder that can hold down RF and provide at least close to average defense and offensive production until Walker develops or doesn’t and the organization moves on??
Even with a rebuild going on I don’t want to see ’24 or ’25 Walker in RF or in the lineup at DH.
I’m pretty sure Walker is going to be in RF again, ZTR. But I feel your pain. To combat my disillusionment with Walker, I remind myself that he’s still only 23 years old and that, when he first came up, he stood in at the plate like he was daring the pitcher to throw to him. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a paper tiger in that regard. Hopefully, he worked and worked to get better this past offseason.
ZTR said:
As far as I recall he has never dominated AAA pitching and has been historically bad at the ML level the last 2 years.
Yes, but the sequence was different. Walker was initially skipped over Triple-A entirely. So by the time he played for Memphis the first time, he had already struggled badly in the majors. Instead of normal development, then the focus in Triple-A was damage repair.
BTW, for anyone pining to see Joshua Baez soon, let this be a lesson.
I would like them to hit the reset button with Walker.
He can’t get any worse so I don’t see the harm in sitting him down, having an adult conversation, and letting him have his AAA year WITH all new shiney minor league development toys and increased coaches / instructors.
If it works then that would be awesome; if it doesn’t then that’s an ‘aww shucks’ moment but I refuse to believe they have to play him in StL in 2026 because they can certainly dumpster dive for a 0.1 WAR veteran to hold the fort for one year.
Some taller players take more time, Walker at 6-6 is only 23 so my guess he will be given a lot of opportunity this year especially as this team will be lucky to win 72 games, it’s not like they have anyone at AAA that is ready to take a corner OF spot.
Both Walker and Gorman need to get back to their 2023 form…this is big year for both of them.
Anyone who has played slow pitch softball in a duffer league has seen those big guys who can hit it a mile, but otherwise have minimal ball playing skills. Walker kind of reminds me of that. I have said before I think when they saw him tie into some Texas League mistakes their eyes rolled back and they forgot about everything else having to do with baseball. Yeah, send him to AAA. Its not going to matter. Mo’s people had some serious talent evaluation issues, when you look at Walker and some of the useful outfielders they got rid of. With anyone having power hitting potential, they seemed to work toward optimizing his ability to crush center cut meatballs, at the expense of all other hitting related aspects necessary to survive when they advance to a level where they don’t see too many center cut meatballs. We have to hope they are doing something else now with the hitting prospects coming up.
We should keep in mind what the Cardinals AAA rotation consisted of last season. Largely non prospects just there to eat the innings. There are those guys in AAA, and in AA. So it is not enough to just look at somebody’s batting line and say, wow, call him up.
Greyghost – What do you mean ‘it’s not like they have anyone at AAA….’? Koperniak is chomping at the bit. Rumor has it that he slept with his uniform on all offseason so he could be the first player to the Cardinals’ training complex each morning. And were it not for his being an elite sleeper to secure the second base job, Brian Torres would undoubtedly push his way to the front of the line vying for a corner outfield job.
Yes – the pickings in AAA are pretty lean for sure so – let’s go sign a 0.1 WAR rh of to play RF for one year while Walker figures it out (or doesn’t) at AAA.
He’s been historically bad at the plate and just bad in the field.
Here’s a big dose of New Year’s optimism for you…
Will we see Quinn Mathews and Liam Doyle pitch for the #STLCards in 2026?
Randy thinks it'll happen by mid-August
📺 https://t.co/4AsbRzKeyg pic.twitter.com/kAQRuLtMh3
— STL Sports Central (@STLSprtsCntrl) January 1, 2026
If both those guys are pitching in StL by August then either they were killing it at AAA and / or the ML starters were horrible / injured / traded away for prospects.
I could see Mathews since he’s already had some AAA time. Doyle? Well, maybe he’s just that good…
Crazy that people think the Cardinals should adopt the Angels model of rushing players to MLB in one year….
Bloom in the past has presided over farm systems that moved slower, not faster. I would imagine that they’ll hold Doyle wherever he needs to be for as long as the team deems necessary. Maybe they’ll angle for the prospect promotion incentive draft picks multiple years in a row.
Bloom is serving two masters by having a weak mlb roster, and weak depth. Many fans will want those prospects up asap, as if the rebuild was over, and lets get on with the winning again!
Pass. Build a minors core while we try to develop underachievers on the mlb roster. Maybe both best cases will happen. Robbing Peter (minors) to pay Paul (26man) is a continuous rebuild.
Besides the briefest of cameos, Doyle hasn’t faced hitters above college level, so we can extrapolate and end up wherever we want. Other than selling clicks, there is no point to it. We don’t know how the new regime will handle Doyle. Hopefully, they will see how his arm plays first, and worry about role, ceiling and timeline later. Hopefully, the objective of his first pro season on the mound in game action will aim for working beyond 100 innings, answering the bell all year, and getting hitters out without hurting his arm. A year from now we can talk about role, ceiling and timeline when it is substantive rather that so much puff.
These kinds of predictions are effective at drawing attention.
Bloom has a five-year contract. He has no motivation to rush players to MLB just so they win 75 games instead of 70 in 2026, for example. He will be playing the long game, as he should. Impatient fans are just going to have to be impatient. I hope the new regime does the right things instead of the easy things.
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