Why the Cardinals need to build their own Juan Soto instead of buying one

It's been 25 years since they found Albert Pujols.

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The New York Mets signing Juan Soto to a record-breaking ($765 million!) deal changed things for Major League Baseball. The reactionary moves will range from extending another young star to an overlong, overly rich contract to remaining in the lower rung of the spending bracket and accepting their fate. The Pittsburgh Pirates stare at this news like Wall Street brokers stare at the limits of the human brain. The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are thinking about how to best a deal that could be over in half the time of its original term.

The St. Louis Cardinals should be looking for their own Soto instead. The days of Bill DeWitt Jr.’s front office racing to stay among the big spenders like the Mets and Dodgers are over. Let’s be honest and admit that the $175-200 million expense account never worked. The rebuild that has commenced will take the team back to the 1990s before Tony La Russa arrived and a behemoth was built. In searching the trade market for a Nolan Arenado suitor and cutting payroll elsewhere, the team’s main goal should be finding out if they have a Soto on the roster, or if that needs to go on the list.

The Yankees wanted him badly. Their ways will never change. New York offered $760 million, five million less than their National League counterpart. Soto’s decision went deeper than growing a beard and being more vocal. Those teams will continue to spend as if a World Series trophy was guaranteed. The Dodgers have won a pair of titles in the past five years, but it took a lot of spending, trading, and dumping to be in that position.

It’s been 25 years since the Cardinals unearthed an alien from Kansas in Albert Pujols, a force that took the league and city by storm. No one can ask a team to find another Pujols, Shohei Ohtani, or Mike Trout--but a next level talent is how teams ascend to the final sector of playoff teams. Pujols was an out-of-nowhere blast of talent, unlike the top prospect statuses of the late Oscar Taveras or Jordan Walker. The latter player just needs to focus on becoming a solid baseball player.

Do the Cardinals have a Pujols-type in their farm system or on their Major League roster? No, unless another Albert is waiting to prove hundreds of scouts wrong. Scouting maestro and soon-to-be head maestro Chaim Bloom will have to start searching for their own Soto. A player that the Cardinals once courted for a hot minute will be a Met until my son turns 28 years old, which is both shocking and appalling. Ohtani, Trout, and the other studs of the league will either stay put or go elsewhere.

Here’s the thing. The Cardinals tried the “spend hard” way. It failed. They were willing to spend for Giancarlo Stanton and David Price, even if they came short. They acquired Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, paying them an annual combined fee of $60 million. John Mozeliak finally dipped his toes in the pretty good pitcher market for Sonny Gray last winter, a pitcher he’ll pay a base salary of $25 million in 2025. Some of it was fun, but most of it didn’t work.

It’s time to go the other way. Build a Juan Soto of your own that some other team down the line wants enough years and money for his entire family never to work again. Finding that person won’t be easy, but spreading your search radius might help. As St. Louis sportswriter maverick Bernie Miklasz noted in an exchange on Bluesky, dipping their toes more in the international market for talent could help find their man. After all, Soto and Pujols are both from the Dominican Republic. Send Michael Girsch from Special Projects over there to commence a stakeout.

It goes beyond the playing field. Soto’s charisma and presence give the Mets an exciting element to go with elite ability. The Yankees got to experience it, but the Mets have paid upfront to spend a decade and a half with Soto. It’s a commitment based on performance, both on and off the field.

Masyn Winn could develop into a premier talent like Soto. In his first full season with the Cardinals, he built a 3.6 fWAR and hit 15 home runs to go with top-shelf defense. Give him a few years and you’re adding a few runs to that WAR. After a year and change, Winn has shown a personality and emotion on the field that likens him to a star. The voice behind a pitching mound that gets a struggling arm going, a bat with some pop in it, and an all-around appeal is what the Cardinals are searching for.

They couldn’t afford to keep up with the big teams for the past three decades, so DeWitt Jr. and Bloom need to crack the safe on building their superstar. Stop wasting time. Maybe he drops into their lap like Pujols, or the search takes a multi-faceted approach. If they’re wise, the Cards will understand this process takes time and won’t lead to initial winning. Mozeliak telling the media he expects to field a good baseball team is a determination he should leave to everyone but himself.

The St. Louis Cardinals aren’t the most respected or sought-after franchise in the game anymore, but they can get right back there with a Soto-type stud. Unless DeWitt Jr. has an extra $55 million annually lying around, finding that foundational talent is Bloom’s first assignment.