Cardinals fan issues pertinent reminder about 2022 Juan Soto trade rumors

Remember how good things were in 2022? Led by a resurgent cast of franchise legends, the St. Louis Cardinals flourished in the second half and took home their most recent division crown with a 93-69 record.

At that year's trade deadline, though, the team nearly went all-in on one of the biggest names in the sport. Juan Soto, then a 23-year-old with a laundry list of immaculate credentials, was on the trading block, and the Redbirds were one of the organizations pursuing him most closely.

We don't know exactly what their final offer looked like, but it's not hard to guess given the rumors that were circulating at the time and the package the San Diego Padres eventually surrendered to nab Soto. Nolan Gorman was thought to be on the table, while Masyn Winn, Matthew Liberatore, Alec Burleson, and Gordon Graceffo were all name-dropped as top prospects of interest.

Oh, and don't forget Jordan Walker, the Cardinals' best prospect at the time and the apple of every seller's eye at the deadline. Though it took him a few years to find his way, it's clear that the front office was right to keep him around, even if it meant passing on Soto.

Jordan Walker's breakout is proof that Cardinals don't need to chase stars to compete

The butterfly effect of baseball is a revisionist's nightmare, but it's safe to say that, even if the Cardinals landed Soto in 2022, they wouldn't have re-signed him prior to his fateful tour of free agency. He wound up signing the largest contract in North American sports history, coaxing $765 million out of the desperate New York Mets in December 2024.

Meanwhile, Walker is a 24-year-old putting up MVP-caliber numbers on a pre-arb salary, slashing .301/.359/.557 (156 wRC+) across 63 games this season. It's an evolution that took longer than most of us expected, but he's already set or tied career highs in home runs (16), stolen bases (10), OPS (.916), and fWAR (2.5).

As pointed out in the Tweet above, Walker is even outperforming Soto this year, with a decisive advantage in WAR (1-point difference) and wRC+ (9-point difference). Part of that is due to the fact that Soto missed time with an injury earlier in the year, but it's telling that the Cardinals are getting so much more bang for their buck and are exceeding all expectations, while the Mets are bringing up the rear of the NL East.

This isn't to suggest that Walker is a better player than Soto -- the latter is one of the best pure hitters in the history of the sport -- but rather a reminder that superstar chasing sometimes comes with too high a cost. With Walker (and Burleson, Liberatore, Winn, and others) still in tow, the Cardinals are proving that you can still win with a homegrown core.

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