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Why in the world should that give Cardinal fans hope? Hasn’t gone exactly as planned?
The guy who wrote that article is delusional.
He’s the type who would have written that the maiden voyage of the Titanic “didn’t go exactly as planned.” Lol
That said, Matz was good in his last walk year.
Hopefully Bloom will be in charge of moving Helsley so we don’t end up with another basket of slow movers and hospital cases.
This year will be all about sifting the upper part of the system to see if anything is there, which there isn’t. By the end BDW might have an epiphany, realize he’s been getting hosed for 10 years, and put the team up for sale.
The guy who wrote that article is delusional.
Without question. The point I think is that in typical Mo fashion he tries to spin that guys want to stay here-and its Matz!. Freaking Matz. The guy we won’t be able to give away. Mo can’t get gone soon enough. At this point I’m embarrassed for the organization. Everytime this guy talks his nose grows.
Arenado, Contraras, Goldschmidt, Carpenter, Mikolas, Matz, Gray, Fede, Hellsey must all be gone one way or another. I you are going to start a youth movement…then do it.
2 already won’t be back. You will be lucky 2 see 2 more.
Lol! Let’s see how far this youth movement goes. I have a feeling it won’t be as much as you bought into or read on-line or in thr funny papers.
My guess is it won’t even to be close to your expectations. If they can’t get anyone to bite on their expensive veterans. It’ll be more like a revamping of the minor league system and how we draft-develop and keep the team competitive in the mostly small market central. They do have tickets to sell mind you.
Interesting news…
In his various conversations with players under no-trade clauses, Mo says Contreras was very clear about his desires to stay in St. Louis. https://t.co/Zn6YGI9Iai
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) November 6, 2024
Contreras would be nice to have at catcher at least a tiny bit, but I get what they are going for. He’s probably fine at 1B and with the bat and glove he’s probably better than Goldy was this year.
The catcher spot though…yikes. I really hope that Herrera can improve his defense a bit because Pages is a poor hitter, to say the least.
With Contreras moving to 1B/DH, they should try to trade Burleson and Baker.
Won’t get much, but will unclog the roster.
I predict that Winn’s errors will double with Contreras at 1b unless Willson really surprises udma with his glove.
Gray has now said that he also wants to stay. That’s 2 of the top 5 salaries, which leaves Arenado, Mikolas, and Matz as possible trade chips. Plus of course Helsley.
Bowtie is being coy about NA. My guess is he doesn’t want to be traded unless it’s to specific teams. Also It could be a mutual choice to keep any negotiating private. Not exactly a great look if you just say ” I want out.”
Matz and Mikolas aren’t going anywhere unless they show a little value. One is a 5 ERA innings eater and the other can’t stay on the mound. They’d have to eat some contract to be rid of either.
Also in this story:
In conversations with multiple veterans with no-trade clauses, Mozeliak indicated at least one other player willing to stay besides Contreras. Per sources, that player is Sonny Gray. #STLCards https://t.co/u2OYz008eg
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) November 7, 2024
I like this move. I actually suspected it would happen prior to all the rumors of shipping out the higher priced guys. I figured it would be mostly as a DH with Burleson picking up the 1B load against right handers. That’s still probably the case. It does leave Baker in limbo. But if there’s any chance next year’s team is good, having Contreras in the lineup and healthy every day plus having Gray in the rotation. If they do keep those 2 and Helsley, I see this team as a division leader possible. Clearly Walker needs to hit and play competent defense and I’d still like to see them sign a better hitting center fielder. Plus Herrera and Pages need to get better at throwing out runners. Lots to work on, but it’s possible.
I like the move of Contreras to 1B/DH. He is one of the best offensive players on the team and one of the better hitters in the league. Hopefully, it will reduce the wear and tear on his body and injuries.
No doubt he will have to put in time over the winter and spring to re-acclimate himself to playing in the field. You guys may recall that he started his career as a position player. I believe the majority of his innings were at third base. The Cubs converted him to a catcher during his age 20 season.
I think Contreras is athletic enough to play 1B, but I’ve never seen him field a ground ball. Most of 1B is hands, which I would think even as a so-so catcher he has enough hands to play 1B, and footwork. The footwork will just come with reps. Goldschmidt and Pujols were both very good at 1B in both those aspects. Saving many runs with their hands and feet. Hosmer got a lot of hate via metrics at 1B, but when you watched his hands and feet at 1B he was very good. One of the reason’s I think defensive metrics for infielders is skewed. Contreras has shown he will work. I hope he puts a lot of time into it this winter and gets it figured out.
In reading yesterdays posts about NTC’s, it seems the Cardinals wanted to go full tank and rebuild, but were thwarted by their propensity to hand out no-trade clauses.
They can’t even tank properly.
I think if Gray and Arenado don’t waive their NTC its going to be a bad 6-8 years for the organization. They need to get out from the contracts and start reloading a very think minor league system. Fedde and Helsley should be able to bring some nice prospects. I can live with Contreras at 1B/DH because it was appearing to be a hole anyway with Burleson filling the other. I would have rather went full rebuild and trade Contreras too, but him to waiving isn’t the end of the world.
I still think Helsley gets moved and most likely Arenado as well but that is just a guess. Fedde, Mikolas, and Matz might get moved also but Mikolas and Matz won’t bring much back and won’t result in much savings because of the underwater contracts.
Kyle Hendricks just signed with the Angels for $2.5M so I can’t imagine Matz would be worth much more than that therefore the Cardinals would have to eat most of the $12.5M owed. Both Hendricks and Matz were bad in 2025 but at least Hendricks churned out 130 innings while Matz tallied 44.
The thing that scares me is if these guys are going to waive the NTC you could see people like Donovan traded to get prospects, or selling low on Gorman. Then they are trading youth they want to see if is able to be built around just to try to get the minor league system built back up.
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