Cardinals: Candidate Aaron Goldsmith is the perfect play-by-play replacement

Candidate Aaron Goldsmith would be the perfect play-by-play replacement

The St. Louis Cardinals and Bally Sports Midwest have reportedly narrowed down their candidates to replace play-by-play analyst Dan McLaughlin, per Jeff Jones. We only know one of the candidates, but even without knowing who the other candidate is, the Cardinals have clearly found their guy in Aaron Goldsmith.

If you have not heard of Goldsmith before, he is currently a broadcaster for the Seattle Mariners and is also on some of their TV broadcasts. Goldsmith grew up in St. Louis and appears to be a Cardinal fan, as he bought two seats from Busch Stadium II before its demolition and now has them in his home. He is also a great follow on Twitter as well, @heygoldy.

Having ties to the St. Louis area is a huge pro for any candidate the Cardinals and Bally Sports look at, but at the end of the day, what is most important is the quality of the broadcaster. In the case of Goldsmith, he may soon bud into one of the best broadcasters in today's game. Check out some of these calls that he's had in his stints in the booth for Seattle.

It is going to be very difficult to replace McLaughlin, but Goldsmith has the talent necessary to not only replace him but become the voice of Cardinals baseball for decades to come. Goldsmith is just 39 years old, which is an important factor in all of this. Finding a younger broadcaster who can come into the booth and carve out a legacy should mean the Cardinals are not once again in the hunt for a broadcaster any time in the near future.

If listening to some of his calls isn't enough, you should see how Mariners fans are reacting to the potentail of Goldsmith calling games for the Cardinals. I tweeted out back on December 22nd that Goldsmith would be an excellent choice for St. Louis, and I received many replies from those in Seattle who would be devasted to lose him. It's a good sign you're getting a quality candidate when it's a hard goodbye for their current employer.

The Cardinals did pursue some prominent candidates like Joe Buck, Bob Costas, and Greg Amsinger, but all three declined the opportunity to remain with their national gigs. Fans may end up looking back and being grateful for these decisions, as they may have the best possible candidate in the form of Goldsmith.

It seems like we will be getting clarity on this decision soon, and in my opinion, the Cardinals would be insane not to bring in Goldsmith to call games for the Cardinals in their post-McLaughlin booth.