Tasking Chaim Bloom to upgrade the Cardinals鈥 player development was a positive step for the DeWitt ownership.
But producing prospects hasn鈥檛 been the franchise鈥檚 biggest weakness. Asset mismanagement is what knocked the Cardinals off their National League Central perch.
The front office ignored the data on age-related athletic decline and invested heavily in older players.
Yadier Molina鈥檚 farewell season was bad. Adam Wainwright鈥檚 final tour was worse, despite his musical interludes. Paul Goldschmidt鈥檚 contract aged poorly, and the rest of Nolan Arenado鈥檚 deal threatens to do the same.
This season, the Cardinals got poor returns from the roughly $75 million allocated to Goldschmidt, Arenado and Miles Mikolas. More than $30 million more went to Willson Contreras and Steven Matz, whose contributions were limited by injury.
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While there was internal finger-pointing at player development again, the biggest failures came from the highest-paid players.
It鈥檚 no wonder ownership is looking to slash payroll. Arenado has about $75 million left on his contract. Sonny Gray has another $65 million coming, and Contreras will collect about $54 million more. Mikolas and Matz are due about $30 million between them next season.
To rebuild, the Cardinals must expand their young talent base and manage their assets better.
Remember when the front office felt it had a pitching prospect surplus? That led to the disastrous trade of Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen for two years of Marcell Ozuna.
The franchise that once had an outfield surplus ended up giving away Tyler O鈥橬eill and Dylan Carlson. Earlier, it unclogged its pipeline by moving Randy Arozarena, Adolis Garcia, Lane Thomas, Stephen Piscotty and Harrison Bader, among others.
Owner Bill DeWitt Jr. and lame duck president of baseball operations John Mozleiak are bullish on the surviving group of young veterans and prospects. And yes, the group largely measures up to the prospects developed back in Jeff Luhnow鈥檚 player development heyday.
The Cardinals didn鈥檛 find another Albert Pujols or Yadier Molina back then, but they pushed a steady parade of players to the majors. Many of the younger players the Cardinals have today resemble what the team had back in 2011 and 2013.
Beyond Pujols and Molina in 2011, the homegrown Skip Schumaker, Jon Jay, Allen Craig, Daniel Descalso, Jaime Garcia, Kyle McClellan, Jason Motte, Mitchell Boggs, Fernando Salas and Eduardo Sanchez filled roles.
That team deployed Matt Holliday and David Freese in their primes. Veterans Chris Carpenter, Kyle Lohse and Jake Westbrook anchored the rotation. Mozeliak swapped prized prospect Colby Rasmus to add pitchers Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski.
That was a well-crafted roster, the result of heady asset management. Those were the days!
The 2013 pennant-winning team featured Wainwright as the staff ace and Edward Mujica closing. Holliday was still productive, as was Carlos Beltran.
Beyond Molina, there were also Craig, Jay, Descalso, Garcia, Salas, Boggs, Matt Carpenter, Pete Kozma, Matt Adams, Tony Cruz, Kolten Wong, Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly, Trevor Rosenthal, Seth Maness, Kevin Siegrist, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez and Tyler Lyons.
That team got huge years from Craig and Carpenter, sturdy starting pitching from Lynn and Miller, and endless bullpen help from that surplus of young hurlers.
After the organization rebounded from the 鈥淗ackgate鈥 fallout, the 2022 Cardinals won the National League Central with a team reminiscent of 2011. Goldschmidt and Arenado played at MVP levels. Pujols starred down the stretch, and Wainwright and Mikolas steadied the rotation.
As he did in 2011, Mozeliak bolstered his pitching staff ahead of the trade deadline, spending the homegrown Bader, Edmundo Sosa and Johan Oviedo for starting pitchers Jordan Montgomery and Jose Quintana plus relievers JoJo Romero and Chris Stratton.
That team also featured graduated prospects Carlson, Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Gorman, Paul DeJong, Andrew Knizner, Ryan Helsley, Andre Pallante, Jordan Hicks, Jake Woodford, Jack Flaherty and Zack Thompson.
There were a lot of similarities 鈥 except that the 鈥11 team won it all and the 鈥22 team lasted just two games in the playoffs.
Then Pujols retired; Molina struggled and retired; Wainwright struggled and retired; Goldschmidt, Arenado and Mikolas all regressed and lots of other stuff went wrong.
So here we are. The team moves forward with younger players Donovan, Nootbaar, Gorman, Pallante, Masyn Winn, Alec Burleson, Pedro Pages, Ivan Herrera, Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II, Michael Siani, Thomas Saggese, Kyle Leahy, Chris Roycroft, Michael McGreevy and (maybe) Helsley.
Pitching prospects Quinn Mathews, Tink Hence, Tekoah Roby and Sem Robberse offer promise, as do catchers Jimmy Crooks and Leonardo Bernal and infielder JJ Wetherholt. The looming organizational upgrades should bear additional fruit in a few years.
But the Cardinals won鈥檛 regain their standing until they spend smarter and trade better. Of all the changes to come, those must be the biggest.