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858booyah
No I don’t but it seems people are already saying crooks can’t hack it and idk if they’ll just go out and get a catcher via FA when you have 2 cost controlled backstops who can be easily let loose if either Crooks or Bernal just have nowhere else to go . You also appear to have a log jam at the position. So in order for Bernal to get looks in AAA you either move Crooks to the main or you figure a timeshare where they both C-DH in Memphis next season.
Crooks and Bernal need more time to develop. It’s more like he likely won’t be able to ‘hack it’ in 2026 if that makes sense.
LACardFan
Derrick Goold, the Cardinals PR man, recently indicated the Cardinals are not planning to be spenders in free agency.
And yes, Goold is the PR man of the organization, so call it what you want.
That really bums me out. What a joke.
LACardFan
That is way out of the Cardinals budget for 2026.
I don’t know if you are being sarcastic, but this honestly sounds like brainwashing or propaganda. The payroll was $40M higher in 2024 than 2025 and 2026 will be another $30M lower as we currently stand.
That’s a $70M drop.
I think Realmuto would be an excellent free agent pickup.
He’s still an above-average catcher defensively, although his bat has dipped to below-average. He’s gonna be 35 so it would be a short-term deal, maybe 2yr/$36-40M?
That allows us to give Bernal some runway so Crooks/Pages/Pozo can be the backup in 2026, then re-evaluate in 2027 with Bernal in the mix.
Danny Jansen would be another similar, lower-quality, addition.
Free agent-wise, I see the Cardinals adding someone like Chris Bassitt. Maybe Quintana again also.
I’d like to see Tyler Mahle targeted. Likewise, some guys like Gallen, Dustin May.
I don’t see any position players added. Maybe a catcher so we aren’t pushing Crooks too fast.
Jnevel
Says our resident Doomsayer! A year and a half ago there was no way we were ever going to produce a competent starting pitching candidate and now we have 3 that are there. None is great. But still 3 number 3 or 4 starters.
Who are all these #3 starters on our team?
We only have ONE starter that has a slightly above-average ERA in Liberatore. I’d rather they start over completely on the rotation than make due with what we have.
To really be competitive, we probably need to have Libertore penciled in as our #5.
stlcard25
Max Scherzer
Chris Bassitt
Tyler MahleFinally bringing Scherzer home at 41 years old!
Who they will get: Bassitt seems really likely to me. Durable, short-term due to age, still a name. Of course, a QO and losing a pick would change this if they offer it.
Who I’d like them to get: Mahle – He’s finally healthy (sort of) this year and at just 31 years old, he still has some years left.
ZTR
Maybe Doyle steps in at the #5 spot immediately? The SEC is about like playing AA ball? Not sure on an accurate comparison….
Just looking at Hagen Smith and Chase Burns from last year, I don’t see that quick of a call-up. Smith is doing okay playing in AA right now for the White Sox 3.32 ERA but 6 BB/9. Chase Burns was at UT, but was drafted out of Wake Forest. Burns did well in the minors with a 1.77 ERA across 3 levels and 13 starts, but he’s been all over the place for the Reds with a 6.26 ERA. I think these two represent about where Doyle will fall out.
858booyah
Matz for Jordan looks like a good deal on paper.
Look under the hood a bit more and you’ll see a guy who might be a 20 homer bat who is slow and has limited range and is limited to first almost exclusively. My guess is money is going back to Boston.
Jordan is still playing 3B at AAA in a 50/50 split (with 1B). It would be rough going from Arenado to Jordan, but we did put up with Carpenter and Freese at the hot corner for several years.
Either way, this is a player we can really use. Plus he’s actually younger than Wetherholt.
Ratsbuddy
Are those players from the Mets #8 and #14 for the Mets?
Or are they #8 and #14 overall for the entire big leagues?
There could be a huge difference here.
If they are #8 and #14 for the Mets we got basically nothing for Helsley. Players that won’t ever amount to a hill of beans. Nice job Mo.
To be fair, Jesus Baez was ranked #92, in the top 100 in all of baseball, by Baseball America prior to the 2025 season.
I’m not exactly a fan of this trade just on the basis of wanting quality over quantity. In 2023, we got a bunch of players and none of them have really turned into much. Just wish they would do a one for one and get the best single prospect possible.
blingboy
There is no good reason to keep Contreras other than the difficulty/cost of moving him.
I’d like to keep the few consistent above-average players that we have left.
bicyclemike
We talk a lot about Walker and Gorman, and rightly so as there are still fairly high expectations for those guys, or at least some hope they can get into a groove. But one guy kind of under the radar who seems to have lost it as well is Pedro Pages. He was not thought of as a big offensive guy, but he at least held his own. He is really down right now, well below the Mendoza line. I don’t know how long we can run him out there, as his defense is not so overwhelming that you can put up with an automatic out.
