Weighing the pros and cons of a Paul Goldschmidt extension

The cons

The Cardinals will avoid cutting ties with him if his play get worse

The Cardinals' tradition will make it difficult to cut ties with Goldschmidt if he struggles the way he had earlier in the season. Like with Brandon Crawford in 2024 and Adam Wainwright in 2023, the Cardinals tend to give veterans more respect and playing time even when all else indicates they should not. With Waino, there was a fine reason as the Cardinals were vastly out of contention and just needed their former ace to reach the 200-win mark. However, the usage of Crawford on the roster this year was inexcusable.

Unlike with a younger player such as Luken Baker, it will be hard for the Cardinals and likely for Goldschmidt to admit that his time as an everyday player is over and have him strictly platooning against left-handed pitching. Even if it is just a one-year contract, the Cardinals would be in big trouble if Goldy continues to struggle or regresses even further.

Luken Baker won't get much playing time if any

In a second half that has been full of downers, Luken Baker's emergence as a solid platoon bat against left-handed pitching has been one of the bright spots. He's been mostly unplayable against righties, but he's continued his torrid Triple-A performance into the Majors slashing .300/.429/.900 in his limited sample against lefties. It's certainly much more intriguing than last year's performance, and he's proven the ability to hold his own in the big leagues.

If the Cardinals were to resign Goldschmidt, Baker's role as a right-handed power bat who can fill in at first base or DH would be a bit of a redundancy. He and Burleson could form a DH platoon, but with Willson Contreras only getting older, the veteran catcher will likely take most of the reps at DH when Burleson sits against lefties. Once again, Baker will probably be forced into a Triple-A role or serve as the 26th man on the roster.

It's more of the same thing

For a Cardinals team in need of big changes going forward, bringing back a player who was part of the struggles, and a big reason for the Cardinals' failures in 2024, makes little sense. If Goldschmidt and Arenado had produced even similar to their 2023 results, the Cardinals would have secured a playoff spot and contended with the Brewers for the NL Central. However, with both regressing significantly from down years in 2023, the Cardinals' offense floundered and couldn't carry its weight. If the Cardinals are looking for a "tentpole" bat, they may want to look to someone younger with a higher upside.