How Many Trades Will The St. Louis Cardinals Make This Offseason?

How Many Trades Will The St. Louis Cardinals Make This Offseason?

We’re going to roll back to some Cardinals conversations cuz we were talking about Nolan Gorman’s hot streak and today’s a good day to be talking about that because Cardinals are off today, but there’s an arrival down at Bush Stadium and that is Nolan Aronado is back in St. Louis. Is he? So, uh that’s apparently what Jimmy that’s apparently what I heard this morning. Okay, so Nolan Aronado’s back in St. Louis. Nolan Gorman has finally hit a mesh point where his approach at the plate and his approach in the field are both things you want to see from him going into next year. Um, but the future Hall of Famer is under contract. What do you think will happen? What do you think should happen? And why do you think there’s a discrepancy between those two? Yeah. Now, I’m just seeing from yesterday, Ollie was sharing that Aronado would be back in town uh by last night, going to be examined by team doctors today. If cleared, as expected, he will go through batting practice and fielding drills on Friday, but he will have a rehab assignment. So, okay, that’s the the update on that. Um it’s hard to and look there are people who would have said I don’t think Aronado is going to play a game again this year for the Cardinals and there was a point in time where I wondered that myself. Uh him coming back to St. Louis and going through batting practice and everything seems to indicate that he’s going to play. I mean if he’s going to bother going on a rehab stint for a veteran of his caliber, you know, he’s he’s going to be back before too long. That’s going to be good eating by the way for the the minor league guys when when Arnado’s there. Like a lot of times I think Gorman got a food truck one time, like a taco truck, and I imagine Nolan is going to is going to do it right. But when we think about next year, I I don’t know where he fits. I don’t know where he fits when you think about like what the Cardinals are liable to be aiming to do, which is like they want to win and do well, but they’re still kind of working through the pieces and parts of what the next iteration of the team’s going to You might not hear it because maybe they’re going to get smart smart optically, but next year is another year where if again if everyone wasn’t tainted about the word, you’d be hearing the word runway a lot again. Yeah, they’re going to have to pick a different word. They’re going to have to pick a different word, but it’s going to be the same thing. Well, I don’t know that it’s or similar thing. I I don’t know that it’s like the runway was to determine who to move forward with, right? What now? It’s just runway for like more runway for development. I I think you just you just go I call it the installation of the guys that you picked. Who are they going to pick? Um, you could you could come up with a whole list of names and I could make cases for and against just about all of them. Lars Nupar, all right, hasn’t been able to stay healthy is kind of the case against him. Has a little bit of cache to his name to where if you traded him, you might get something of value versus, you know, the stack cash numbers, the onbase ability when he’s going right. Like there’s there’s maybe more in the tank that hasn’t been discovered. You could I I do that with New Dupart. You could do it with four or five other guys. Brendan Donovan I think is one of their best players but therefore it means he’s got some of the highest trade value and if you’re trying to find a place to put Weatherhol and if you think Gorman is third base eligible for you next year then Weather Holt maybe fits in at second if you can get a Kings ransom for Donovan you could make a for and against case for a lot of guys in this position player group and they’re going to have to pick some the Aronado one almost seems it feels like it should be a foregone conclusion because he wants to win this team is not probably going to go out and add marquee free agents to maximize their chances to win in 2026. It’s sort of like a foundational year of all right, we did the runway, we’re kind of going to decide who to move forward with of our controllable talent and then maybe we’ll add to it here and there to make ourselves a requisite team that can compete to have a 500 season, 85 wins, maybe sneak into the wild card, but that’s not the goal anymore is to like maximize free agency to get to that point because they tried that a number of years and it just didn’t work. So now you have to get to a point where you’re comfortable going, we’re going to roll out the the the younger players that we have and see where that gets us. It’s not really runway. It’s these are the guys that are the that that make up the core of the team. How good are they to be able to advance us and then we can maybe supplement at a certain point and that’s when our real window begins to open. Is Aronado going to be here during that window? I I I’m skeptical of that because he’s only got two years left on the contract anyway and we don’t know what 2027’s going to look like in MLB. So if there’s a team out there that says, “Oh, you know what? Where Aronado is in his career makes a lot of sense for us.” That would make a lot of sense for Heim Bloom to explore and then give Aronado the straight up like it’s probably this or you’re we can’t necessarily guarantee everyday playing time next year. And I don’t know that they would ever do that where they would say, “Hey, we’re going to keep you. We’re not going to play you with all the money that you’re being paid.” But if Gorman can be somebody beyond 2027 that can help