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I haven’t heard anything about Thompson in months. Pencil him in as a LHRP if he’s healthy?
They know more than we do obviously so the decision on King could be based on that somewhat.2 names that are intriguing to me are free agents Michael King and Brandon Woodruff. Both have very solid pasts. I’m not sure how many years or the salary needed. But either would be upgrades and a number 2 to Gray. Wooodruff might even be the ace we need.
From Katie Woo:
What will this winter bring for the Cardinals, who are under new leadership for the first time in nearly two decades? President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has already laid out his focus. “Our top priority will be to build our talent base for the long term,” Bloom said during his introductory news conference at the end of September. “That may mean hard decisions and short-term sacrifices, but to get where we want to go, we can’t take shortcuts. And we won’t.” In other words, if you’re looking for the Cardinals to make major signings or swing trades that will benefit the major-league roster, think again. This winter will be about making space on the 40-man roster, reducing redundancies on the active roster and improving the departments — player development, player acquisition and scouting — that make up the infrastructure of a mid-market team.
The Cardinals are NOT in a rebuild. They have Winn, Donovan, Burleson and Herrera. Get free agent pitching.
The Cardinals are NOT in a rebuild. They have Winn, Donovan, Burleson and Herrera. Get free agent pitching.
They are though. The new front office says they are. DeWitt’s want a cost efficient roster that they clearly don’t have. There’s a reason front office personnel was brought in from the likes of Tampa Bay and Cleveland. They want teams built from within on a lower budget that is easier to sustain. The big contracts are gone, they aren’t going to spend big money on aging players, and they for sure aren’t going to spend money for the 2026 roster on top free agent pitching. Anybody who is within 2 years of free agency or on a big contract is very susceptible to being traded and rebuilding a very weak minor league system. They should have done it 2 years ago and most likely would be on the upward swing, but they dug a deeper hole trying to hang on. Now they have bloated, hard to move contracts, on a roster that isn’t winning with a AAA team that is far from providing immediate help. They have to move people, probably people you don’t want to see go and get the system rebuilt so the team can hopefully compete by 2028, but could realistically be 2030. Just the way it is. It’s not easy to accept as a fan, but to the DeWitt’s its still a business and you can’t sustain a business losing money and paying big money, in a bottom-middle market, for middle of the pack performance. I think they try to build around Winn and probably Herrera. Burleson, hopefully, but depending on what they can get done with Contreras or Nootbaar with his injury, it could be a hard decision they have to move Burleson to get anything significant to the development of the team. But I think Donovan is their best and easiest trade chip right now and will be traded. They want to reduce the redundancy and trading Donovan moves a LH bat they seem to have many of right now, but probably replaced soon enough with another LH bat in Wetherholt.
What we want the Cardinals to do and what they are actually doing are not always the same thing.
We may not want them to be in a rebuild but they most certainly are. Personally I think it is possible to rebuild and try to be competitive at the same time. I don’t know if Bloom feels that way.
First of all, they should be the same thing. I have always said, if you don’t want to spend the money to be good, sell the team to some group that will.
gscottar said:
Personally I think it is possible to rebuild and try to be competitive at the same time.
Isn’t that the status quo? That didn’t work out for Mo so why would it for Bloom?
I’d rather see them do one thing well vs. doing two things in a mediocre manner. Being “competitive” for the last wild card isn’t the kind of “competitive” I want to see. That is .500 ball, the definition of mediocre.
Maybe I have ride closed glasses, but I think we can be better next year, and by 2027 be even better. We should get back our injured minor league pitchers, plus the development of Mathews, Mautz, Henderson, Doyle, Davis etc. But what we could use is a right handed power bat and of course, starting pitching.
I do not think it is “go time” for the francise. They are at least a year or two away. As such, I would be shocked to see Bloom pursue any big name free agents (especially those wanting expensive multi-year deals). They already have their hands tied with Arenado and I am getting more pessimistic about his trade market. I could see Bloom signing a few cost effective free agents to one-year deals to plug some roster gaps. Then posssibly deal them at the trade deadline (e.g. a Maton-type signing).
