Cardinals All-Quarter Century Team after 25 years of historic baseball

Let's take a trip down memory lane building the best possible Cardinals team from the last 25 years.
MLB 2005: Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals
MLB 2005: Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals | Sporting News Archive/GettyImages
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Outfield/Designated Hitter

Left Field: Matt Holliday

Honestly, I am starting to think Matt Holliday may be one of the most underrated Cardinals in franchise history. He was rarely the best player on the team, but was the model of high-end consistency, posting five seasons with a wRC+ of 140 or higher and only posting a wRC+ lower than 125 once in his seven and a half seasons with St. Louis. Among Cardinals all-time with 4000 or more plate appearances, Holliday ranked in the top 10 in OBP, SLG, and wRC+. The Cardinals don't have the kind of success they had from 2009-2016 without Holliday.

Center Field: Jim Edmonds

I still cannot believe Jim Edmonds is not in the Hall of Fame. Edmonds was one of the best defensive center fielders we have ever seen, collecting eight career Gold Gloves while making some of the most iconic grabs in baseball history. Edmonds also has a higher wRC+ than Ken Griffey Jr. and was one of the most feared hitters of the 2000s. Among Cardinals position players since 2000, he's in the top three in fWAR, OBP, SLG, wRC+, and is arguably the best two-way player the Cardinals have ever had.

Right Field: J.D. Drew

There were a few candidates for this spot, but the Cardinals' phenom of the late 1990s and early 2000s was an incredible hitter and solid corner outfield defender for St. Louis. The Cardinals missed out on an insane 8.2 fWAR season from Drew in 2004 when they traded him for Jason Marquis and Adam Wainwright, but Drew was still incredible as a Cardinal, slashing .289/.384/.505, good for the fourth-best wRC+ (132) among St. Louis position players over the last 25 years.

Designated Hitter: Paul Goldschmidt

There were a number of players who could have gone here, but Paul Goldschmidt has to be in the Cardinals' starting nine since the year 2000. Over his six seasons with St. Louis, Goldschmidt posted the fifth-best wRC+ (131) among Cardinals position players and was the only other MVP winner the Cardinals had aside from Albert Pujols this century thus far. Outside of his brutal ending with the Cardinals in 2024, Goldschmidt was a consistent threat in the middle of the Cardinals' lineup and is a future Hall of Famer.

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