The St. Louis Cardinals, who have endured a two-year postseason absence, are overhauling their approach to constructing their roster. This offseason, they will not be engaging in an extensive spending spree in free agency. Instead, they are prioritizing the development of their minor league talent in order to bolster their chances of mounting a strong challenge in the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
The day after the\u00a0Cardinals’ disappointing 2024 season ended, the organization\u00a0announced several changes<\/a>. Among them was signing Chaim Bloom as<\/span> the next president of baseball operations starting in the 2026 season. The current president John Mozeliak will step down after the 2025 season. The two will work together on the job through next season.<\/p>\n Along with the shift, the team owner Bill Dewitt Jr. and team president Bill Dewitt III announced a refocus and re-investment to player development. The organization wants to re-organize their priorities from acquiring talent to growing it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve always prided ourselves on drafting and developing our own players. It\u2019s clear that we need to make significant changes to get back to this model,” Dewitt Jr. said.<\/p>\n Among the changes<\/a> will be Bloom adding his personnel to the player development side. Longtime director of player development Gary LaRoche is retiring. That leaves Bloom with the task of leading the search for his replacement. Bloom said he wants to look for innovation and use people already in the organization as he rebuilds this department.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no area of the game that just stands still. So, if you want to get out front you should be looking at everything,” Bloom said.<\/p>\n The Cardinals had the 12th-highest MLB payroll in 2024 at $175.9 million. A large sum of that is already expected to come off the books with the departure of former MVP first baseman Paul Goldschmidt<\/a>. The team will part with Goldschmidt<\/a> and his $26 million price tag.<\/p>\n Beyond reading the tea leaves of the player development refocus, Mozeliak confirmed payroll will look different next year in the end-of-season press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cI would anticipate seeing payroll go down because of these investments,” Mozeliak said.<\/p>\n The Cardinals hold team options for veteran starters Kyle Gibson<\/a> and Lance Lynn<\/a>, who are slated to earn $12 million and $11 million, respectively, in 2025. However, considering their advancing age \u2013 both will be 37 or older next season \u2013 and the team’s desire to trim payroll, it’s likely that St. Louis will decline their options, paving the way for their departures.<\/p>\n The <\/span>Cardinals’ <\/span>2025 <\/span>rotation <\/span>landscape <\/span>is <\/span>poised <\/span>for <\/span>change, <\/span>as <\/span>Miles <\/span>Mikolas, <\/span>Steven <\/span>Matz, <\/span>and <\/span>Erick <\/span>Fedde <\/span>enter <\/span>the <\/span>final <\/span>year <\/span>of <\/span>their <\/span>contracts. <\/span>With <\/span>Mikolas <\/span>owed <\/span>$17.6 <\/span>million, <\/span>Matz <\/span>$12.5 <\/span>million, <\/span>and <\/span>Fedde <\/span>$7.5 <\/span>million, <\/span>St. <\/span>Louis <\/span>may <\/span>explore <\/span>trading <\/span>these <\/span>veterans <\/span>to <\/span>replenish <\/span>their <\/span>farm <\/span>system <\/span>with <\/span>younger <\/span>talent.<\/span><\/p>\n Shedding some of the $60.6 million owed to five pitchers in their 30s could free up funds for the Cardinals to explore free agency. However, don’t expect any big splashes like the big deal with Sonny Gray<\/a> from last offseason. The team is more likely to fill out its roster with cheaper veterans. They could also kick the tires on free agents who have been down on their luck in recent seasons.<\/p>\n As <\/span>the <\/span>Cardinals <\/span>prioritize <\/span>youth, <\/span>a <\/span>promising <\/span>core <\/span>of <\/span>talent <\/span>is <\/span>poised <\/span>to <\/span>take <\/span>center <\/span><\/a>stage. <\/span>Shortstop <\/span>Masyn <\/span>Winn <\/span>has <\/span>already <\/span>cemented <\/span>his <\/span>status <\/span>as <\/span>a <\/span>franchise <\/span>cornerstone. <\/span>Versatile <\/span>infielders <\/span>Alec <\/span>Burleson <\/span>and <\/span>Brendan <\/span>Donovan, <\/span>still <\/span>on <\/span>rookie <\/span>deals, <\/span>offer <\/span>flexibility <\/span>and <\/span>upside. <\/span>The <\/span>team <\/span>remains <\/span>bullish <\/span>on <\/span>outfielders <\/span>Jordan <\/span>Walker <\/span>and <\/span>Lars <\/span>Nootbaar, <\/span>who <\/span>could <\/span>blossom <\/span>into <\/span>stars <\/span>with <\/span>continued <\/span>development. <\/span>Thomas <\/span>Saggesse, <\/span>the <\/span>organization’s <\/span>No. <\/span>4 <\/span>prospect, will get an<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>extended <\/span>infield <\/span>audition <\/span>in <\/span>2025 <\/span>after <\/span>a <\/span>tantalizing <\/span>late-season <\/span>call-up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think about it, we ended up winning 83 games. There was a positive. Young players were a big part of that,” Dewitt Jr. said. “I think it\u2019s an exciting team to watch and to follow and to see the other young players coming up. If I were a fan, I would be kind of excited for the future, I see what we have, I see what\u2019s coming and you know change can be good.\u201d<\/p>\n The <\/span>Cardinals’ <\/span>core <\/span>stability <\/span>is <\/span>further <\/span>bolstered <\/span>by <\/span>the <\/span>long-term <\/span>contracts <\/span>of <\/span>former <\/span>All-Stars <\/span>Willson <\/span>Contreras, <\/span>Nolan <\/span>Arenado, <\/span>and <\/span>Gray, <\/span>all <\/span>secured <\/span>through <\/span>at <\/span>least <\/span>the <\/span>2027 <\/span>season. <\/span>This <\/span>foundation <\/span>provides <\/span>a <\/span>solid <\/span>base <\/span>for <\/span>the <\/span>team’s <\/span>youthful <\/span>influx.<\/span><\/p>\n As the Cardinals consider rebuilding their starting rotation, a talented young core waits in the wings<\/a>. Michael McGreevy<\/a> impressed in his late-season cameo, while Andre Pallante<\/a>, 25, solidified his spot in the 2025 rotation with a strong fill-in performance for the injured Matz. The Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, boasted a prospect-laden rotation, featuring four top-14 prospects: McGreevy (No. 10), Gordon Graceffo<\/a> (No. 11), Sem Robberse<\/a> (No. 12), and Adam Kloffenstein<\/a> (No. 14). Additionally, top prospects<\/a> Tink Hence<\/a> (No. 2) and Quinn Mathews<\/a> (No. 3) could make their MLB debuts in 2025.<\/p>\n Main Photo: \u00a9 Joe Puetz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The St. Louis Cardinals, who have endured a two-year postseason absence, are overhauling their approach to constructing their roster. This offseason, they will not be engaging in an extensive spending spree in free agency. Instead, they are prioritizing the development of their minor league talent in order to bolster their chances of mounting a strong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5111,"featured_media":87314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1071,25],"tags":[6421,1764,1800,208,28546,650,28434],"class_list":["post-87310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-mlb","category-cardinals","tag-andre-pallante","tag-lance-lynn","tag-miles-mikolas","tag-paul-goldschmidt","tag-quinn-mathews","tag-sonny-gray","tag-tink-hence"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Likely Payroll Decrease Coming<\/h3>\n
What the Roster Might Look Like<\/h3>\n
Starting rotation could see the biggest changes<\/h3>\n