St. Louis Cardinals: Mike Girsch sending mixed signals about 2018

The St. Louis Cardinals’ new General Manager has made a couple of comments recently, catching the attention of Cardinal Nation.

On August 25th, the St. Louis Cardinals‘ General Manager, Mike Girsch, delivered a puzzling, if not shocking, couple of comments. I’ll get to the comments shortly, but I noticed something about Girsch we previously didn’t see.

Ever since August came around, Girsch has been more visible to the organization and fans. About a month ago, on one of our podcast episodes, we wondered where Girsch was. The St. Louis Cardinals appointed Girsch as General Manager a couple of weeks into June, but didn’t really hear from him as the trade deadline in July came and went.

You want to see the GM make a name for himself and be visible. It gives the fans a chance to see what he has to offer, after being in obscurity since his appointment. However, after last night, I’m not sure how kindly fans will react to what Girsch had to say.

Thanks to @KnuppelRodney, we get a glimpse of what the St. Louis Cardinals will look like in 2018.

The #1 concerning thing Girsch said last night was: “We feel we could already have our 2018 roster put together w/ what we have”. #stlcards— Rodney (@KnuppelRodney) August 26, 2017The #1 concerning thing Girsch said last night was: “We feel we could already have our 2018 roster put together w/ what we have”. #stlcards— Rodney (@KnuppelRodney) August 26, 2017

Girsch also says: “We will be losing Lance Lynn this offseason.”#stlcards— Rodney (@KnuppelRodney) August 25, 2017Girsch also says: “We will be losing Lance Lynn this offseason.”#stlcards— Rodney (@KnuppelRodney) August 25, 2017

After reading those two comments, I can certainly understand if you are angry. I don’t know whether Girsch is toying with words or not, but if you are not upset over these comments, then I suspect you haven’t really been watching this team compete this year.

Mixed signals

I’ll first address the obvious conflict between the two comments. If Girsch believes the roster is already set for 2018, why would you say the second comment? To me, saying anything about the 2018 roster at this point is meaningless, but the nature of the first comment is laughable.

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Mike Girsch would have you believe the current roster will be good enough next year, after being one of the biggest headaches I have ever seen out of a St. Louis Cardinals team.

That’s not to say some of the players on this roster are bad. But the obvious holes, not only in the lineup, but in the bullpen as well, thanks to Rosenthal’s injury, say different.

Here is my larger point: Saying or feeling like the current roster can compete next years is a disservice to this fan base.

After going through the torment of inconsistencies of the 2017 season, you would think the organization would like itself in the mirror and change something, anything.

We continue to support this team through mediocrity and then get slapped down by comments like this? I guess get used to the frustrations of this year to play out next year too. Maybe in 2019 the team will actually feel compelled to do something, after not having three million in fan attendance in 2018. I’m just saying.

Lance Lynn

Contrary to what @KnuppelRodney thinks, I actually believe the Lance Lynn comments are more important than the team comments. Over the last four weeks or so, I took a look at the decision not to trade Lance Lynn.

I think it was fair of John Mozeliak and Mike Girsch not to trade him because of the relevance of the standings for the St. Louis Cardinals. However, more news came out about his trade potential. The front office told us a deal for Lynn just didn’t have the return they wanted, which led me to say his asking price was too high.

I accepted the fate of Lance Lynn and then went through the options of what the St. Louis Cardinals will do in the off-season.. Finally, I predicted what the Cardinals will do in the off-season with Lynn. However, now, that seems all but dead.

In the last of my three-part series, I said the Cardinals would sign Lance Lynn to a new deal for four years worth around $100 million dollars. It’s a reasonable guess compared to how he has performed this season. But if we take Girsch’s word for what it is, then I have a BIG problem with how they handled this entire thing.

Related Story: Lance Lynn and the trade deadline part three

If it’s true, why would you not trade Lance Lynn at the deadline? With Lynn not returning, what could stop you from trading him to improve the overall team? It just makes no sense to me. The only option by letting him walk now becomes offering him a qualifying offer so that when he does sign with another team, the Cardinals will receive draft compensation.

This is precisely why I said the price tag on Lynn was too high. The obvious catch here is you wouldn’t trade Lynn for “nothing.” However, if you know he is leaving, take what you can get and don’t look back. You’re obviously not going to this off-season when he leaves.

Next: Alcantara moving to a bullpen role

I don’t know if Girsch learned any deception from John Mozeliak, but if these comments hold up, you can expect an angry fan base for the next season as well.