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Maybe they think Crooks is their catcher of the future and they want to make sure they have room for him to play in St. Louis at some point in 2025. BTW, Springfield has Crooks, Bernal, and Sammy Hernandez all listed on their roster, with Crooks being the oldest of the three. They also list Bryan Torres, who actually could be the closest to reaching the majors, and they have Carlos Linares who hasn’t been able to hit.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again. I hope we do NOT trade Arenado. And Helsley for that matter.
Hey Rat, ‘ole buddy, ‘ole pal. If you get down to ‘da Lou some time, look me up ’cause I’d like buy you a couple of brews. I even know a place where you can light up one of your stogies and no one will complain.
No, we got here because the Cardinals don’t believe in continuous improvement.
I’ve said this a couple of times before….. IMO, we got here because Goldschmidt and Arenado stopped hitting and stopped playing up to their previous standards. If they were still hitting like they should be and playing like they should be playing, it might have made sense for the organization to lay out some big dollars for a pitcher or a hitter. This is still my opinion.
He loves the teammates who threw him under the bus?
I’m really not sure what to think about the idea that Arenado’s teammates threw him under the bus. To me it looks more like Arenado was the one who threw his teammates under the bus. Arenado’s offensive production fell off a cliff in 2024 compared to what it had been. He publicly stated that his offensive production was failing because the pitchers had gotten so much better. There’s something fishy about that, IMO. He played almost all of the 2024 season at age 33 which is just barely out of his prime years which I think are generally considered ages 27-32. I still love his defense even with the errors he now makes on occasion. Also, it would appear that Arenado becomes the ‘face of the franchise’ with Goldschmidt gone. I have no idea how much monetary value that has in terms of tickets sales and viewership, but I think it’s worth something in dollars.
The Orioles are clearly desperate to strengthen their bullpen. I could stomach trading Helsely if the Orioles could put together an impressive package of prospects. But I think that would also eliminate the Cardinals from any possibility of contending in the NL Central this year.
I agree that Matz could go at anytime
Why in the world would anybody want Matz? The Cardinals have had him for three years and he’s given them next to nothing. It’s likely that most of the St.Louis fan base doesn’t even recognize his name. You would really have to be that ‘eternal optimist’ to offer anything of value to acquire Matz even if the Cardinals would eat some of the money still owed him.
If Gorman is going to strike out over and over and over again, I’d like to see Donovan or Saggesse at 2B. And if Arenado gets traded, Donovan should get a realistic chance at starting at 3B.
40. Findlay
Could rise all the way to the top 20 by next offseason.41. Baez
I sure had high hopes for Baez when drafted. He has to start putting the bat on the ball in 2025, or he’s off the top 50 and on his way out of the organization.42. Watson
So, ‘Why not vote for Michael Watson at No. 42?’There remains the possibility that the Cardinals don’t trade Arenado. If the Cardinals were to eat $15-20M of his remaining contract, it would cost the Cardinals $5-7M/yr, that is, 1/3rd of the $15-20M that they would have to pay to unload him, plus add to that cost whatever they would have to pay their new third baseman. Keeping Arenado would cost the Cardinals the entire $74M that he is due over the next three years, which amounts to $24.6M/yr. Arenado’s presence on he field for the Cardinals might be worth at least half that in ticket revenue because of his reputation and prior success. In addition to that, Arenado could contribute to the Cardinals getting into the playoffs in the weak NL Central which would further increase revenue and, thereby, decrease the cost of keeping him even more. I guess what I’m saying is that, even though the Cardinals want to trade Arenado, they are not ‘over a barrel’ with this. They could just hang onto him, and it wouldn’t really cost them that much.
37. Michael Watson
TCN System Wide Rookie Pitcher of the Year. Palm Beach ERA .68, WHIP 1.050 (13.1 IP)38. Jack Findlay
Spent entire year recovering from TJ. FB in high school reportedly 90MPH, but picked up a tick or two later on. Has three other pitches.39. Keiverson Ramirez
Pitched well in DSL. Third lowest ERA in DSL.All three of these players have, essentially, no track record. Michael Watson just showed up in the organization last summer. Jack Findlay didn’t pitch because of injury. Keiverson Ramirez pitched in the DSL where stats are meaningless. So they’re all at least starting out with a clean slate. For me, ranking numbers 40-50 will be easier because I’ll be ranking them based on what little they have shown so far.