He may go down as one of the worst starting catchers we’ve ever had. Molina in ’06 and ’22 at least had good-to-elite defense to go with his batting lines. Marrero and Pagnozzi and company in the late 90s were pretty awful too.
The short answer is Contreras is still productive and the Cardinals never trade players at their peak.
Also, just like Arenado and Gray, he has a NTC so it’s really up to him. He stated that he already won a World Series so he isn’t interested in chasing that and wants to stay put.
I am not sure I understand the facination with trading all of our high-dollar players that won’t bring back any prospects. Like Gray and Arenado, we won’t get a prospect back without eating a substantial part of their salary.
So you have to ask whether these theoretical logjams are worth eating $10s of millions of dollars. I personally don’t see a logjam. Contreras and Arenado can simply stay put at 1B and 3B through 2027/2028. The young guys like Nootbaar, Walker, Gorman, and Saggese aren’t exactly pushing them.
Brian Walton
In the DeWitt years, the pattern was to trade for veterans to be MOTO bats. McGwire, Edmonds, Rolen, Holliday and more recently Goldy and Arenado.
Randy Karraker talked about why this has changed.
I think this line of thinking is flawed. The Athletics would’ve probably been fine trading Rooker to us last year for Walker for instance. We could’ve overwhelmed a team for that power bat. It’s all in the perceived value.
Like the Ozuna trade. It didn’t work out as Ozuna was only a little above average, but if he would’ve been the Ozuna of 2017 or 2020, we would not have been nearly as upset about the trade.
There were guys out there for the taking if you could get them like Arizona getting Suarez from Seattle. Buxton was on the trading block two years ago. Schwarber will be a free agent as would Alonso (not sure on QO status on them).
Guys like Luis Robert or Bryan Reynolds are very much in the vein of what Suarez and Buxton were back in 2023.
Odd timing with no logjam presently. Like you said, let the auditions begin. Selfishly, I like it for my fantasy team as I have him and Langeliers and it’s difficult playing them both!
Ratsbuddy
And try and sign a bat in the off-season.
Since we don’t have anybody that can hit finding someone that can should be our #1 priority in the off-season.
I’d really like them to go outside the box and get Munetaka Murakami, 1B/3B. It will be a big contract, but if they want to add a player that’s impactful and still young, this is the move.
Brian Walton
In 2023, that rotation replacement was Drew Rom, who made eight starts after the trade with an 8.02 ERA. Surely they can do better than that this time! 😉
The current AAA rotation doesn’t have much either with McGreevy now in the majors. It’s really unfortunate how many injuries we’ve had among our prospects.
I think he would be able to start pitching again in September next year and maybe pitch some in the AFL.
Ready to go by spring training of 2027 as a dark horse candidate for the ML bullpen or start the year in AAA if they want him to start. He could’ve made the ML bullpen this year if he wasn’t hurt.
A talent like him should be on the Tommy Pham plan at the least.
Man that is really a shame that they left that $700k on the table. They could have gone with a guy like Conor Essenburg in the 5th round, who the Braves got, which would’ve put them right at the limit.
CardsFanInChiTown
Hopefully the following are gone on 8/1.
Helsley
Maton
Matz
Mikolas
JojoThese would all be great deadline moves and only the bullpen would be affected. Maybe they can target a AAA pitcher that is blocked as the Helsley return to fill Mikolas ‘spot’ in the rotation, since that is so important.
It seems we should’ve gone for quality rather than quantity with our 2023 deadline deals.
I think you could say we did a soft sell in 2018 though too. We dealt Pham for Cabrera and Williams and Luke Voit for Gallegos.
blingboy
I nice long stint in AAA, a full season at the least, is important. Opponents have a chance to discover and expose the holes and find ways to exploit them. Then there is the chance to fix the holes. Hopefully those wanting Wetherholt up right away will not get their wish and we can avoid another Walker fiasco. He is going to have to have good pitch recognition and swing discipline. he will have to be able to foul off pitches too good to take with two strikes. He will have to be able to make solid contact with pitches that are not right in his wheelhouse. The org can’t just watch him launch mistakes and forget about everything else. And decide where he will play and put him there for a good stretch before he gets here. Avoiding left side, right side swaps, back and forth wood be a good idea. I just about puked when they did that to Walker in the outfield.
I completely agree. The only caveat is that Walker and Wetherholt are nearly the same age now and I wish Walker was treated as such by the fans since he was so rushed by mgmt.
Really odd, my computer had me logged out, but I just realized I can’t see any threads started by gscottar if I’m logged out.
Anyway, terrible news about Roby. He was really showing promise this year. With the surgery so late, it’ll be 2027 before we will see him again.
