St. Louis Cardinals "retooling" can mirror the 2024 New York Mets

It is now known that the St. Louis Cardinals are planning for a system overhaul that is near unprecedented for the organization. They have realized that the old ways of operating are no longer working and they need to address this sooner than later. The player development has failed for nearly a decade and when it does succeed, it is usually players blossoming for other organizations. To counter this, the team focused on investing solely into the Major League club which led to franchise-record payrolls and temporary stops to the postseason. The floor is nonexistent and the ceiling is simply an appearance in October with no wins to show for it.

John Mozeliak has addressed this new strategy as a "retooling" where management will invest more into player development going forward to establish a floor, or even a foundation at this point. The Major League club will be reshaped as well, mostly players with long-term and high-dollar contracts making waves in the trade rumor mill this winter. Long-time veteran and 2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt will not be resigned which is the first domino to fall. The young core will remain the focal point as the team will shed the bigger commitments looking to hit a restart button that will look further into the future than 2025.

Where most teams call this a rebuild, the Cardinals are fortunate to where they do not have to tear it all the way down. They finished 2024 with a winning record which is in due credit for most of their young core carrying the team. This is promising for fans given the fact that these players are just getting started and have already brought the team back to winning games. So with the core identified for the future, it is time to look at moving pieces that are short-term assets.

Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Steven Matz, and Matt Carpenter will all be in question for changing teams this upcoming off-season. All have been great players and serve valuable roles for any team. But for the Cardinals looking to move forward and prepare for the next wave of talent, it appears the window with this collective group is closed. Most of the teams' financial commitments belong to this group of players and much payroll can be freed up if they can find trade suitors to get it done.

This situation feels very similar to the 2023 New York Mets. Steve Cohen flexed his financial prowess and loaded up the Mets with the biggest payroll in all of MLB. He signed Max Scherzer to a three-year, $130 million dollar contract and Justin Verlander to a two-year, $86.6 million dollar contract. He extended Edwin Diaz on a five-year, $102 million dollar contract. He resigned Brandon Nimmo to an eight-year, $162 million dollar contract. The Mets hit the international market and signed Kodai Senga to a five-year, $75 million dollar deal. Lastly to mention the franchise icon move was to trade and sign Francisco Lindor to a ten-year, $341 million dollar contract. The fact is the Mets heavily invested in their current core to be in a win-now mode.

Following an appearance in the 2022 NLDS vs the Padres, the Mets looked like a powerhouse within MLB. Nothing was going to get in their way. Except for the 2023 season where the Mets rivaled the Cardinals for the season's most disappointing team. They finished with a losing record of 70-85 and ended the season under much scrutiny. Fans who were excited for Cohen to take over and dominate with his checkbook are now frustrated that the team still cannot put it all together. The Mets decided to retool by trading Verlander and Scherzer who would go on to play postseason baseball for other teams in 2023. But the Mets recouped prospects who are already making an impact in 2024 and they managed to shed some of the massive payroll.

The Mets did not act radically and blow up their roster during the 2023 off-season. They instead patched holes in the roster with minuscule signings that fell under the radar. They signed Harrison Bader to a one-year deal and signed Luis Severino to a one-year deal, They relied on Sean Manaea to make a comeback to the rotation. Edwin Diaz would be back after his ACL injury that cost him the 2023 season. The biggest move was bringing in Carlos Mendoza to be the next manager after Buck Showalter got bounced out of Queens.

What has been the result of this retooling? If you are watching postseason baseball in 2024, the Mets and Dodgers are tied 1-1 in the NLCS. In what some people call luck, or magic, or Grimace, the 2024 Mets managed to recognize issues from within that were hurting the organization. After addressing these issues, the team kept their strengths and worked on their weaknesses perfectly. Now they are making noise in the postseason and do not seem to be fading anytime soon. If you are pessimistic as a Cardinals fan for the upcoming 2025 season and the "retooling" phase in St. Louis, give it time and see how it pans out. It can very well turn out like the 2024 New York Mets.