I think Arenado’s defense is being underestimated. Yes, he failed to make some plays that he used to make routinely. But between those plays he still made a lot of highlight reel plays that get outs and win games. I also think his bat would liven up if he was in an environment where he feels he has a chance to win. Arenado’s past performance over the years still puts him in the HOF one day. He’s now only 33 years old. Arenado has statistical value along with respect and veteran presence. The Cardinals should keep him unless they get a trade offer for him that makes sense.
Yelich played like a true superstar for the Brewers for the first two years after they acquired him. He even won MVP-1 in his first year and MVP-2 in his second year. Then, unfortunately, his production dropped off and his physical well being became unreliable. He has posted some very good, but not great, stats since. Regardless of what happens he gets to collect $110.5M from the Brewers and their fans over the remaining years of his contract. At least it’s reassuring to know that his two superstar years had nothing to do with steroids because they happened in this era of MLB where the use of steroids has been eliminated.
I don’t think this team is as bad off as many think, especially if they hold onto Helsley. Starting off the season the rotation looks like Gray, Mikolas, Pallante, Fedde, and Matz. Sure, Gray and Matz could get injured, Mikolas could continue just riding out his contract, Pallante and Fedde could get ‘figured out’ by the rest of the league. But Matthews, Hence, and McGreevy are waiting in the wings. And who knows? Maybe the Cardinals will find a way to sign Roki Sasaki who isn’t yet eligible for free agent money. There are possibilities.
If the Cubs can get Tucker to agree to a reasonable extension at the time of the trade, then it makes sense for both sides, IMO.
This is the second drat in a row where there is not a lot of talent to get excited about after the first 5-10 picks. Hopefully that changes when the college games, and the prep games, get going next spring.
Thank you.
33. Petrutz If he keeps hitting the way he did in 2024, he’ll eventually find his way onto a major league roster.
It’s to the point now where I’ll be voting for projection and hope more than expectation.
Positional tallies of our top 30 prospects…
Interesting observation by stlcard25. This shows that balance in our ranking just happened naturally.
31. Loutos He made a lot of improvement from 2023 to 2024. I think it’s fair to say that he will improve some more coming from 2024 into 2025. He did well in his brief stint in the majors this year. Blake sounded enthusiastic about him in his evaluation of Loutos in the TCN ranking. I feel a little uncomfortable about not ranking him a higher.
32. Dutkanych IV The success rate for TJ surgery is about 80%. Or, to say it another way, better than 3 out of 4 pitchers make it back to MLB after TJ. Based on his pre-injury success, he could soar in this ranking if he comes back healthy, and stays healthy.
33. Mejia He hasn’t shown much yet. The Cardinals gave him $2M to sign and he’s only 19 years old. He could move up considerably in the ranking next year.
The players I will want to keep an eye on from this MiLB Rule 5 draft are Oddonier Mosqueda and Miguel Ugueto, both selected from the Red Sox organization.
Arenado’s line for 2024 – .272/.325/.394/.719 16HR in 578AB Donovan’s line for 2024 – .278/.342/.417/.759 14HR in 587AB
Arenado’s defense has declined, but he still can make highlight reel plays.
Donovan has won a GG for his overall defense.
Gorman is the logical choice to move to 3B since he came up as a third baseman. But he’s still a work in progress. His defense at 2B is only passable. If fans start comparing his defense at 3B to what Arenado could do, it’s going to be tough. Also, Gorman’s offense, with all those strikeouts, have worn me out. I don’t see, at this point, how Gorman even deserves to be a starter. I think Donovan should take over at 3B if Arenado is traded. Saggesse looks like he’s ready. Fermin and even Prieto could back him up at 2B, and both could play SS for awhile, if needed. Or MO could trade for a decent backup utility infielder, or sign one of the free agents.
Let’s see what happens at spring training. If Gorman looks like he’s going to hit, and keep hitting, then let him start the season at 2B. If Gorman looks like he’s going to still be striking out 37.6% of the time, then let Saggesse have the opportunity to play 2B.
