Tipsheet: Traditional NL Central powers failed to demonstrate offseason urgency..
The National League Central keeps earning lots of negative press.
The Cardinals remain front and center in that. In his farewell season as the team’s president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak had to slash payroll. So that ruled out free-agent purchases to appease his critics.
Mozeliak might have had some room to work had he traded Nolan Arenado, but the third baseman is still around after using his no-trade clause to nix a move to the Houston Astros
Because the Cardinals still want to sell tickets this year, Mozeliak wasn’t authorized to go in full tank-and-rebuild mode as the Astros and Chicago Cubs did to build championship rosters. Some no-trade clauses blocked him as well.
By refusing to either spend or tank, the Cardinals earned an “F” grade for their offseason from The Athletic:
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“The Cardinals commenced the offseason with a frank evaluation of the organization’s recent failures, outlining a multiyear plan to emphasize player development while turning over the front office. At the time, the presumption across the sport was that St. Louis would look to move on from several veteran pieces, even those under longer team control.
“Instead, the Cardinals reported to camp with Nolan Arenado still the third baseman, Ryan Helsley still the closer and the rotation still stocked with Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz. St. Louis has been candid about its ongoing efforts to move Arenado, who nixed a deal to Houston back in December.
“The good news is that retaining those players means the 2025 Cardinals should be better than what we all expected. The bad news is that probably isn’t good enough to contend in the NL Central — given their record last season and the lack of a single major-league acquisition this winter — and brings them no closer to improving the talent pipeline beyond this summer.”
Writing for FanGraphs, Davy Andrews piled on with more of the same:
“They are, in theory, starting a rebuild, but if there’s been any progress on that front, they’ve done a great job at concealing it. They haven’t signed a major league free agent. They haven’t even hinted that they’ve spent a moment considering the possibility of signing a major league free agent. Instead, they have tried so, so hard and so, so publicly… to get a little bit worse. The Cardinals have spent the entire offseason absorbed in an ill-fated attempt to trade Nolan Arenado, despite the fact that doing so wouldn’t make the team better in the short run (because Arenado is still a solid
player) or in the long run (because his contract is so underwater that it’s not worth real prospect capital). The Cardinals were engaged in the noblest attempt of all: saving a few million dollars for the purpose of saving a few million dollars. On Thursday, lame duck president of baseball operations John Mozeliak essentially admitted that his lofty dream was dead. The Cardinals will spend the 2025 season furious that Arenado is still — if the projections are right — their second-best player, rather than what he could have become: a medium-sized pile of money.”
Should everything go right the Cardinals somehow stay in the NL Central “race,” it will be interesting to see if ownership lets Mozeliak make midseason moves that would allow him to go out on a somewhat higher note.
Because here’s the thing: The Cardinals are not surrounded by baseball’s most aggressive franchises.
National scribes note that the division favorites, the Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers, could have done so much more during the offseason. The Cubs finally reached into the vault to find $6 million for Justin Turner, but that will be viewed as a meh consolation prize after whiffing on recent Red Sox signee Alex Bregman.
