Cardinals News: Next star, Rule 5 results, Ryan Helsley trade rumors update

The Winter Meetings provided the baseball world with a lot of action this year, and while the St. Louis Cardinals remained passive, the news cycle continues to spin for the organization.

I went through the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Winter Meetings for the Cardinals yesterday and you can check that out here, but today I want to do a brief recap on some news that you may have missed regarding the club. But first, I'd like to address a narrative that has been rising to the surface this past week.

In light of massive free agent contracts for Juan Soto, Blake Snell, and Max Fried among others, as well as the type of trade packages required to acquire a Garrett Crochet or Kyle Tucker, many pundits have pointed out that this is further evidence that the Cardinals will need to develop their next star, as the likelihood of them going out and paying these prices is slim to none.

I mostly agree with that sentiment, but I want to provide a few caveats.

Given the current state of the organization, the Cardinals are not positioned to spend wildly on free agents or trade away their farm system for a star. Using their own words, a "reset" is needed for their player development, farm system, and payroll so that they can be opportunistic in the future. I do think there will come a day when the Cardinals need to be willing to swim in those waters for top free agents, but not anytime soon.

The Cardinals are never going to have a payroll like the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers, and that is okay. Plenty of clubs have shown they can compete at a high level without that. It takes a well-run organization to pull that off though, and Chaim Bloom is tasked with creating that. If the Cardinals start to operate long-term in the payroll range of a Rays or Guardians, that would be a huge miss. But if they can take what makes those organizations successful and pair it with a strong payroll, then the club can make big additions that supplement their emerging young talent.

But can we all agree that we need to stop saying they need to develop their "next Albert Pujols"? That kind of player is literally once in a generation. Yes, the Cardinals need to develop more stars and superstars, but no one is going to be Pujols.

Cardinals News: Rule 5 results, Ryan Helsley trade rumors update

The Cardinals did not select anyone in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 draft his year but did have LHP Connor Thomas selected away from them by the Milwaukee Brewers. Thomas will hope to stick with their big league roster this year or will be returned to the Cardinals.

In the minor league portion, the Cardinals selected LHP Oddanier Mosqueda, RHP Angel Gonzalez, RHP Jawilme Ramirez, and OF Miguel Ugeto. They lost RHP Henry Gomez, RHP Trent Baker, C Aaron McKeithan, RHP Brandon Komar, SS/OF Lizandro Espinoza, and RHP Augusto Calderon.

Finally, you may have already seen this today, but Brewers closer Devin Williams was traded to the New York Yankees today for LHP Nestor Cortes and INF Caleb Durbin. Williams was one of the top closers available in the trade market this offseason, and so this move is notable for those who have wondered what Helsley could fetch on the trade market.

Well, all reports lately indicate that the Cardinals are not inclined to move Helsley this offseason. Instead, Mozeliak likes the idea of having Helsley on the roster to remain competitive next year, and perhaps he believes they could cash in on his value at the trade deadline for a higher price.