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I like this trade. There’s decent odds that Fitts is equal to what Sonny Gray gives the Red Sox this year. Not saying it’s likely, but decent odds. Good odds that he won’t be too far behind Sonny’s performance level. And we might get an average starting pitcher for a few years that adds stability and gives the team options. I don’t really love Clarke, but it’s a gamble on another broken pitcher with huge upside. Hopefully it pays off.
I will really like this trade if they invest the $20 million back into the team.
My free article on today's #stlcards-Red Sox trade is updated with remarks from Chaim Bloom's media Zoom meeting this afternoon. https://t.co/vjheABgWrB pic.twitter.com/fKfBqKCbIW
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) November 25, 2025
There’s decent odds that Fitts is equal to what Sonny Gray gives the Red Sox this year. Not saying it’s likely, but decent odds. Good odds that he won’t be too far behind Sonny’s performance level.
Wow I was not expecting to hear that. I hope you are right though.
Personally, I like this. Saved $20 that needs to go back into the team, not his other projects.
Clarke and Hjerpe are the LHRP in 2028 unless CB uses him with Donovan, Crooks, JoJo, Noot etc. in a bigger trade.
Fitts has 65 MLB innings over two seasons, so lets not get carried away. And i think he was only on the mound anywhere about 75 innings last year. Not likely to give us 30 MLB starts, but hopefully can do better than 75 innings.
I guess the health is a big caveat for Fitts being close to Gray. Gray wasn’t all that great in ‘25 and is now reaching an age where pitchers generally drop off in performance. Fitts was solid coming up through the Red Sox ranks, has a good fastball and supposedly very good control and he’s reaching his prime potential years. I like his odds of being a solid number 4 if he’s healthy. I’m not sure Gray will be much better even if he stays healthy. In a big game I’d definitely prefer Gray. But for an entire season I’m happy to take my chances with Fitts and $20 million to spend elsewhere.
Here are Fitts’ IP numbers:
2022 112
2023 152.2
2024 137.1
2025 75Yes, he had a injury in 2025, but it was not with the elbow and it is supposedly behind him. That is a pretty good track record, IMO.
I thought I read Gallen was projected 4 years, 80 mill. Do we want to oay that despite the fact he he had a bad last year.
I will be surprised if they spend the $20 mill on anyone, there payroll cut in the last 2 years is pretty drastic….almost looks like they are cutting payroll to sell the team (which I hope is the case)
Does he go by Richard, Rich or Dick?
By all accounts, he’s a dick, CardsFanInChiTown. I would suspect that this deal has Cardinal fans throwing fitts like crazy. As Bobby Reed stated, this transaction unequivocally signals that the Cardinals are robustly throwing in the towel on 2026. And who knows, maybe it is for the best. But realistically, how many grueling years does this storied franchise expect we loyal fans to endure boring summer after boring summer? I could never love any other team other than the Cardinals, so switching favorite teams is out of the question. But if push were to come to shove…….and I think we’re within a few short years of this happening, I could boycott baseball and take up pickle ball and bingo.
“I will be surprised if they spend the $20 mil on anyone, their payroll cut in the last 2 years is pretty drastic.”
This is correct, of course. As in Boston, Bloom was hired to cut player payroll, full stop. Recall that halfway through the 2025 season, Derrick Goold told us that based upon his information from Mo, Bloom, and the front office, the club planned to invest little or nothing in free agents. (And I don’t think anyone here expects the club to add payroll via trade.)
That said, given the present roster, I actually DO think they’ll sign some free agent veteran starter along the lines of the Lance Lynn or Kyle Gibson inkings of a few years ago, as insurance of sorts. But cheaper and worse. Probably in the 5-7 million range. I honestly wouldn’t put it past them to bring back Mikolas on some incentive-laden contract.
Rotation then becomes Liberatore, McGreevy, Fitts, Pallante, Mr.X., with Quinn Mathews in the wings at Memphis. I expect and pray that 28-year-old Kyle Leahy is so awful as a starter in Spring Training that the club promptly abandons this misguided return to starting, where he was a dismal failure in the minors. The man has at long last found a niche where he’s very good, so leave him there for Heaven’s sake.
