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I agree that what they do with Gray and also Helsley and to a lesser extent Contreras ultimately will show us how competitive the front office wants to be. Otherwise, the statement just means that they aren’t going to enhance the current team much or at all in free agency.
They really should trade Helsley. I argued strongly for trading him at the deadline when his value was peak. Deadline values are almost always inflated because teams are willing to spend more to ensure they stay good. But he’s still super valuable and in the last year of his deal and would save the team some cash. But losing Helsley probably hurts the team’s chances to win more so than anyone else.
Gray is also a critical cog. While he might be able to be replaced with less of a drop in WAR than Helsley, it’s still a significant loss.
Contreras might make a great near full-time DH / part-time catcher if the Cards are willing to go that route. If he is traded though, he was our best bat in ‘23 and ‘24. That’s a loss even if it does save $.
Arenado can be easily replaced without much of a loss in WAR (or maybe even a slight gain) so I consider him inconsequential and he should be moved if someone is willing to eat 2/3 of his contract and Nolan waives the NTC.
Agree with all of that JNevel. Trading Helsley is our best strategic move as far as higest value in return plus salary saved. Next comes Arenado. We need to get his replacement figured out plus whatever we can save on his salary. At least one more of Gray or Contreras.
I envision a nightmare scenario where Gray, Mikolas, Fedde and Matz all stay healthy and block anybody in AAA who earns a chance.I envision Roby, Rom, Klof, Robberse, Graceffo and Hence being healthy enough to clutter the AAA rotation and block AA guys, but not be healthy enough to accomplish anything as per recent history.
I see the same issue Bling. Although I do think Matz will be a reliever if still in St Louis unless there are multiple starting pitching injuries.
The pipeline is getting jammed up though. High A guys need to move up but are blocked by AA who are blocked by AAA. Some guys will need to be moved to relief to offer opportunities. In my roster document that I laid out, Graceffo becomes a mlb reliever next season. I strongly think Hence should be moved to relief as well or traded away. But I might be completely wrong on him. I’ve admittedly never been a Hence fan despite the results.
I don’t know what to do with Rom. I’m ok with moving him to relief as well in Memphis. I think he’ll be DFA’d and I doubt anyone takes him.
Where I’d assign the minor league starters:
AAA: Robberse, Kloffenstein, Bedell, Mathews, Rajcic, Komar
AA: Roby, Hjerpe, Hansen, Rincon, Saladin, Paniagua (if he re-signs)
High A: Mautz, Henderson, Lin, Davila, Salas, Sparks
Low A: Holiday, Watson, Sequera, Ynfante, Dutkanych, Findlay
To relief: Thompson (if he makes mlb team), Graceffo (mlb), Hence (AAA), Cornwell (AAA), Baker (AA), Savacool, Rom (AAA)
It’s hard to guess how much overhauling of rosters Bloom might do for 2025. He might be focused on updating methods, tech and staffing. We will have to see how much looks by design and how much looks like a snowball rolling down the hill.
I envision a nightmare scenario where Gray, Mikolas, Fedde and Matz all stay healthy and block anybody in AAA who earns a chance.
I thought you were concerned we were going to lose more games than in 2023? By keeping the vets for four months the team can try to win some games while knowing those guys can be shipped out at the deadline to open up space for the Memphis Mafia. Who knows what they do with Gray but the chances of Mikolas, Fedde, and Matz all being on the roster by August 1 are about 1%. Most likely none of them will be.
I think 71 is optimistic, but I think that is true even if we retain some of the geriatrics. The reason is they are at the downhill phase so they are likely to be worse than in 2025. The nightmare is we will set ourselves up to be just as bad beyond 2025.
I agree with those that advocate trading Helsley. He has peak value now, and is high risk to be injury compromised in the next season or two And even if healthy he could very well regress some.
Thus number one, I work to get a good, hopefully great return for Ryan. Then you look at potential interest in Arenado and Contreras, and if a deal is worth it.
Gray I hang on to, unless management has some sense or knowledge that his injury woes this year will be more frequent in the next two seasons.
Finally, I try to keep the young core together, but if we need to throw in Burleson to complete a deal that is okay. Burly has some good value right now, and is not great defensively so we may need to add one of the younger guys in to a deal.
The nightmare is we will set ourselves up to be just as bad beyond 2025.
No one has realy put a time table on it but my guess is that both 2025 and 2026 will be down years and we will begin to re-emrge in 2027.
You are right CC. The Cardinals are notorious for being middle of the road and usually the only thing found in the middle of the road is roadkill.
Let me ask ‘yall a question: You are GM starting a team, who would be your 1st pick of all from the history of the live ball era? Please give me your answer and I will try to convince you that you’re wrong 😉
That’s a tough one, LeGrand. I really can’t choose one player, but if I could, I’m almost certain his first name would be Manny.
You are GM starting a team, who would be your 1st pick of all from the history of the live ball era?
Caveat, this is without thinking about it extensively. I’d build my team around an ace. If Walter Johnson qualifies, I go with him. He straddles the eras but was fantastic still for a few years after 1920. If he doesn’t count, then Nolan Ryan.
That’s a tough one, LeGrand. I really can’t choose one player, but if I could, I’m almost certain his first name would be Manny
LOL Dom. True it’s a tuff one, so let me narrow down the choices: No pitchers because they can only make an impact once every 4 or 5 days.
No one dimentional players like Ruth; too many other skills required (I would take Hornsby before the Babe for that reason) But Rogers would still rank 2nd or 3rd for me
Yeah, there’s so many choices. The easy way to go would be an obvious Mays/Aaron type pick, but I’m sure a good case could be made for a player like Rose or even R. Henderson. Then again, if all you wanted to do was win championships, Yogi comes to mind.
Arenado can be easily replaced without much of a loss in WAR (or maybe even a slight gain) so I consider him inconsequential and he should be moved if someone is willing to eat 2/3 of his contract and Nolan waives the NTC.
Arenado is 9th best in baseball over the last two years in 3B WAR.
That also might be our best position WAR over the last two years other than SS.
Tigers To Pursue Right-Handed Bat, Additional Pitching Help In Offseason
From MLB trade rumors. I already thought Contreras fit there. If they are indeed searching for a RH bat maybe he does fit there. They have some hard throwing low leving pitching that’s intriguing too. And I already mentioned Torkleson as a 1B/DH as a former top prospect guy I’d take a chance on if they wanted to give up on him.
If trading all these people is too much for Mo. I can probably get FMLA or something for a few months to help out, i won’t require much compensation to help with the tight budget.🤣
Yogi comes to mind
Now thats a goofy thing to say, Dommy! Drop any good catcher on a team eith Maris, Mantle , Tresh, Pepitone, Elston Howard, Moose Skowron and Whitey Ford and they would have a buncha rings too
Thanks for the breakdown, Jnevel.
The pitcher starting assignments for AAA and AA are going to be interesting coming out of ST.
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