Fans who want to see the Cardinals spend will have to keep practicing "patience"

The St. Louis Cardinals held a couple of press conferences earlier this week as John Mozeliak gave way to Chaim Bloom for the upcoming season and beyond. There was a varying degrees of news from the conferences, and one bit was the fact the Cardinals know they have to spend to compete, but the time has to be right.

Without specifically mentioning the word, Bloom and Bill DeWitt Jr. said all the things that made it appear a rebuild is on tap for at least the 2026 season. While Bloom spent most of his time talking about the current core and mentioned that tough decisions must be made, DeWitt's time on the mic was less inspiring and, honestly, more frustrating at times. The new POBO, Bloom spoke with optimism and mentioned there is a big chunk of payroll that is potentially going to be dealt in Nolan Arenado and Sonny Gray. Along with those two shedding some money, Miles Mikolas just finished the final year of his contract that paid him more than $17 million this year. Even with those savings, though, it would be unwise to expect any significant reinvestment in that cash.

Bill DeWitt Jr. says that now is not the time to increase player payroll

Since 2021, the Cardinals have been no higher than 11th in the league in terms of spending. This year, they fell to 19th after allowing Paul Goldschmidt to walk in free agency and only invested a total of $2 million in major league deals, signing Phil Maton, whom they flipped at this year's trade deadline. Bloom's opening monologue included his belief in some aspects of the current roster, while also noting that there will be some tough decisions around personnel. Those tough decisions, however, will not turn into a "slash and burn" to completely start over, but rather build on the current core.

With the above names expected to be off the books in some capacity, the Cardinals' payroll going into 2026 is expected to be well below $100 million, even after arbitration deals are agreed upon, probably leaning closer to $60 million-$70 million before free agency. St. Louis missed the playoffs by just five games this season, but Bloom and Co. rightly believe that the current roster is more than just one or two big signings away from storming back into relevancy, especially as the rest of the division is on the upswing.

When the team is ready, though, DeWitt believes that the team can get back to spending when paired with the Cardinals development system that made them such a consistent postseason presence until the 2020s. He said, "I think you can envision a scenario where we get back up to the top third in revenue and in attendance and in payroll and all of that, at some point. We’re not there right now. We’d love to get back there. We’ve been there.” While the Cardinals' revenue is not public knowledge, this year's attendance dip will likely put a big dent into their earnings. DeWitt mentioning that the team needs to be back up in the top third in attendance seems like another subtle stab coming from someone who struggles to read the room as fans made it clear they will not be paying top dollar for a discount product.

It is encouraging, at least, that Bill DeWitt Jr. at least spoke to the possibility of increasing player payroll, but adding stipulations that go back on the fans' support is, in my opinion, poor taste.