Baseball’s model franchise is becoming a feeder team. The Cardinals will squeeze as much as possible from players during their low-cost years, then trade them for prospects and keep the cycle going.
Welcome the new Cardinals reality. Fans don’t need to travel to Jupiter, Fla., for spring training because they can watch it all season at Busch.
12 comments
Oof. It’s true, though. This is a rebuilding year. I don’t buy the doomerism though. It’s possible to build a contender with some good decisions and luck.
Did this guy read my mind? All my thoughts and opinions are pretty much the same
Very hard to argue these points – but hey? At least the Dewitt’s got really rich? Capitalism, right????? I bet they sell the team within 5 years, write it down
“Baseball’s model franchise is becoming a feeder team. The Cardinals will squeeze as much as possible from players during their low-cost years, then trade them for prospects and keep the cycle going.”
That model hasn’t worked out very well for the Chicago White Sox. Stuck in a loop of a constant rebuild. Bring in rental players on one-year deals, trade them to a contender for prospects. The prospects seem to never turn into stars. Repeat the cycle year after year.
“Remarkable era of success”
Well, this is what “overwrought” looks like.
Given that this year’s shift is major and not a halfhearted approach like whatever last year was, how do we know whether we’re looking at what this article asserts (intentionally setting up for perpetual cycle of shipping people out when we can flip them) or if this is what a rebuild is supposed to look like? The former seems pretty cynical, are there signs pointing to this approach not being the correct one, or is it just making assumptions given our feelings with how the last years have gone?
Dark.
Except they replaced a key part of the front office that caused a lot of ails. We can’t judge the new guy’s history quite yet. We ALL knew Arenado was gone, and was just a matter of time. It’s not necessarily all doom and gloom. Yeah, we closed a chapter, but you can’t just call us a feeder team before a single pitch has been thrown.
FFS. Maybe we should just, idk, skip the season since we already know the outcome?
Why yes rebuilding is a thing in baseball and that’s how it works.
Nobody’s going to be on board with this, but the Cardinals can 100% be a very interesting team in this division this year. Yes, in 2026. If just a couple pieces round up, and JJ is as good as advertised in the majors, this could get hyper drive serious quicker than anyone realizes. Get out of their way and let the kids play.
What Brad Doolittle said, as quoted by Jeff D. — this one wasn’t even really a salary dump. Contra the Chaim lovefest, Mo didn’t make moves like this because he wouldn’t eat a full 2/3 of a player’s salary.