Cardinals taking a different direction in 2025

The St. Louis Cardinals knew they had to do something after back-to-back disappointing seasons.

Yet it is hard to define exactly what the Cardinals are doing. Are they rebuilding? Retooling? Resetting?

The Cardinals say they plan on being competitive next season even though they allowed first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to leave in free agency to the New York Yankees. President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak, entering his final year on the job before yielding to former Boston Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom, is also willing to deal third baseman Nolan Arenado if the 10-time Gold Glove does not invoke his no-trade clause.

Left-hander Steven Matz and right-handers Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas are also being made available in trade talk, industry sources told Draft Nation. The Cardinals also would consider parting with closer Ryan Helsley.

What the Cardinals want to do in 2025 is give their younger players more consistent opportunities.

The Cardinals have seven players in their projected ’25 lineup who are 27 or younger. That group includes catcher Ivan Herrera, second baseman Brendan Donovan, shortstop Masyn Winn, left fielder Lars Nootbaar, center fielder Victor Scott II, right fielder Jordan Walker and designated hitter Alec Burleson.

Many of those players have bounced back and forth between the big leagues and Triple-A Memphis over the last two seasons. So has slugging infielder Nolan Gorman.

Much like those players, the Cardinals have been caught in between the last two seasons after reaching the postseason the previous four years. St. Louis fell all the way to 71-91 in 2023 for their first losing season since 2007. Though the Cardinals bounced back to 83-79 this year and second place in the National League Central, they finished 10 games behind the division-winning Milwaukee Brewers.

Two top pitching prospects, left-hander Quinn Matthews and right-hander Tink Hence, will likely begin the season at Memphis. Baseball America ranks Hence as the game’s 23rd best prospect and Matthews as No. 37.

The Cardinals’ goal every year is to contend. Manager Oliver Marmol says they won’t change next season, though the organization will show more patience with younger players.

“I would say the mindset is still winning baseball,” Marmol said. “Like you talk to any of our players, have a conversation with Donovan and Winn and those guys, they’re hungry to win. What I’m excited about is there's going to be runway for some of these guys. I think some of the pressure is going to be lifted off their shoulders in understanding, man, whether this week goes well for you or doesn’t, you're going to be in there. And knowing that they have a longer runway than they’re used to having, I think, may lead to more production, to be quite honest with you. So, I'm excited about that.”

The endgame for the Cardinals will be determining if they have the core of a team that could contend for championships.

“That’s the whole point of it,” Marmol said. “Just get them at-bats, let them pitch, let them plays. And there’s more clarity as to what we have on our hands rather than guessing. So that’s a big part of how we'll measure this as well.”

The Cardinals are moving catcher Willson Contreras from catcher to first base.

That isn’t exactly what Mozeliak had in mind when he signed the three-time All-Star to a five-year, $87.5-million contract in free agency prior to the 2023 season. However, it’s been an open secret that many Cardinals pitchers do not feel comfortable with Contreras behind the plate.

Contreras is expected to begin the conversion at the Cardinals’ spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., shortly after the holidays.

“At the end of the day, Willson wants to be healthy, and he wants to be in the lineup as much as possible,” Marmol said. “If that means not catching because he’s exposed to potentially more injury and his legs and as he continues year in and year out, then he’s on board.

“He was excited about it. His exact words were at one point ‘I want to win a Gold Glove at first base, and I’m going to work extremely hard to get as close to that as possible.’”

Arenado knows all about winning Gold Gloves. Marmol says the third baseman’s unsettled situation is not a distraction.

“Speaking to Nolan, he’s in a good spot, man,” Marmol said. “He’s doing what he does best because he’s working hard to make sure he has a good season.”

Wherever that may be.