The next St. Louis Cardinals front office needs to address this reoccurring issue

The latest of the bad contracts

Post-COVID in Cardinals Nation did not skip a beat! The Cardinals signed Steven Matz to a four-year, $44 million contract. He had a great 2021 season in Toronto and the Cardinals rolled the dice on his health hoping to repeat that production at a low cost.

Once again, the Cardinals need to avoid gambling. Matz is a frequent rider on the IL and cannot put together a full season as a reliable starter. When he can pitch, it is now as a long reliever due to his lack of performance when healthy. If this was a two-year contract, so be it. But again, long-term contracts continue to hurt Mozeliak and brass.

Are we done yet with recapping the history of premature lengthy contracts? Well, we are still waiting for the results of Willison Contreras' five-year deal that is worth $87.5 million. We are also awaiting the results of Sonny Gray's three-year deal worth $75 million.

It might be too early to make final decisions on if those will be worth the investment. But with the obvious track record here, all hope is gone. Whoever takes the lead in the next Cardinals front office needs to not act reactionary. If a player has one great season before free agency, look at his past first. Is this a fluke year? Or has he been trending in this direction for a while? "Players who want to be here" does not mean you give them full no-trade claused. Offering long-term contracts to play with the average annual value works for teams who are signing stars like the Dodgers. The Cardinals want to operate the same way but this method does not work when signing depth pieces.

There are many issues that need to be addressed and corrected with the next front office. Many areas of improvement might outweigh this trend I have addressed and those might turn this organization around at a much more rapid pace. But the matter is the Cardinals have an issue here with how they negotiate contracts and that needs to be looked at further. If this trend continues in the hands of Chaim Bloom, Randy Flores, or someone else, we will know there is a much deeper issue with the front office.