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I have been thinking about as well. Looking at Mo and probably the edict from Dewitt, the Cards have been the most risk averse team in pro sports. Their is obviously some risk handing out deals for young players, but the rewards can great if it works out and help build a core team. Even when it doesn’t work out
They were talking more about the total additional cost of signing all three to what they wanted would have been an extra $1 million. They did also talk about how it is unlikely any extensions get done this year, due to the transition in the front office (should be handled by Bloom, not Mozeliak).
By the way, I very much enjoyed the book Good To Great.
Yes. Great book. Though I misattributed the concept of being “stuck in the middle” – that is actually from Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy. From Good to Great focuses on how the enemy of being great is being good (and resting on your laurels instead of continually seeking to improve), though if I recall, Porter’s concept was mentioned in the book as well.
Then again, remember how excited you were when DeJong hit 25 home runs in 108 games as a rookie?
I recall the majority of people on this board being against the DeJong deal at the time.
This time last year, some folks were suggesting that Walker should be locked down long term…
I don’t remember seeing that, and am glad I didn’t. I couldn’t get past his defense in 2023.
Well, the larger point stands. You need to have guys on your team worthy of receiving multi-year extensions before giving them out. I don’t see the benefit in just doing them, even “when it doesn’t work out” later.
There aren’t many candidates on this roster currently, IMO. Maybe things will change in a year or two.
Around the 28:50 mark of this podcast, Derrick Goold starts talking about why the Cardinals are dropping payroll. At about 29:30, he says they are going to have “perhaps the most significant drop in ticket sales since the new ballpark opened.”
Billy Jr’s. spawn has clearly indicated that if fans decide to stay away from the ballpark they’ll be faced with punishment in the form of the team spending less due to decreased availability of funds alloted towards the acquisition of talent. If Cardinal fans know what’s good for them, they’ll show up or else suffer the dire consequences…
The first Cardinal team to draw over 3M was the ’87 edition. By ’92 total attendance had decreased to 2.4M and had plummeted to 1.7M in ’95, which was the season following the labor strike in ’94 that scratched that year’s WS. We’ll see what happens, but I’ll be highly surprised if the Cardinals draw 2.5M paying fans in ’25. If only around 2M show up, Billy Jr. may threaten to move the team…Haha!
The threat to move the team will come when the taxpayers refuse to pay for renovations to Busch Stadium.
Haha…Yeah, like he did last time when he threatened to build a new stadium across the river in Illinois unless the city of StL. offered up a sweetheart deal. That Billy Jr. don’t play around!
I’m doing my best to detatch from this org. They have embarrassed themselves and complaining and criticizing doesn’t make me feel any better. You can’t fix stupid. I will continue to support the players and coaches.
So, the people at MLBTR are as befuddled by the Cardinals offseason moves as we are. From today’s chat
Cards Fan
1:35 Feeling kinda anxious. I get it. A rebuild. But if they are serious they should be dealing Fedde and Helsley for prospects since they are on the last year of contract control. What am I missing?
Steve Adams
1:36 I almost wrote about this topic for our subscribers last week but chose a different topic. Anthony Franco then independently, without talking to me, chose to write about it this week. It’ll hit the site soon. But clearly, yes, we at MLBTR agree with you. They should be shopping both Helsley and Fedde. Their refusal to do so is weird, and if either player incurs a significant injury it is going to be such, such a bad look.And this
I wouldn’t even call them half-measures. They are zero measures so far.
I’m planning trips to Peoria, Memphis, and Springfield. Fenway is on my bucket list. My son will go with me.
Here’s a nice article. Donovan Won’t miss twgpwnwa. (The worlds greatest player who never won anything).
Brendan Donovan’s Recent Words Suggest Cardinals Will Be Fine Without Nolan Arenado https://www.si.com/mlb/cardinals/st-louis-cardinals-news/brendan-donovan-s-recent-words-suggest-cardinals-will-be-fine-without-nolan-arenado-nate3
The title of that article is misleading as Donovan says nothing about “being fine without Arenado”. All he says is Nolan Gorman has looked great in the batting cage this winter, and he won’t be surprised if Gorman has a great year.
As for the decline in ticket sales, Dewitt has it all wrong. Good old Yogi Berra said it best: “If the fans don’t want to come to the ballpark, nobody can stop them.”
Yogi’s simple and straightforward thought mechanism has always been the essence and embodiment of genuine reason and logic…He was not at all unlike the modern concept of AI in the sense that the entire scope of his data storage and processing exceeded what mortal humans are able to analyze…And he could also hit!
You got it 1TD. Yogi could summarize in one sentence what most people take paragraphs to try to explain.
As for this cost cutting the Cardinals are doing, I wonder if they are trimming back in other areas beside player payroll? Are they trimming office support staff? Are they doing away with perks like the holiday party, or making employees paying a little more for health insurance? Maybe trying to secure a better deal on concessions items?
If the numbers I researched are correct, Arenado “only” costs the club $21 million in 2025. The rest of his deal is on the balance sheet, probably as “deferred compensation”. It’s not like they will cut some $60 million or so from 2025 operating expenses – only his $21M net of what they would pay to players received.
Who knows, GameCard might be on to something. Maybe he comes back strong this year and we compete, resulting in higher ticket revenue than budgeted?
If the numbers I researched are correct, Arenado “only” costs the club $21 million in 2025.
Arenado costs $27 million this year (after the Rockies pay $5 million). Yes, there are deferrals built into the last few years of his contact, but I don’t think we know how those are broken out.
Who knows, GameCard might be on to something. Maybe he comes back strong this year and we compete, resulting in higher ticket revenue than budgeted?
The Cardinals have had him for four years and won 0 playoff games. They are forecasting a substantial decline in ticket revenue, based on what we saw in the stands last year and offseason ticket sales.
Fans are going to ask the team to “show me”, and at this point, the club appears unwilling to show anything.
Winners create SRO conditions anywhere in the world. Although season ticket sales will undoubtedly suffer a substantial hit, if the Cardinals are significant in September, the ballpark will contain over 40K paying baseball fans for every home game during the stretch run. Same as it ever was. If not, expect a sad and empty baseball venue.
Arenado costs $27 million this year (after the Rockies pay $5 million). Yes, there are deferrals built into the last few years of his contact, but I don’t think we know how those are broken out.
I saw something several months back that he is deferring $6M per year, and taking that over a few years after retiring – like late ’30s/early ’40s.
That makes sense as I think he will cost the club $21M in cash in 2025, which is the net $27M less the $6M deferral.
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