The Cardinals were inactive this offseason so how much “Runway” for young players actually exists?
The arbitrage of verbiage used by the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason continues to evolve as we started at the offseason with “refresh”, then pivoted to “reset”, and now we’ve arrived at “transition.” Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak has emphasized on every occasion that the upcoming season will be centered around finding out what the team has in its youthful emerging core in an effort to position itself for its transitioning leadership to Chaim Bloom and his crew in 2026. Given the lack of movement in or out, fans have questioned the commitment of the front office to a clear direction. I believe they’re positioned to do so on one side of the ball, but the other may be more of mid-season transition.
Let’s start with the offense. From the perspective of the sport, a player’s prime seasons are generally from age 26 through age 31. The Cardinals offense only features 2 players who are beyond their prime years in Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado. Willson had arguably one of his most effective offensive seasons last year and his transition to 1B would be a fair direction to point when arguing we could see that performance repeat or even take a small step forward. Nolan Arenado is coming off of back-to-back down years in terms of performance but, as with many Hall of Fame caliber players, it’s hard to bet against a motivated player with the track record of success he has. Will we see “peak’ Arenado this season? Not sure. I have every expectation we will see a bounce back of some sort, though. In a spring performance this past week we saw Nolan launch a 3-run home run and though Spring Training Home Runs are generally inconsequential, the fact that Nolan displayed a skill that has been missing most of the last 2 seasons, his ability to impact the ball to his pull side, was a welcomed site and one that should give fans optimism as to what Nolan may have in store for 2025.
The Cardinals also have 5 players in their projected 13-man offensive crew that are currently IN their prime years: Brendan Donovan (28), Lars Nootbaar (27), Alec Burleson (26), Pedro Pages (26), Luken Baker (28). This quintet features a pair of everyday regular contributors in Nootbaar and Donovan, a pair of role players in Burleson and Baker, and a player who has a chance to take an everyday job in Pages.
That means that the Cardinals could feature up to 6 (half) of their offensive group with players who have yet to even reach their perceived prime, depending on bench roles, and though we have seen them for a couple seasons, the point still remains that they’re still transitioning into big league players. Masyn Winn (22), Jordan Walker (22), Ivan Herrera (24), and Nolan Gorman (24) all figure to be fixtures in the 2025 lineup and are the focal point of the “runway” to find out what the Cardinals have in their young core. Other players who fall into this bucket who could be a factor this season would be Thomas Saggese (22), Michael Siani (25), and Victor Scott II (24). Players who may factor into this group in the next season or two would include JJ Wetherholt (22), Chase Davis (23), and Jimmy Crooks (23).
When the Cardinals talk about “youth” that’s the group they’re referring to. There is a lot of upside in that group and fans should have some excitement about the near future of the position player side. If that group can’t take hold of everyday jobs and show they’re capable big leaguers, this may go from “transition” to retool and Chaim Bloom’s job becomes more extensive in turning the roster over.
The pitching side is a different story. Applying the same logic (ages 26-31), the Cardinals feature 4 pitchers in their past their perceived prime in Miles Mikolas (36), Sonny Gray (35), Steven Matz (33), and Erick Fedde (32). Andre Pallante is the lone Cardinal in the projected 26-man rotation who is entering his physical prime 2025 being his age 26 season.
The bullpen features All-Star Closer Ryan Helsley entering his final season of his physical prime at age 31. The rest of the bullpen mix mostly features pitchers either entering their physical prime or are in the midst of it with Ryan Fernandez (26), JoJo Romero (30), John King (30), Kyle Leahy (27), Riley O’Brien (30), Chris Roycroft (27), Ryan Loutos (26), Matt Svanson (26), and Bailey Horn (27).
Nick Anderson would be the outlier on the older side, should he make the team at age (34) and Matthew Liberatore would be the outlier on the younger side at (25).
The midseason transition I spoke of at the beginning is likely to come as a result of the trade deadline and moving some of the veteran options out which would allow for names like Michael McGreevy (24), Quinn Matthews (24), Gordon Graceffo (25), Roddery Munoz (24), and Sem Robberse (23). All could see big league action at some point this season, but may be more in the 2nd half or even post trade deadline. Tink Hence, TK Roby, Cooper Hjerpe, and Ian Bedell would all have outside chances to get a cup of coffee should they display any kind of track record of health and success, but I think may be more factors in 2026.
There is plenty of youth at or near the MLB level that I can get the idea of what Mo and Co. are trying to accomplish this season, while also hoping to field a competitive team should all the pieces come together in a meaningful way, and though there are veterans still holding key spots on this roster, we should still see the “transition” take place in front of our faces in waves or stages for different position groups, it would seem. As for 2025, my mindset remains the same as every season, Go Cards! Happy Baseball season Cardinals fans!
-thanks for reading