your team, like if if he is a guy that plays his way into an extension, that’s a different timeline than Aronado is on. And the Cardinals need to probably pick where they’re heading with those guys. Yeah. I mean, it’s there’s a lot of cliches we can talk about, but refusing to let your to give yourselves more flexibility because of a move that you made 5 years ago that’s not working out now is I guess it’ be what move are you referencing now? Like like I’m saying making the move for Aronado. Okay. Worked in the moment. Okay. It’s not working now. letting it now handicap future things like Gorman’s development is the height of stupidity or stubbornness or or or or a blind spot. It’s it’s it’s it’s ignorance or arrogance one way or the other is my point because you simply have to be able and be willing when you make the big move. You have to be willing to dump it if it doesn’t work out after three or four years. You can’t just keep putting the good money after. You can’t just keep putting in the more money into that into a lost situation because you you you don’t want to accept the fact that it’s not working out anymore. And that’s what I’m saying. Stubbornness, ignorant. I’m not sure what it is. It’s just they have to move on from the Aronado situation. Whether it’s we have to eat the money for him to play for a different team, which which they never want to do. Whether they have to not play a baseball player that they’re paying a lot of money, which they never want to do. they have to change the way they operate and stop being so um just static and and stuck in their ways. And I think this is a good example of a Cardinals team in flux in an organization that has a chance to say this is how we do things. Well, let’s change the way we operate in a couple of ways. And this would be one way of saying sometimes you got to bite the bullet. And I think this would be a good time to do it considering all the changes. Maybe financially it’s maybe the worst time to do it. That’d be a fair argument on the other side. I just think they’re missing a chance to make a fairly obvious move at a good time to make it in a transition moment for the franchise. Well, and that’s part of it, too, is a transitional moment where he bloom is coming in taking over for Mo after this season. And you’d like to, you know, give him the ability to mold the roster how he sees fit as quickly as possible. there’s a lot of changes that may need to be made and and that’s not just the active roster but the 40man as well with guys that need to be protected from rule five. So there are a lot of things that are going to have to happen and it would seem counterproductive unless they believe that Aronado can revive himself at the plate which I mean if you look at this year’s numbers they’re not great. He’s got a 660 OPS which is down from the 719 OPS that he had last year that people weren’t super thrilled about. So unless this recent trip to Florida, you know, gets him in a place strengthwise with the shoulder where we think some of that power is coming back in in what will be his age 35 season. Again, I’m skeptical that you’re going to see a marketkedly different version of Aronado at the plate than what you’ve seen the last two years. Maybe that’s what September is going to be about. When they get him back in there, you’re going to be back to that conversation of, yeah, remember Gorman’s been playing third base every day. Well, now he doesn’t get to because Aronado’s back, which is going to be tricky. But, you know, maybe part of that is giving Aronado some runway to see, all right, is there anything different going on with this bat that can a compel us to to to bring him back next year rather than consider eating money? Or does it build a little bit of trade value for him if people, you know, other teams around the league see him looking more like the version of himself that he has throughout his prime? I don’t know that any of those things are particularly likely to happen, but it seems there’s an opportunity over the next few weeks to explore that and then, you know, have all the information at your disposal when you go into the off season deciding is there a market for Aronado and if there’s not, how far are we willing to go to have have a guy like Nolan Gorman or or if it’s Weatherhol get a chance at third base in 2026. Missouri beat Rider Col. You’re not going to get it right, but it’s Callum McKenzie. Callum, I was gonna say it right the first time. and I had no confidence in it. Callum McAndrew joins us here in a few minutes. Let’s get to your chats before that. Pushing daisies says, “Where does Aronado even go? The way he’s been playing, he’d probably end up on a similar caliber team and he’s got to accept a trade to that team, too.” So, like they I my thought would be if there is like again the teams like the Dodgers always seem to have like they have the Well, yeah. I mean, they have these lineups that are pretty topheavy and I I don’t know what their plan will be for third base next year, but I’m looking at their lineup. Uh Kik Hernandez played there yesterday. Like it’s not like they are they’re rotating third baseman recently. I don’t know if it’s because of injury or what the deal, but it it Alex Freeland plays third base sometimes for them. They could do a lot worse than Aronado batting seventh and playing Gold Glove up third base, which he still does, especially against lefties where his OPS is still 750 to me. I mean, he should end up with the Dodgers, which is probably what he wants in the first place. But the Dodgers will say, “Look, I mean, we’re paying for the defense. The the offense is a question at this point. We’re not going to pay for a