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Letting Goldy, Lynn, and Gibson go, and somehow trading Mikolas (eating some of his salary) is a good way to lower team payroll, even with the 6 arbitration raises. You then stay competitive and in the hunt. Somehow, someway they need to get Walker and Gorman playing up to their high ceilings.
From a PR and marketing standpoint, it’s probably important to BDW that the Cardinals are competitive next season. That means keeping Arenado, Contreras, Gray, and Helsley.
As far as Walker, there’s no way you trade him. He’s only 22 and a big part of the Cardinals future. MOTO bat for years to come.
Saggese was named the second basemen on the 2023 all minor league All Star team. He’s not going to sit on a major league bench for long. Maybe Donovan plays LF, like he did at times in 2024.
Saggese so far in the AFL this Fall –
batting .400 with an OPS of 1.265.
He’s making a heckuva case for himself.It takes young players time to mature. Let’s hope Walker’s September numbers carry over into 2025 and he’s really ready now – .780 OPS, with
5 home runs in 25 games.Jnevel – Gary LaRocgue has retired.
Let’s look at what happened in 2024.
Mo had gotten some talented pitchers in July 2023 – Roby, Robberse, Kloffenstein, and Rom who were all at the AAA or AA level. He then went out and signed Gray as an ace, as well as inning eaters Lynn and Gibson to tide the Cards over and see which of the 4 new pitchers would earn a spot with the Cardinals in 2024 and 2025. All 4 of them got injured. To complete the perfect storm, Gorman and Walker didn’t step up as expected and neither Goldy or Arenado bounced back.So what’s the Cardinals’ answer? Reduce payroll by letting Goldy go, not exercize the options on Lynn and Gibson, and strengthen the minor league feeder system with much better coaching. But at the same time remain in the hunt for the Central next season. I don’t think this is a tear down. Just a readjustment or “reset”. And hopefully some of those injured pitchers will be able to help sometime in 2025. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Thanks for the breakdown, Jnevel.
The pitcher starting assignments for AAA and AA are going to be interesting coming out of ST.Why tank when you can keep the product interesting and entertaining –
and rebuild through improving the system at the same time. Brian made a great point about Mo not wanting to go out on a losing note.If they want to lower salary and still be competitive, maybe a good path to follow is –
Let Goldy go – saves $26 million
Let Gibson go – saves $12 million
Let Lynn go – saves $10 million
Let Carpenter go
Trade Mikolas and pay roughly 1/2 – saves $9 millionSo that’s lowering payroll by $57 million. There are 6 players who are arbitration eligible, so that $57 million will go down some. Doesn’t bring in any new players that might help, but it keeps higher priced guys like Arenado, Contreras, Gray, Fedde, Matz, and Helsley. Still gives us a pretty decent team in 2025. Especially if Walker continues to step it up and Arenado bounces back some.
IMHO Bloom will not only work hard on the minor leagues in 2025, but will also be involved in any large decisions at the major league level.
GameCard – We’re just dovetailing off Wednesdays with Walton, which are very interesting. Don’t you think?
If the trend is downward, what’s the answer if you can’t compete with the big budget teams? It has to be in the minor league system. And in the young players at the major league level.
Why has Winn done well while Walker, Gorman, and Carlson struggled? Major league pitchers finding weaknesses and the players not being coached up to handle those adjustments? In my opinion, we have some really solid young position player talent in
Winn, Walker, Gorman, Burleson, Nootbaar, Herrera, Donovan, Wetherholt, Davis, Crooks, etc. There’s enough talent right threat to go deep into October if it’s developed properly.Brian – You seem to be disappointed by the Cardinals just wanting to get into the playoffs and seeing what can happen from there. Maybe get lucky,
be healthy, and ride a momentum wave.
Not necessarily have an MV3. But isn’t that pretty much the way the Cards will have to go? There are 10 teams now with a total payroll over $200 million. The Cards need to have the minor league system produce players that can be solid up and down the ML lineup and on the pitching staff.
Rely on consistency. Which I believe is your primary area of interest and expertise. Seems like they’re playing right into TCN hands.The Cardinals know that there’s a feeling among the fanbase that a big change is needed. Pure PR principles almost dictate it. That means Bloom has to become more in the spotlight and
there probably has to be changes in the manager (and several coaches) at the major league level. Not just changes for change sake, but changes for the better. They know they need to regenerate excitement.With the surging of McGreevy, Mathews, and Hence, have Thompson, Liberatore, Roby, Robberse, Kloffenstein, and Rom become no more than future bullpen pieces?
IMHO the main problem is not spending more money. It’s the development of players in the system. They just don’t seem to be developing the right way. Maybe we should take a strong look and Gary LaRocque and the managers and coaches under him at all levels. What are their qualifications? What kind of successes are on their resumes? No one can answer that better than Brian. Why did Saggese fall off so much this year? Why was Thompson clobbered yesterday? Why was Graceffo clobbered his last start? Why has Davis had such a slow start? Why did all the starters that we picked up last July go down? Why aren’t Baez and Cho progressing better? Etc. Etc. Etc.
BW – Many fans went into this season feeling pretty good
about the MOTO with Goldy, Arenado, Contreras, Walker, and
Gorman. Now we can add Burleson and probably subtract Goldy.
So isn’t the real key getting high level production out of
Walker and Gorman? With a decent mentor like Edmonds or
Holliday? Or do you still want that big bat? And if you do, where do you play him? In LF and put Noot on the bench? That makes sense. But where do you get that big bat and still stay within budget?By the way, I’m not Mo, and I’ve criticized enough of his moves over the years not to be considered a Mo sycophant.
