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Hopefully someone asks ownership a little about their finances, mainly the local TV deal…. they dropped from $75 million to $58 million with the restructuring of Bally/Diamond in 2024, but the Cardinals also own 30% equity share in Fan Duel Sports Midwest….seems like that 30% equity is not calculated in when they discuss the impact the new TV deal had on them and then also the dramatic cut in their payroll from 2024 to 2025 and then in to 2026.
The 5 catchers are Pages and Pozo who are perennial backups….Herrera who gets hurt when he plays catcher and cannot throw, and then a player at AA that looks a decent prospect and they also have at A ball who is a top prospect who is not on the 40 man….they also released and resigned Pozo so he is easily expendable.
I think a lefthanded hitting catcher like Crooks that was really good in AA and solid in his first year in AAA and is under control would hopefully get a better look for a team that appears to be going nowhere this year
Why would they trade Crooks…he is under control at mlb avg salary for many years, if he makes the ML team, last year was his first year at Memphis
I will be surprised if they spend the $20 mill on anyone, there payroll cut in the last 2 years is pretty drastic….almost looks like they are cutting payroll to sell the team (which I hope is the case)
Looks like they save $15 million this year and then $5million next year with the buyout if they decided not to retain Gray ….so they paid Boston $20 million but saved $20 million over the 2 years.
Now the problem is they have no veteran presence in the rotation and the starting 5 is shakier than an old wooden roller coaster
Liberatore
McGreevyPallante
Fitz
Leahy
RobyIt sure sounds like they are trying to get payroll down to the $100-110 million range
Arrenado they probably have to pay 1/2 his remaining salary; he makes $16 mill this year,and I think has 2 more years left after 2026, the Rockies may be on the hook still for some. I would definitely trade and eat up to 50% of his deal
Gray they probably have to pay some of his, he makes $35 mill this year, assume they would have to pay around $10 million….I assume the Cardinals are going to have a young rotation, a vet may help but if they can get something decent I could see it
Donovan is projected around $6 million, can’t see trading him unlesss they get a pretty decent starting pitcher in return
Nootbar is projected around $5-5.5 million…not sure he is tradable with his surgery on his heels but I would trade him if he gets healthy
If they get rid or Arrenado, Gray and Nootbar for around those figures they would save around $38 million
Their current projected payroll with all those named-above on the team is around $135 million according to Sportrac for 2026
Weatherholt played some 3b at Memphis at end of the year…..Winn may not be Ozzie Smith but he is still pretty darn good and young and cheap….him and Weatherholt are pretty good building blocks…along with Donovan on the infield
May be impressed with his work with the DR team in winter ball he took to a title, they had a pretty young team….also the Orioles President of Baseball was a scout with the Cardinals when
Pujols played in St. LouisThey saved about $40 million or so in payroll from 2024 to 2025, other than some hires in player development what else did they do, I think they said they were going to upgrade their facilities for development but never heard if they did
Dewitt’s dream is probably trading Gray and only having to pay 5-7 million of his salary, then resigning Mikolas for $10 million
The cardinals basically saved $4 million on the Matz deal…it’s a little scary that it was that much of a priority when if they finished 5 games over .500 they could have been in the playoffs…to me just shows they are focused on money/profits than winning games at least for this year….Think that is why they also saw a drop of 750,000 in attendance.
My take away is the Organization is not serious about winning, if you are…. you sure do have an idea on budget and potential cost of players (starting Pitchers you may want to try and sign) for 2026. The 2026 Rotation has more holes than Swiss cheese. What have they been doing this past several months, they surely were not planning for the playoffs.
Marmol gets another year, the guy has done nothing the last 3 years that give you any confidence that he can be a winning manager ….he is 23 games under .500 the last 3 years. This decision makes no sense, why would Bloom not want his own Manager, there is no way Marmol impressed him by finishing 6 games under 500 (they played like they were 20 games under the last 2 months)….this has to be them not wanting to buy him out of his final year. If Bloom is so enthralled with Marmol why didn’t they extended him 2-3 years.
I don’t see anything to get excited about if I am a casual fan or any type of a fan, it’s just more of the same stuff they have been peddling the last few years, no wonder attendance was down 750,000 fans this last year.
I would rather keep Gray if you are going to have 4 young pitchers in the rotation with him, can be a mentor type role plus he is a pretty decent pitcher
But they seem more focused on saving $ above everything else, that is at least my impression of this year and it looks like next year as well
Is Dewitt looking to Reduce MLB payroll to under $100 Million next year…If they trade Gray and Arenado for 50% discounts they have a real good chance.
Money off the Books after this year is over is around $32 Million (Mikolas, Helsley/Matz money before trade)
It’s hard to have much interest when the organization doesn’t seem to care ….hard to believe this team is 4 back in the wildcard and you just feel they have no chance at all
In my opinion he has been a disaster with the younger players over his 4 years…he has to go or they are going nowhere….need a new culture in the organization ASAP
I will give you one they really missed but it was in the 2nd round of 2022 from a player that pitched in the State of Missouri
At 59 the Cardinals took Brycen Mautz….who hopefully will work out
at 63 the Brewers selected Jacob Misiorowski who pitched at Crowder College in Neosho, MO
Misiorowski has come back to earth some after his DL stint but this one will be interesting to follow the next few years
Saying that though …there is no way to hit on all the players you draft and you will miss on a lot of really good ones that go to other teams that you don’t select
Crooks hits a homer yesterday, so Marmol decides to sit him today instead of getting a young guy some experience for next year.
Think this says a lot about Marmol knowing his job is on the line
But it’s another example of how he has been a terrible manager for young player development.
There is probably someone they can get off the scrap heap for next year
Walker Buehler was just released by Red Sox, Mikolas on a cheap incentive deal to eat some innings, those type of pitchers are probably pretty attractive to DeWitt
