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They at least have some Organizational depth at Catcher with Crooks, Bernal and Rodriguez….they don’t have much MLB depth right now as Pages is more of a backup. The good thing with Crooks is he is a left-handed hitter.
They have some serious holes in the rotation and the corner OF spots that really need to be addressed or they need to get real creative in how they use Herrera and Burleson for 1 spot and maybe a platoon of Walker/Nootbar for the other spot if they are claiming they are broke… bullpen is a mystery as well.
I also wonder if Arrenado would be more flexible in his no trade stance if say Donovan beats him out next year for 3rd base….you would not get much and would have to probably eat a good portion of his salary but I assume he still wants to start and that would clear a spot.
The top free agent for 2026 though has to be a new Manager.
2022 was probably their best lineup, but it was also Goldschmidt’s best year as a Cardinal and probably Arenado’s best year….they still had holes in the lineup when Gorman played 2nd, DeJong when he played SS he hit .157, and O’Neil, Nootbar and Carlson all struggled to make contact in the OF….Bader was hitting probably close to a career high .256 before he was traded.
That team also had pretty good starting pitching, which has really dropped off in recent years for a variety of reasons…Just this year Liberatore is their only pitcher with a sub 4 ERA at 3.96
2022 rotation
Mikolas …….12 wins 13 losses 3.29 ERA
Wainwright..11 wins 12 losses 3.71 ERA
Montgomery..6 wins 3 losses 3.11 ERA
Quintana……..3 wins 2 losses…2.01 ERAThey have had a problem for about the last 5 years or so of having 3 or 4 easy outs in the lineup, until they address this they are not going anywhere…only way that would work is if you had lights out starting pitching which I don’t see.
Also the Cardinals are 21st in MLB in stolen bases w/ 62, which is pretty hard to believe b/c they have 3 or 4 guys that can run fairly well….they just don’t for some reason don’t run or put runners in motion, I am putting that on the Manager’s philosophy. Hopefully that will change when he is shown the door at the end of the year.
Potential nicknames for the Cardinals (lack of) offense;
The Big Dead Machine
The Smush Brothers
Oil’s Wallflowers
The Gassed Out Gang
In the Cardinals last 25 losses they have scored 2 or fewer runs in 19 of those games. They have been shutout in 10 of those 25 losses.
Cardinals need more guys that can consistently hit in the lineup to provide some lineup depth and protection
The knock on Jordan seems to be he has no real position b/c of range so he may just be a DH… he does appear to be able to hit wherever he has been…. he is hitting .298 with 6 HR’s at AAA this year, he hit .320 with 6 HR’s at AA before being promoted
If anything this gives them some more depth in the Orginization to hopefully make some future moves…they are definitely going to need some starting pitching next year
If I were the Cardinals I may have tried to get Joe Ryan from the Twins fire sale …could have helped for next year and beyond
With Matz, Fedde, Mikolas, Maton and Helsley…..that’s $48.7 million in Salary off the books from 2025 into 2026
They save roughly 7 million for 2025 with these trades
There MLB 2025 payroll will be around $129 Million…..that is a $50 million cut from 2024 roughly
In 2024 there MLB Payroll was $179.5 Million
2026 Payroll could be real interesting if they don’t do anything in free agency, though Gray will be an Extra $10 Million b/c of the contract structure.
Cardinals grade: A-
The St. Louis Cardinals were 8-15 in July entering Wednesday, no doubt changing their thinking from playoff contender to playoff pretender and leading to this trade. Baez is the headline prospect, No. 5 on Kiley McDaniel’s list of the top 10 prospects in a deep Mets system. The 20-year-old has played all over the infield — he’s probably headed to third base in the long run — and is hitting .244/.334/.406 in High-A.
He has plus bat speed and some high-end exit velocity readings, and despite being young for his league, he has kept his strikeout rate in check at just 16%. Though the numbers don’t necessarily jump out, his .740 OPS is well above the South Atlantic League average of .672. He’s hardly a sure thing, but the upside here makes Baez a nice return for a reliever with an expiring contract.
Dohm is the better of the two pitching prospects, a third-round pick last year out of Mississippi State who has a 2.87 ERA as a starter across two levels of A-ball. He has been handled carefully after his junior season in college was cut short because of a forearm strain, but he’s a fastball-heavy pitcher with a good slider. He was up to 99 mph as a reliever for the Bulldogs, so that could be his ultimate destination.
Pretty difficult to evaluate A ball players, but if you look at the draft from a few weeks ago and this trade there seems to be a pattern of what they are looking for:
Plate discipline and exit velocity are part of the formula it seems on hitters
And velocity for pitchers
I would think Gallen needs to turn it around this year some before he gets a lot of cash thrown at him.
I got a feeling they are going to take payroll down to about $100-110 million for 2026 and see what shakes out from their system, and then maybe put a little money into 2027
Matthews threw a ton of pitches in college including 156 pitches in a super regional, I don’t recall him throwing upper 90’s in college
Cardinals have roughly $48-50 million coming off their books next year with ….Mikolas, Helsley, Matz, Fedde, Maton
That would bring their Major League Payroll down to around $85 million with Gray and Aranado still on the team going by Sportrac.
They will have a few players that get more money, but that is some reduction from 2024’s payroll…. unless they plan on adding some free agents.
The same guy that made this disaster trade is still running the ship at the trade deadline this year.
Can’t wait to see what he comes up with.
I’d like to see this lineup at least 1 time this year
Donavan……………….3B
Weatherholt…..2B
Herrera……………..DH
Contreras………..1B
Burleson…………..OF
Winn……………………….SS
Nootbar……………..OF
Pozo……………………..C
Scott…………………..CFIf Dewitt can’t afford Donovan’s salary he needs to sell the team, he has to much versatility, you can’t have a line up with a bunch of guys struggling to hit .230, not to mention the Edman trade disaster
If they were to do a complete rebuild for next year 2026, could look something like:
Catcher……..Pages/Crooks/Bernal maybe at some point
1st Base…..Burleson/Gorman
2nd Base…..Donovan/Weatherholt/Fermin
Shortstop….Winn/Weatherholt
3rd Base…..Gorman/Weatherholt/Donavan
DH…………………..Herrera, SaggeseOutfield…..Scott, Nootbar, Walker, Burleson, Church Maybe, Baez might be an option at some point
They are really low on players in the Outfield it seems at MLB and AAA, and really just Baez at AA, who has had a bounce back year
Starting Pitching
Gray
Libertorre
McGreevy
RobyBullpen
Pallante
Graceffo
O’Brien
Roycroft
Granillo
Leahy
Romero
Svanson
Zack Thompson if he can get healthy would be another LH option– Would need a 5th starter in trades (Hence and Mathews would be options if can stay healthy)
– Need some outfielders that can hit
– 1st base is a little shaky as well…
– Bullpen will need some arms
– Probably missed some other optionsThat was a great trade….they are insane if they let the same guy keep making trades this year….hopefully this will be a wake up call
How in the world do you get shutout by the Rockies….has Marmol heard of stolen bases or something like a hit and run.
There is no way that dude can be back as Manager next year….that is 7 shutouts in the last 23 games
I think the Stanford Shortstop Haskins could be a sleeper, his stats, smarts and versatility could be pretty helpful