It’s not a long shot that Leahy could be our best SP the first half. As long as he doesn’t forget how to relieve, where’s the risk Bob? Open the runways and let the players sort themselves.
This is a clear signal that the owners are willing to have a very bad team for a year.
Fitts has some promise to keep the Cardinals in games. With the exclusion of his June 2 start, Fitts pitched to a sub 4.00 ERA in his starts in the majors last year. He will be 26 in December and projects to be a back of the rotation starter.
Clarke looks like he puts the mascot on notice when he steps on the mound. If he can harness some control, he could be very good. However, right now, he reminds me of Hence.
“It’s not a long shot that Leahy could be our best SP the first half. As long as he doesn’t forget how to relieve, where’s the risk Bob?”
Here’s the risk.
Marmol watches Leahy in Spring Training and sees an extremely inconsistent but occasionally effective starting pitcher — just like the 2025 versions of Andre Pallante and Miles Mikolas. So Marmol decides that Leahy has the raw talent to be a starting pitcher and sends him to the mound over and over in 2026, despite an ERA around 5.00, or maybe worse. There are no obviously superior alternatives, so this goes on and on, perhaps for two or three years, or however long Ollie is permitted to (mis)manage the club.And so a very good reliever is transformed via terrible decision-making into a bad starter. Bad starters become good relievers all the time. It’s practically an MLB tradition. But they do NOT go back to starting and have success. Maybe someone has, but I cannot name a single example. I invite the optimists out there to do so.
But they do NOT go back to starting and have success. Maybe someone has, but I cannot name a single example. I invite the optimists out there to do so.
Seth Lugo
Recall that halfway through the 2025 season, Derrick Goold told us that based upon his information from Mo, Bloom, and the front office, the club planned to invest little or nothing in free agents. (And I don’t think anyone here expects the club to add payroll via trade.)
Yes, I recall that, however, in the past few weeks, Bloom indicated the Cardinals would be spending at 2025 levels. If that is the case, the Cardinals have $38 million for free agency, and if they trade Nootbaar, Donovan and Romero, that would free up another $15 million.
They could conceivably then sign two starting pitchers, two corner outfielders and two relievers on one year deals to flip at the deadline.
I agree with you, it is far more likely they just pocket the money and let attendance fall low enough that DeWitt can pocket an extra $70 million in welfare, like the large-market Marlins do.
Bloom offed an aging money pit for an interesting but risky A level guy with many years of control. You guys need to quit obsessing over the 2026 roster. Its not a thing this winter. Stoking the pipeline with controllable talent for the new PD system to work with is a thing.
Right you be blingboy. I personally like this deal. Gives a gray a shot at postseason. What the cardinals really get out of it, time will tell. But that time isnt anywhere immediate.
I’m saying the $20 million isn’t spent, I’m fine with it. Along with whatever else is saved in trades. If they have the lowest payroll in baseball this year, so be it. Get the system rebuilding that’s goal #1 for 2026. Go with a young roster playing to prove they belong and are a piece that needs to stay for the future. Start weeding out whos not staying, who is redundant and can be moved to fill other holes. Bloom needs to tell the DeWitts to invest any money saved the next 2 years because he’s coming for the money plus some in 2028. And I don’t see them signing a SP at all. McGreevy, Liberatore, Fitts, Leahy, Pallante will be the 5. Mathews, Henderson, Mautz, Hanson, Hence, maybe another from a trade are all possible as the season goes on and see whos healthy.
I am not wild about the Leahy plan, either, but relievers to starters happens more frequently than some think. Here are some current examples:
Garrett Crochet
Michael King
Clay Holmes did it this year for the MetsWhat if Fitts blocks Leahy from starting? There…it’s settled. Leahy back to the pen. We saw the starting version of Leahy at Springfield. Fitts and Leahy at the front of the pen seems optimal.
We have some shiny new toys still to unwrap as further trades emerge. I am all for bargin hunting at the end for the final pitching pieces.
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