Cardinals fans should hold off on celebrating a potential organizational pivot

The St. Louis Cardinals have been mired in purgatory over the past several seasons, desperately hoping that their increasingly fragile structure would hold up for one more year. But if Katie Woo's article from The Athletic (subscription required) is any indication, the Cardinals may finally be ready to remove the load-bearing Jenga block and start anew.

The Cardinals have clung to their history as a successful franchise, but as opposing teams have passed them by in cutting-edge technology and effective coaching and scouting, the Cardinals' reputation has wilted among players and fans alike. Supporters of the team have pleaded for the team to stop treading water and hit the reset button, and the Cardinals could finally be ready to oblige. Fans may treat this as a reason to rejoice, but they shouldn't be too hasty in declaring that the team is headed in the right direction.

Getting the Cardinals back on track will require buy-in from the entire organization. The Cardinals only possess five full-time minor league instructors, which is among the smallest in the league, and the team needs to expand that number to include catching, infield and outfield instructors. They need to build the pitching lab in Florida that they seem to have placed on the back burner for the past five years. The Cardinals must commit to utilizing their budget in a manner that is foreign to this team. And therein lies reason for apprehension.

The members of the front office are likely to say that they will reallocate the team's funds to go toward coaching and technological improvements, but it isn't possible to prove whether they will actually do so. The only publicly available information regarding a team's spending relates to salaries, so while the Cardinals will claim that they will invest the money that used to go to players into reinventing the minor leagues, there is no way to for people outside the organization to know whether this commitment is real or merely a way for the ownership to disguise the reasons behind a slash in payroll.

Public relations is not the Cardinals' strong suit, but if the Cardinals are going to dedicate less to the major league team, it is tantamount that the front office be transparent about what is going on in the minor leagues to improve the team in the long run. The Cardinals have been run into the ground, and honesty and candor from the people running the team will be required for fans to buy into the potential lack of success at the highest level next season.

2025 has a chance to be a painful season, but with a fresh face in Chaim Bloom entering a more prominent position regarding the direction of the minor leagues, the Cardinals have a chance to recalibrate and replenish their pool of talent that has largely dried up. There's reason for optimism, but the team has damaged its reputation enough to require a healthy dose of skepticism among fans as well.