How low can the St. Louis Cardinals go?
It doesn’t get much worse than the grade handed to them by USA Today MLB insider Bob Nightengale, who rated all 30 teams’ respective offseasons along with colleague Gabe Lacques.
Here’s what Nightengale wrote about his decision to hand the Cardinals an ‘F-‘ mark.
No trades. No free agent signings. No hope. They’re supposed to be in a rebuild, but they still haven’t been able to trade third baseman Nolan Arenado, after he rejected trades to the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels. They wanted to trade starter Sonny Gray, but he told them he’s not waiving his no-trade clause. And for some reason, All-Star closer Ryan Helsley is still on the team, perhaps believing they’ll get more value for him at the trade deadline. Strange times in St. Louis.”
That’s some awfully harsh criticism from Nightengale, who didn’t hold back about the approach St. Louis is taking. And yet, he’s not wrong.
The truth is, the Cardinals haven’t traded third baseman Nolan Arenado as had been their intent all winter. And now with the strong possibility that both sides stay married into 2025, will things become awkward?
It’s fair to wonder if St. Louis even had a strategy for this offseason beyond Arenado and parting ways with veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who signed with the Yankees. If the plan was to run it back with an 83-win roster from 2024, that should’ve included supplementing their current core with free agent signings or trades.
They surely can’t claim a rebuild with all of this inertia.
Perhaps it’s just complacency on the part of president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, who will relinquish his position to estranged former Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom following the 2025 season. That’s no excuse to run a franchise with incompetence, however. Especially not one that prides itself on excellence and ‘The Cardinal Way’.
With less than a month until Opening Day against the Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, optimism isn’t very high for the Cardinals and their fans. Nor should it be.
