Former Cardinal believes the "rebuild" won't last long

The St. Louis Cardinals are entering a "reset" period as dubbed by ownership and management. After back-to-back disappointing seasons that featured the team missing the playoffs, it became clear to the organization's brains and brass that things needed to change.

In the end-of-season press conference, team owner Bill DeWitt Jr. and team president of baseball operations John Mozeliak made it clear that the 2025 and 2026 seasons would be used as opportunities to let young players develop and flourish. After spending several seasons prioritizing the big-league roster via free agency, capital would be shifted instead to the development side of the organization.

Thus begins a period of potential malaise in St. Louis.

While there are several talented young players both in the majors in the upper minor leagues for St. Louis right now, consistent success from some has been absent. Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman haven't been able to translate their hitting abilities to the highest level of baseball. Lars Nootbaar has struggled to stay healthy for his career. Alec Burleson is prone to heavy-handedness splits. Even Brendan Donovan has hit the occasional slump.

More importantly, however, has been the organization's inability to produce competent starting pitchers since 2021. Without a steady pipeline of starting pitchers recently, the front office has had to spend via free agency to fill out a rotation. That simply isn't a viable strategy.

All of this is culminating in a reset within the organization that is beginning to get national recognition. Former Cardinal legend Adam Wainwright was asked about the Cardinals' plans while appearing on Foul Territory recently. Wainwright spoke optimistically about the team's future prospects during this interim period.

The Cardinals have never been a full rebuild team. That would be a bad thing for St. Louis because we don't really have the patience for a five-year rebuild in St. Louis. I still think they have some really great players to build around there. They had some young good pitchers coming up through this system.

Having played as recently as 2023 for the Cardinals, Waino is still in touch with the farm system, particularly on the pitching side. While some bias is likely present in his response, the fact that he's speaking confidently about pitchers like Andre Pallante, Michael McGreevy, and Gordon Graceffo should assuage some concerns by Cardinals fans.

On the topic of minor league coaching, Wainwright talked about the organization's cutting of coaches and instructors these past few years to invest in player acquisition instead. "That was kind of surprising that through the last couple of years, they got rid of some of the roving pitching instructors, some of the scouting development departments. That was always a strength for the Cardinals," said Wainwright. "But they were just pouring so much into the big-league team, and we underperformed."

There's still plenty of reason to be optimistic for the 2025 and 2026 seasons in St. Louis. While big-name free agents may not be had during this time period, young players like Masyn Winn, Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, and Quinn Mathews will still be able to carry this team over the next few years.