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I think Burly is a better hitter than Matt Adams (unless Matt was facing Kershaw) but the Cardinals don’t have to extend him now. They don’t have to extend anyone now. They have time. I still don’t think he is blocking anyone though. Gurevitch is showing promise but he is a long way from the big leagues.
I think no one will get extended until the labor contract is settled. At which time I would hope they’d consider extending Wetherholt,Walker, Herrera, Burleson, and/or Winn. Any or all of these would seem to be our core.
I think Burly is a better hitter than Matt Adams (unless Matt was facing Kershaw) but the Cardinals don’t have to extend him now.
Could you pick out which of these two lines is Adams (during his time in St Louis) and which is Burleson (in his career so far)??
.266/.311/.449 106 OPS+, 59 HRs, 226 RBIs in 1599 PAs (two below average seasons, the rest above average, peak 129 OPS+)
.271/.324/.425 110 OPS+, 55 HRs, 228 RBIs in 1797 PAs (two below average seasons, the rest above, peak 127 OPS+)
I agree that they don’t have to extend him. But I would also agree if someone were to say that he’s not really a long term core piece for the Cardinals and if they could grab some interesting prospects in a trade, we wouldn’t see a major major difference in the lineup with Herrera getting more run at 1B. BTW, I don’t expect that Burly gets traded, nor do I expect that he’ll get an extension.
(Also, Adams is the first player above and Burly is the second. Career wise they are very close. Burly has generally trended up and Adams was more up and down).
Burly has two more years of control and is pulling OPS+ 128 so he would be the kind of trade goods you need to pick off a contender’s top prospect at the deadline. Not saying we should, but could. Remember, we still lack a new franchise level player. It would be helpful to know if Jordan’s bat translates to MLB.
GScott you are right Burly isn’t blocking anyone right now, but he will be. Bernal and Crooks are likely our catchers next year. We need a place for Herrera. Herrera > Burly and has more control left. If Jordan hits here he’s blocking him too. I like Burly but we potentially get better by moving him. Remember, we aren’t just giving him away. He has value.
Burleson leads the team in RBI’s. It might be better to trade Herrera and extend Burleson.
Walker and Wetherholt look like franchise level players. And I know it’s too early to
tell. But it will be interesting to find out
what we’ve really got with Jimmy Crooks.Mud-you are right-we might be. But Herrera hits lefties and righties. Burleson does most of his damage against righties. And Herrera has more power. Neither one of them have defensive value. Flip a coin.
KCB-Nice post. I think my apprehension about trading Burly is that he has already demonstrated that he is a legitimate first baseman. I can imagine Herrera as a 1B/DH guy. I think he will phase out of catching with Crooks coming on and Bernal getting more and more love.
stl25, I acknowledge that Burly and Adams have a more similar stat sheet than I expected but I also expect Burly to have a better overall career. What it comes down to really is when are the Cardinals going to transition from “tear it down and hoard prospects” to “we have a core so it is time to add”? My guess is that will be in 2028 so Burly could go either way in regards to being extended or traded.
KCB, yes you could make the argument that Burly is blocking Herrera unless Herrera’s long term future is DH/C. If I am looking into my crystal ball I would say there is a good chance that both Crooks and Bernal are traded within the next 3 or 4 years. I think Rainiel is the long term catcher but we shall see.
GScott-My crystal ball has Bernal as the primary catcher and RR as the secondary and being used like Herrera and Pages. Herrera and Burly both may be out if Jordan hits like he is in Memphis right now. Baez, Walker, and Church in the outfield. Burly,Crooks , and or Herrera should bring a third baseman assuming Gorman is out. Plus an assortment of pitching. Too many good players isn’t a problem. But too many first baseman and catchers is. We have to trust Bloom to evaluate their talent and make the right moves.
Absolutely, having too many good hitters will be a wonderful problem to have. For my money Herrera is borderline untradeable. I think he is one of the more elite hitters in the league. I think it was Bob Reed who put together an outline of how Herrera stacks up against the other elite hitters in the league over the last few years. It was eye popping.
I agree About Herrera. We have to get him on first base and close the door. He’s a better everyday hitter than dh.
Since 2024, Ivan Herrera’s first extended MLB stint, he’s been one of the top hitters in the sport.
135 wRC+ (t-14th)
.363 wOBA (13th)
.374 xwOBA (t-12th)
.381 OBP (t-6th)
.284 AVG (13th)He’s 1st or 2nd among C in all of these and top 5 among DH
— Josh Jacobs (@joshjaco98) May 2, 2026
All eyes have been on JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker this year, but the #STLCards have a truly elite bat hiding in plain sight for years now:
Ivan Herrera.
It’s time for the league to take notice – there are three young stars in the STL lineup.
— Josh Jacobs (@joshjaco98) May 2, 2026
Well Jordan is 7 games in, so what is the initial impression?
My take is he seems entirely adequate as everyday 3B, but range is not elite level. That will cost us occasionally, and I think already has. He can counter that somewhat with positioning and improving anticipation. His arm appears adequate. No telling yet if it is anything beyond adequate.
At the plate he puts the ball in play, which is the exact opposite of all or nothing Gorman. He takes some first pitch strikes, but is seeing pitchers for the first time. He takes good ABs and makes the pitcher work. We will have to wait and see how he gets pitched and how he develops.
After Sunday’s game Jordan’s line is .250/.264/.417/.681. Not exactly great, but not horrible. He continues to put the ball in play. Not sure if he can’t take a walk or if they are just putting the ball over the plate and daring him to square it up. Anyway, at Memphis Gorman is hitting .133 with 9 Ks in 18 PAs so I would say Jordan has time.
In my view he’s been decent in every area, but what’s glaring is that he’s collected 12 RBI’s to go along with 12 hits. Just imagine if he’s ever able to amass 200 hits in a season…
Not hard to top Gorman’s production and look like a starting option. The OBP is very low but that can be said of a lot of young power hitting rookies when the come up.
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