6 drastic changes we could see the Cardinals make in 2024 if it's another disaster

Drastic Change #6 - Cardinals turn to their youth to compete in 2025

Even if the Cardinals trade Goldschmidt, Arenado, and a variety of other pieces that could bring back value, make a managerial change, and shift within the front office, I do believe they'd try to compete during the 2025 season on the backs of their young core. It's impossible to predict the kind of assets they could get in return for moving Goldschmidt, Arenado, Edman, Matz, Helsley, and other pieces, but assuming they compile varying levels of value from that bunch, they'd also have their own young core to lead them for years to come.

Look at the potential*** lineup they could run out, even without those veteran guys,

2B Brendan Donovan
RF Jordan Walker
LF Lars Nootbaar
DH Willson Contreras
3B Nolan Gorman
C Ivan Herrera
1B Thomas Saggese
SS Masyn Winn
CF Victor Scott II

Other names: OF Alec Burleson, OF Dylan Carlson, 1B/DH Luken Baker, assets back from trades they made

***Not to mention the possibility of add

Nootbaar, Gorman, and Donovan would be entering year four of their big league careers, Walker would be in his third full season, and guys like Herrera, Saggese, Winn, and Scott would be second-year players. If they continue to develop like many believe they will, this lineup may not even take much of a step back by the time the 2025 season rolls around.

The pitching staff would likely still have Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas, and young arms like Gordon Graceffo, Tink Hence, Tekoah Roby, Michael McGreevy, Cooper Hjepre, Max Rajcic, and Zack Thompson may be ready to take on roles as well. If they were to move on from Arenado, Goldschmidt, Matz, and Edman, at least $75 million off their books as well that can be reallocated to the lineup, rotation, or bullpen, along with any piece they got in return for those players.

It would definitely be a building year as a club, kind of a similar position as the Cincinnati Reds in 2023, or other young lineups that are trying to establish themselves as core groups. The major question mark would remain the pitching staff, and they'd need to make more additions to the staff to have any idea of what they could accomplish. I think the main point here is that this club has young talent who are ready to start stepping into more significant roles.

So if they were to run into this "doomsday" scenario this next season, it would not turn into some full-scale, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, or Baltimore Orioles tank job. They have plenty of young talent already and would be able to mold a new era of Cardinals baseball around them and use the freed-up money to fill out this roster and extend players long-term. In this scenario, they'd strengthen their system again with trades, similar to what happened at this last deadline, and both the 2024 and 2025 MLB drafts would see the Cardinals have a top-10 draft selection. It would be a quick, but painful, turnaround.

If you want to hear more about the though process, check out our conversation over the six drastic changes over on the Noot News Podcast below.