It was a magical last hurrah for Albert Pujols, and his regular-season farewell — as part of an all-time St. Louis Cardinals trio that also includes Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright — was a slice of “baseball heaven.”
Ultimately, the final campaign for Pujols and Molina (and possibly Wainwright) didn’t end with a World Series title, but a wild-card series sweep. Now, as an era comes to a close in St. Louis, what does the future hold?
Here’s a look at the team’s notable free agents, trade candidates — and three key questions facing the Cardinals for 2023 and beyond.
Notable free agents: 3B Nolan Arenado (option), SP Wainwright, SP Jose Quintana, OF Corey Dickerson
Arenado is addressed below. It’ll also be interesting to see if the Cardinals make an aggressive play for Quintana, who was such a good fit for their run-prevention design. As for Wainwright, it’s all but impossible to believe that if he pitches in 2023 it would be for anyone but the Cardinals.
Trade candidates: OF Tyler O’Neill, SP Jack Flaherty, SS Paul DeJong, 2B Nolan Gorman
Starting with DeJong, this is strictly a thought for a change of scenery, as he has continued to look lost at the plate and at this point, maybe some new voices in his head is what he needs. The return for him would be modest, one would think. Flaherty has struggled with health but trended up towards the end of the season and is still young enough that it’s hard not to wonder if he can still become an ace. He has entered his final season of arbitration eligibility and so it’s decision time for the Cardinals. O’Neill had a poor 2022 season in terms of production and health, but is still just one season removed from a career season. The Cardinals have good outfield depth and O’Neill is nearing the latter seasons of his arbitration window. Gorman has already flashed big-league-worthy power with a ton of swing-and-miss in his game, which got him demoted late in the season. The Cardinals have prospects Masyn Winn and Jordan Walker looming, and have Brendan Donovan and Tommy Edman already on the big league roster. If they dealt Gorman, they’d be dealing from a position of strength.
Extension candidates: OF Dylan Carlson, INF Edman, SP Jordan Montgomery, RP Ryan Helsley
This list is incomplete, as the Cardinals have a number of productive young big leaguers still in the controllable part of their careers who are worthy of being anointed longer-term foundation pieces. Locking them up would be more evidence of stability for a franchise that oozes that quality.
1. Will Arenado opt out?
Arenado would be opting out of a huge deal that could take him all the way through the 2027 season. He has been a great fit in St. Louis, has played well there with an MVP-caliber season in 2022, and Redbird Nation has adopted him as one of its own. With Molina and possibly Wainwright retiring, Arenado could be the face of one of baseball’s marquee franchises for years to come. At the same time, he’s 31 years old and coming off as good a platform season as anyone this side of Aaron Judge. It’s a tough decision, although rumors throughout the season suggested Arenado would be content to stay put.
2. What is next for the Cardinals behind the plate?
As rich as the history is for the Cardinals, they’ve never had a catcher who reached anything like the 17-year tenure of Molina as the team’s regular backstop. That tenure actually ended with the 2022 season as Andrew Knizner, not Molina, was the team’s most oft-used catcher, the first time someone other than Molina held that role since Mike Matheny in 2004. Even though he wasn’t on the field as much in 2022, Molina continued to loom large in the clubhouse and with the pitching staff as a player, coach and manager all rolled into one. Prospect Ivan Herrera made his big league debut this season but didn’t really look like a finished product. Will he be ready for a frontline role in 2023? If not, who? However the Cardinals decide to handle it, Molina’s successor has gigantic shoes to fill.
3. How do the Cardinals go from good to great?
This is the kind of big-picture, wide-lens question organizations have to ask themselves every once in a while, although they have to be consistently good for it to even come up. St. Louis clearly has built a system that can roll out winning teams year in, year out, almost without fail. The Cardinals have logged just one sub-.500 season this century. They haven’t finished lower than third since 2008 and they were 10 games over .500 that season. The 2022 season saw St. Louis post 93 wins, their most since 2015. Always good, but never quite great. Why? The answer to that very simple question is certainly complex, but it should be sought.
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