The FO chose to trade at the deadline in 2025. Will that repeat next season?
There is the stadium revenue consideration if they ship off proven for unproven during the winter. TBD.
A is almost always the case, Brian is right. A midling approach will not work. Make a choice: compete or rebuild. You can’t do both. Some people think the Cardinals will be competitive in a couple of years. Not going to happen. 2030 is a reasonable date to have a good team again…I hope. Make up your mind that there will be bleak years ahead as they rebuild their talent.
Isn’t that the status quo? That didn’t work out for Mo so why would it for Bloom?
I don’t view it as the status quo. The status quo would be giving four and five year contracts on guys like Fowler, Cecil, Leake, and Matz. That is exactly what Mo would do and exactly what I would not do. I am talking about keeping most of the NTC guys because they have little trade value anyway, add a stopgap here and there on a one year deal, but still trade some surplus guys for more prospects (Gorman, Noot, Crooks, etc…) The rebuild would be through attrition.
That way you don’t drop down to a 65 win team but you still aren’t blocking anyone with runway. By the time the NTC guys are off the books the farm system should be ready to produce more impact players. And that is the real reason this wouldn’t be the status quo. I have belief that Bloom and his lieutenants will do a much better job of developing prospects than Mo ever did.
Another thing that is rarely ever talked about is that too many assume it is easy to just tank, become a 65 win team, then turn it back on when you are ready to become a contender. I view that as very dangerous. Ask fans of the Rockies, Pirates, and White Sox about that. It could easily turn into a perpetual rebuild.
The status quo is “taking shortcuts” to winning. Doesn’t sound like short term success is on CB’s long term radar.
As noted by many, trading will be key.
I think the Cards will offer short deals to pitchers like May, Buhler, etc. And/or give Taylor and Leahy a chance to start. Then by August or so give Henderson, Mautz, Matthew’s chances if the they do well at AAA. I would not be surprised to see Hence in our bullpen, if he is healthy , which is a big if. I see lots of new faces in our pitchers in 26-27.
Maybe Doyle pulls a Skenes and is ready by the end of next year. But it would be best for him to stay in the minors all of next year.
Taking shortcuts can be defined many ways. Having a few vets on short term deals who aren’t blocking anyone has little risk and long term detriment unless we are relying on having a top 10 draft slot every year.
I think the Cards will offer short deals to pitchers like May, Buhler, etc. And/or give Taylor and Leahy a chance to start.
I agree this is a likely scenario and it wouldn’t be a shortcut.
gscottar said:
I don’t view it as the status quo. The status quo would be giving four and five year contracts on guys like Fowler, Cecil, Leake, and Matz. That is exactly what Mo would do and exactly what I would not do.
It seems we are looking at different time periods. All the long term deals you cite were done four or more years ago. The last three years under Mo have been very different in terms of signing behavior. No long term deals, no big trades. Trying to compete while “resetting” with a mediocre outcome.
I am somewhat enthused that Bloom did not try to oversell the short-term outlook. That is a change already.
Just want to say that if Walker and Hence and Gorman and Hjerpe had turned out as expected, we would be looking at more of a ‘reset’ rather than a full on rebuild.
It seems we are looking at different time periods. All the long term deals you cite were done four or more years ago. The last three years under Mo have been very different in terms of signing behavior. No long term deals, no big trades. Trying to compete while “resetting” with a mediocre outcome.
Ok. Let’s look at more recent comparisons. If the Cardinals signed one or two stopgap starters on a one year deal how would that impede the rebuild? Would they be blocking someone?
Rebuilding through attrition is very different than trying to win a championship. I agree there should be no long term deals and big signings until we are ready to try for a championship. But in the meantime I don’t see the harm in a few short term signings as long as they aren’t blocking a prospect. If we signed a veteran SS, 2B, or catcher that would not be smart. We have those positions covered with young players.
I just don’t agree with the premise that the ONLY way to do a rebuild is to completely hollow out the team and become a 60-65 win team. There is nothing wrong with being an 80 win team for a couple of more years as long as you are doing it smartly, which means no long term deals, continue to build up the farm system with investments and coaches, and buy time until our current big contracts have expired.
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