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At the beginning of the season, how many posters would have bet on the Cardinals to not be below .500 at any point during the first 20 games this year?
Svanson’s defense behind him did him no favors. If Winn is playing SS, I think Svanson gets out of that inning with a lot less damage. Maybe even no runs allowed.
May will be fine. In his 2nd start, he got hit in the ankle with the batted ball in the first inning. It was his push leg and I’m sure it affected him. I give him a pass on that outing.
The Cardinals need an upgrade in LF. Church is good, defensively, but he needs to start hitting. Saggese does a decent job out there but he needs to keep his strikeouts down.
If Crooks keep hitting at AAA, he needs to come up and start 75-80% off the games and move Pages to backup C.
I wonder if moving Pallante and Leahy back to the bullpen and replacing them with Fitts and Dobbins would help. Remove Svanson and Shuster.
I think this team is closer to a possible playoff team than many are giving them credit for. They are not an elite team but they could make the playoffs if the chips fall right.
I think they should bring up Crooks up if he continues hitting like this for another week. Send Pozo down and give Crooks the majority of the starts at catcher.
1. Burleson, Herrera, Gorman and Velazquez become a feared middle of the order lineup.
2. Church becomes the starting CF by July 1 and finishes the season with a .275 BA and .825 OPS.
3. After the trade deadline, the starting rotation is: Liberatore, McGreevy, Dobbins, Fitts and Mathews. All have ERAs under 4.50.
4. Walker gets sent down for a couple of months, regains his hitting stroke, comes back up in July and hits .275 for the remainder of the year.
5. Cardinals are the surprise of the NL and win 89 games to make the playoffs. They get to the NLCS where they lose in 7 games to the Dodgers.
6. Wetherholt hits .290/.420/.495/.915 and unanimously wins ROY.
At this point of the preseason, I would like the position players to be:
C – Pages
1B – Burleson
2B – Saggese
SS – Winn
3B – Gorman
LF – Velazquez
CF – Scott
RF – Church
DH – HerreraBench – Pozo, Fermin, Urias, Torres
I am concerned with how much Wetherholt’s average has dropped in the last week or so. Maybe he needs to start out at Memphis. Walker needs to go to Memphis and work on things to get back to his potential he showed in 2023.
My gut is telling me that Torres becomes the biggest beneficiary of this trade. I think he might surprise and take a large role in the Cardinals season.
Delvin Perez
Dylan Carlson
Dakota Hudson
Connor Jones
Nick Plummer
Jake Woodford
Bryce Denton
Luke Weaver
Jack Flaherty
Ronnie WilliamsThat’s the list of Cardinals’ first and second round draft picks for 3 consecutive drafts. That’s the type of return the Cardinals COULD wind up with from this trade. With the benefit of hindsight, which 5 would make this a good trade return when they were prospects?
My initial thoughts are that Cijntje becomes a #2-3 SP. Ledbetter and Peete never become ML regulars. The 2 picks are either used to give more draft money to reach for a hard to sign draft pick or they draft someone who becomes an average ML starting player eventually.
The Cardinals received quantity. The question is what kind of quality will it become?
I would have liked something better than Peete unless he can really make some improvements like Josh Baez did.
14, Velasquez was signed to a minor league contract so he doesn’t have to make the St. Louis roster out of spring training. He could be left in Memphis as backfill or see if he has figured something out.
I find it very odd that Josh Baez is ranked in the top 100 prospects but is only 13th in the Cardinals’ rankings for the same rating system.
Guys, I understand that they are not paying it all this year. I am saying that they COULD and start from a clean payroll slate. $150 million is still less than their total payroll from a couple of years ago.
Brian, the benefit would be that for strictly cash purposes, they would start 2027 with no obligations for players no longer on the team. They would not need to reduce the 2027 payroll because of dead payroll.
I don’t know how they handle it. I’m just looking at it that they COULD fund it all this year without an issue. That would allow them a complete clean slate going forward.
If you take ALL the money the Cardinals included to trade away Gray, Contreras and Arenado, add it to the amount they will pay to the existing team obligations, they will spend around $150 million this year. Next year, there would be no more responsibility to fund any players that are no longer on the team. They currently have no one signed to a 2027 contract unless they pick up options.
They could really restructure the team quickly, now.
I think the Dodgers will cause the rest of the owners to demand a salary cap. It is at the point that there is no way half of the league can compete regularly. They can be competitive for a couple of years but can’t spend at the level the Dodgers are spending.
The Dodgers will spend more salary and competitive balance tax on Tucker alone in 2026 than the Cardinals will pay to their entire team.
CFICT, I think it is not a slam dunk to trade Donovan. If he brings a great return, trade him. Otherwise, hold on to him at the start of this year. If he could bring a good return at the trade deadline, trade him then. If you still don’t get a good offer, either trade him before 2027 spring training or sign him to an extension.
If the Cardinals could build around an infield of Winn, Donovan, Wetherholt for the next 4 years, I would be very excited and think they could have a very competitive team in 2027.
Bling, McGreevy also runs the risk of injury or regression. He’s no different than Winn or Whetherholt in this regard. Why show favoritism towards him but not the myriad of other prospects or young players?
I would hope that they spoke with Donovan and made it very clear that they would only trade him if they get a great return. I see no reason to close the door on an opportunity to help set the club up for future prosperity. They just need to keep Donovan in the loop and stroke his ego.
I am finally at the point that the Cardinals should give Arenado plus the $5 million of Rockies money and $20 million of Cardinals money to whoever gives the best return. He may be good in 2026 but he is not needed on this Cardinals team. They need to figure out how they will man the infield in 2027. The Cardinals could be pretty competitive in 2027 if they put things together right.
I would like to know who reported that trade. It would be a good trade for the Cardinals if that was the return for just Donovan. I think I would try to get Sirota instead of George. I’m sure the Cardinals would have to sweeten their side of the deal, though.