Is the St. Louis Cardinals front office scared to repeat past mistakes?

The St. Louis Cardinals have a long history of being a top team in baseball. But their reputation has begun to transition into fear.

The St. Louis Cardinals have always been one of the better teams in baseball. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember. Now, it’s unfair to say that they are always good and never have any low’s, because we all know that’s not true. But that doesn’t change the fact that this team has been recognized as a winning organization.

I’m only 21 years old, but I remember growing up watching players like Albert Pujols, Brendan Ryan, Ryan Ludwick, Chris Carpenter and Yadier Molina. I’m sure you’re curious as to why I’m mentioning all this, but it’s because of a couple different reasons.

First, the Cardinals have always seemed to put together a winning team regardless of the competition in not just the NL Central, but all of baseball. They trusted the process of prospects and it’s one of the things that keeps not just Cardinals fans, but most baseball fans, in awe.

Nowadays, teams with a big market like the New York Mets, New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, are more than willing to trade for the big name, or go out and give a big contract to players in order to create a lineup that should only be possible in the MLB game ‘Road to the show’.

The reason I mention that last bit was more to show the fact that the Cardinals are one of the few teams left that really trust their farm system.

The second part to that is that the Cardinals, who always trust their system to create their next generation of players, don’t generally go out and make the big signing. However, could it be more to that? Could they be scared to make moves?

Cardinals Lackluster offseason

The St. Louis Cardinals current roster has promise, but is there enough talent to really make a run for the World series?

You look at their roster there is a lot of questions and when it comes to a team looking to win a World Series, question aren’t good. First question that is currently being asked is in light of a recent injury.

Jack Flaherty’s status for the start of the season in question after an injury that was recently brought to the Cardinals attention. So, with Flaherty possibly out for a period of time, what are the Cardinals rotation going to look like?

Given the fact that the Cardinals just signed Steven Matz, you can already assume that he’ll be taking on a higher role that what was originally anticipated. But is that a good thing?

This year’s free agency class was filled with a lot of pitching talent, and yet the Cardinals walked away with Steven Matz. They could’ve had Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Jon Gray, Robbie Ray and many more. Yet, once again, they ended up with Matz.

It’s not the fact that they signed Matz that’s getting me. It’s the fact that there were a lot more pitchers out there that could potentially give you more than Matz that the Cardinals didn’t go after.

The second question is who is going to be the Cardinals’ Opening Day shortstop?

With Paul Dejong coming off a very poor season, the outside opinion is that the Cardinals should either start Edmundo Sosa or sign someone. However, after reading a lot of reports and the fact that spring training is right around the corner, it seems a lot more likely that the Cardinals will role with the combination of both Sosa and Dejong.

I expect, knowing the Cardinals’ previous problems at the shortstop position, they will more than likely play the hot hand to start the season. But is that the best course of action?

In this year’s free agency, the Cardinals could’ve pursued Carlos Correa, Javier Baez, Trevor Story, Corey Seager or Marcus Semien, but they didn’t. Now, they do have Paul Dejong on a team friendly contract, and Sosa showed promise last season, but when you look at how they matchup to the rest of the league, the Cardinals are undoubtedly at the bottom half.

Trevor Story is still out there along with Correa, but recent reports have stated that the Cardinals are not very interested in either. They don’t want to give a big contract to someone when it could later impact their team and prevent them from making moves in the future.

St. Louis Cardinals are Afraid of the Past

The St. Louis Cardinals, as I stated above, have a hard time with free agency signings. There have been a couple very good signings. I mean, you can even look back to last season.

They signed Luis Garcia and T.J. McFarland, and without them two, don’t make the playoffs. They were both such a huge part to their success, and quite frankly, I’m still trying to figure out why the Cardinals didn’t re-sign Luis Garcia.

They did sign Matz to a big contract, but his name doesn’t hold the same weight as Max Scherzer or Robbie Ray.

Now, if you recall from the previous slide, the Cardinals have a lot of needs and it could’ve been addressed with some of the players out there. Between the need of starting pitchers, relief pitchers, and the shortstops out there, they could’ve easily addressed the holes. But they didn’t really do much.

In contrast to that, It’s been reported that the Cardinals are looking to add depth which is important, but it’s also important to make sure you have firepower. Someone you can always count on to give you a good outing, or someone that can give your lineup a boost.

That’s what leads me to believe that the front office is scared to go out and make that move. They don’t have a great history when signing those types of players and maybe the backlash of how the Fowler signing worked out, they are afraid to make the same mistake twice.

I could be wrong but when it comes to competing, you have to put out a team that can win games against the best. Because of the holes this team has that hasn’t quite been addressed, it’s hard to think that they weren’t scared.

This was a perfect offseason to address the needs this team has, but they didn’t do anything other than sign a couple relief pitchers and a starting pitcher. Hard to think there isn’t a secondary narrative to just “trusting the farm system.”