With a 33-25 record as of this writing, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of MLB’s greatest tales thus far this season. Even though their own front staff views this season as a retooling year, the Cards are only three games behind the NL Central-leading Cubs. If the Cardinals continue to play this way, they have a chance to make it to the postseason even if they might not win the World Series. All of that could happen without Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, who is still available for trade.
This past winter, St. Louis let Goldy to enter MLB free agency. Although Goldschmidt’s career in St. Louis has been fantastic, it has reached its end. He only hit.245 and collected 1.3 WAR in his lackluster final season with the Cards. But maybe with a new group of hitting coaches and a new outlook, Goldschmidt gave up a new lead with the New York Yankees. So far this season, Goldschmidt has reached his 2024 WAR in just two months, and is hitting .338 with a .889 OPS.
St. Louis Cardinals are missing Paul Goldschmidt’s leadership
Goldschmidt’s swan song is something the Cardinals can live with. But his leadership in the locker room may be what they miss most. The 37-year-old first baseman said all the right things after Saturday night’s humiliating loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers for his new team, the New York Yankees.
“The focus has to be on coming out and playing well [Sunday]. Regardless of what’s going to happen with this series, we know that there’s a lot of season remaining,” Goldschmidt added. Goldy reaffirmed that they still had trust in their Yankees colleagues, and a long list of other Yankees veterans followed. After all, it’s only June 1.
Cardinals have an idea of who their next Paul Goldschmidt is
It would be difficult to replace Goldschmidt in the clubhouse, the Cardinals acknowledged when they spoke positively about him to the media back in March. Arenado and Brendan Donovan were among the leaders the young Cardinals proposed to be their new clubhouse voice.
“Donnie is an easy one,” Alec Burleson remarked at the time. There is a certain leadership quality about him. He is also a family man. He’s always eager to assist the young men. He’s clearly one that could go into that job, for sure.”
Naturally, the only issue with Arenado and Donovan is that, should this St. Louis run come to an end, they may be used as trade bait at the last minute. Arenado may return to the market in July after declining a deal to the Astros this winter. It would be far more difficult to get Donovan to leave St. Louis, but JJ Wetherholt’s rise in Double A may eventually make him disposable as well.
It’s a terrific idea to invest in young people, and this is precisely how St. Louis’ front office should approach their reconstruction. However, it’s crucial to surround those young athletes with seasoned professionals who can impart critical knowledge to them along the road. The Cards need to remember that.
