The St. Louis Cardinals are going through an organization rehaul. Player development is at center focus with the desire to produce homegrown talent that can overtake the Major League roster. With years of ignoring the roots of their success during the 21st Century, the Cardinals tried to remain relevant by increasing payroll to supplement the roster. The result has been years of declining records, players stuck in depth chart limbo leaving for better opportunities, and veteran players clogging up the roster and payroll.
The inefficiencies are very exposed for President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak entering the last year of his position. Years of trading away unproven talent that excelled elsewhere, free agent signings that were colossal failures from the get-go, and long-term contracts with no trade clauses because the player "wanted to be here". All of these decisions are now showing their consequences with the current organization "reset".
Mozelaik has met with several veteran players to discuss the future of the team and organization. The idea is to find common ground on whether these veterans want to stick around for the reset or if they would rather be traded to a contending team. This sounds like Midwest hospitality, but in reality, it is regret and desperation at full display. The players who showed they "wanted to be here" were rewarded with long-term contracts with full no-trade clauses. The promise to provide a winning team is presented by any team looking to add players. But not every team is willing to offer lengthy contracts with full no-trade clauses at this consistent level. Now with the idea to open up roster spots for younger players while also operating on a liquid budget, it is looking more grim due to this situation.
Failed catching experiment Willson Contreras was adamant that he wanted to stay in St. Louis and would be moving to first base. This provides an opportunity for Ivan Herrera or Pedro Pages to become the starting catcher. But now it clogs first base and DH where it takes away opportunities from Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Nolan Gorman, and Luken Baker. The Contreras saga continues with more headline material that only further brings a spotlight to the Cardinals' prestige collapsing. Contreras is on an affordable AAV of $18 million, but the Cardinals will be paying him for three more seasons as he ages and declines over time.
Sonny Gray has also addressed his desire to stay in St. Louis. He will be marked as the ace of the pitching staff for the next couple of seasons which is no issue for the team. The younger arms need someone to guide them and to help them further develop into reliable major-league starters. But Gray is owed $50 million for the next couple of seasons and if the plan is to shed salary, it is not easy when that chunk of money is not looking to leave. What makes it look worse is that Mozeliak took all leverage away from himself because of his decision to offer a no-trade clause.
Nolan Arenado is the last of the no-trade clause trade candidates that Mozeliak is stuck with. When the Cardinals made the blockbuster trade for Arenado in 2021, it was announced to everyone involved how complicated this deal was to make. The intent was to add a new franchise cornerstone to build around. Three years later, the organization is tearing it down. For a player of his caliber, he will want to contend for a ring and it appears that will not happen anytime soon in St. Louis.
Even if Arenado made it known he wants to be moved, his recent performance has made his contract borderline unmovable. If any team agrees to a trade, the Cardinals will more than likely eat a large amount of the contract. The Cardinals experienced a complicated failure in 2021. Now they are about to experience a complicated failure in 2024.
What is a bigger failure is being stuck with Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz on the roster. Young talented players like Tink Hence, Michael McGreevy, Tekoah Roby, and Cooper Hjerpe deserve to be given a chance for a spot in the rotation for 2025 with this upcoming reset in place. Unfortunately, they might be stuck for another season while the Cardinals wait for the rotting contracts of Mikolas and Matz to come off the books. These are probably the top two candidates to be moved but are now becoming the two most unlikely candidates to not be moved. Their values have diminished considerably and for the AAV owed to both players, no team will take on those overpaid contracts. Mozeliak over-extended himself to lock up players years ago and is now stuck with them because of his poor judgment. The two-year extension to Mikolas and the four-year free agent contract to Matz are sunk costs that have become unmovable boulders.
Ownership and the front office can keep preaching on deaf ears. Fans see right through the gas lighting and they want real change. With Chaim Bloom soon to be taking over baseball operations, we will see if smarter decision-making and efficient operations are ahead of us. But for the final stages of the current front office, they are fully seeing the accumulated mess on their hands. Their poor decision-making has now led them to fail their one and final task before they move on from the Cardinals organization.