big chunk of that contract.” And the Cardinals, I think, if this is something that’s available to them, would have to be willing to eat some of the money. You know, you go to them and you say, “Okay, look at it like the Otani contract. You guys paid him uh, you know, this much money to be a a hitter and this much money to be a pitcher. So, we’ll take 20 million of Aronado um and then you guys pay him 20 million to be a defensive player.” There you go. So, just just come at them. We’ll pay for the bat part of it. Exactly. Just come at them with their own mindset. I think it’ll I think it’ll lock him in pretty pretty solidly. Uh, Chris uh we got Areronado says Aronado can go or this could be Ben. Aronado can go back to Florida. Sam House says Gorman doesn’t have to play this month, guys. He’s made the team. Uh NATO is auditioning for future employment. It’s a good way of looking at it from Aronado’s perspective. I guess Smooth Productions, there isn’t a fit for Aronado anymore on this team. We appreciate all he’s done during his time, but it’s come to an end. He also says that this is not the only tough decision the Cardinals have to make. They, especially with Bloom taking over, will have to make drastic changes. You can’t just keep the same group of guys. Yeah, I think that’s what I would agree with as well is that they need some significant changes and how many of those changes you can make in one off season is tricky. Like it’s why I advocated to see some of those things happen at the end of July. Cardinals didn’t get the offers they were hoping to see for or maybe they weren’t hoping but that they would have needed to have seen in order to trade guys like Nbar or at the time Gorman and now Gorman you know performing a little bit better and so you know maybe they’re maybe they were right to hold on to those guys going to remain to be seen. Quick housekeeping. Did you give the link to Kellum? Yes. Okay, good. Just needed to make sure that I forgot to ask him before. Sorry about that. Anyhow, yeah, I How many guys can you realistically trade from a 40man roster in one off season is going to be interesting to see because will there be this tone of aggression after it’s been sort of ah we’re wishy-washy when we do make trades. We’re a little bit hesitant to do it. We don’t want to make the wrong move. Will that still be an aspect of this or will we completely see a change into, hey, these weren’t my guys. I I didn’t draft these guys. I didn’t I wasn’t here for the bulk of their development. I can trade three or four of them and start to kind of re remake this roster in the way that my group sees fit. Uh Jeremy Haj, it will be 28 when they compete again. You and Randy did this last week, but I’ve also seen this over the last few days again popping up from people talking about the Cardinals ill inability to rebound quickly over the next few years in this re rebuild. Why Why are you not negative about the Cardinals ability to rebuild quickly? Or are you? Well, because I don’t think it’s I I think hard baseball they haven’t lost a bunch of games. It’s like they haven’t ever really been a bad team other than 2023. That that was a bad season and the team was bad and the results were bad. You know, you lost 91 games. Last year, they went with the approach of, okay, we can fix this quickly. Let’s make a few edits here. Let’s add some pieces in free agency that we need and we’ll get it we’ll get it back into the postseason. And they fell a little bit short of that. Just won 83 games that year. And that’s when they said, “Okay, we do have to step back to step forward.” And that’s what we’re seeing this year. But even in this year where we’re they didn’t sign anybody in the winter other than Phil Maton and he’s not here anymore. They they basically were stagnant. And with that stagnant organization that we that we complain about so much and say, you know, they’re just so far away from being contenders. They’re 500. They win tomorrow. They’re a 500 team. They’re 70 and 71. So, they’re not, you know, they haven’t had a run like the Pirates or, you know, the Astros before they got good or the Orioles. They haven’t had that and it doesn’t feel like they’ll need to have that in order to turn it back around because they might be kind of close to their floor right now. You may have another year or two of that floor, but that’s I I feel like there are core pieces of this organization that will be around the next time they do it. to me process-wise and development-wise and some of the stuff they did organizationally, you do need to completely gut it. But they’re doing that. It just is taking a little bit longer because Mo is riding off into the sunset in a month rather than, you know, 8 n months ago. That’s all I I I don’t think they’re as far away as people think. One last question here, then we’re going to get to Callum McAndrew who’s joining us right now. Um Samuel Halb says seven because you threw out how many trades they can make from the 40man roster. Seven. Give me the overunder. uh to to to not not from seven. Give me your overunder uh total to wait on. Yes. For people to wager on for Cardinals trades off the 40man roster in this offseason. Well, like number two number of players will be more. Okay. But but the number of like trade cuz some of them will just be cut. Yes. Like actual like you want the actual moves we see. When Garrett Hamson’s not on the team next year, it’s not because they traded. I’m I’m talking about actual trades. Two and a half feels like a good of like trades where we go, that’s a trade. That one counts. Yeah.

B- Schaeff and Rocc discuss the Cardinals and how they are going to get fans back into the seats at Busch.