The Cardinals need to put their money where their mouth is with 2024 (and beyond) payroll
Actions speak louder than...
Making plans is fun. No true risk, all invention, and the endgame is harmless. Words fly out of your mouth like separated shrapnel pieces, sharp and carrying an emotional intent. A runway is built for a plane that doesn’t exist.
This winter, I am going to finally sit down and write that long-gestating novel that some good screenwriter will turn into a script. I’m also going to polish off one of the six screenplays that are laying around somewhere on some flash drive. I could reformat my garage to be a luxurious man cave, and help my wife build a bigger fence.
The truth is I will do none of those things… until I am actually done with them. Words are nice and loud, but action speaks the loudest. It’s been the same rules since the beginning of time, or when the second person picked the stick up and kicked the first person’s ass with it.
The St. Louis Cardinals are doing a lot of talking right now. With the postseason taking place while their 71-91 team makes winter plans, the mouths of team executives are moving. They’re raising payroll, getting aggressive, and returning to the promised land of playoff contention.
Yeah, they’re really just making up for past mistakes and misses. They’re going to upgrade from Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz to Aaron Nola or Sonny Gray. Here’s the thing: They need both Nola and Gray. The Cardinals need a legit 1-2-3 for their five-man rotation. Mikolas and Matz are bottom of the drum starters who offer 2-3 week flairs of something more.
The Cardinals need killers. Pitchers who promise 6-7 innings every time without dramatics. Find that in a trade or free agency. The offense doesn’t need much more than a log-jam unclogging, or some mild trimming. Cut an outfielder and infielder loose. See what the market is for Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson, and Tommy Edman--and then revisit that market in six-to-eight months as the deadline nears.
No matter what they do, Bill DeWitt Jr. and John Mozeliak can’t think solely about 2024; more like the next 5-10 years. As Kyle Reis pointed out on Musky’s X, formerly known as Twitter, there weren’t a slew of Triple-A Memphis callups with regards to Tink Hence or Gordon Graceffo. Thankfully, the team is letting those talents breathe a little bit before pouring.
Acquire a few pitchers, raise the payroll, and do it for the foreseeable future of contention. You don’t get to think like the Tampa Bay Rays and keep it lowkey. You’re a big-spending team that just said they want to increase their payroll from its current standpoint of $157-165 million. Show us, bypassing the strong-feel-delivering radio quotes.
Don’t get me wrong. Those quotes and segments are kettle corn to five-days-a-week hosts. That’s another 2-3 segments of discussion afterwards, spurring call-ins and more conversation. You can ride a whole week of wheel-spinning on the cool vibrations of a “we’ll be back” RA-RA comment. It’s like a Presidential campaign. All of it sounds good until it is actually put into action.
As David Starsky told Kenneth Hutch at a party once, “do it.” He was talking about a Bacardi and cola; Cards fans are asking for a more real form of competing, or a healthy dose of honesty. If I may channel the late George Carlin for a second, if you’re leaving an outgoing message and take a shit, just say you’re taking a shit on the message. Don’t hide, play games, or bullshit.
St. Louis residents, and visiting fans, pay a healthy premium to watch your product. At the end of a long day of adulting, they gather the kids and head down to spend an easy $100-150 on an experience that shouldn’t end with Oliver Marmol making an ill-fated bullpen decision because his bosses gave him a mediocre toolbox. Give the fans something better.
Here’s the score lately. The Cardinals own five playoff wins since the beginning of the 2015 season, equaling ONE series win in that time. They have made the playoffs four out of the last eight seasons, being swept out of the show three times. The picture gets muggier the closer you look.
Mozeliak’s genius ran out. DeWitt Jr.’s checkbook needs to widen in order to launch that Christmas… or Cardinal spending spirit again. It’s Oct. 11. The playoffs will be over in less than three weeks. Start planning a renaissance, Birds, because you stink right now.
And you don’t employ a guy named KLAUS!