The Thanksgiving Pause
Giving thanks while pondering the future
In Cardinal land, things have been both busy and uneventful since the press conference after the season outlining the new direction of the St. Louis nine (or 26, if you want to be literal) and the beginning of the staffing changes that will implement that new direction. While there have been many things to talk about, there’s also not been much change to the overall roster.
With Thanksgiving upon us, it’s not a bad time to take a moment to not only reflect on what we have had come up over the past month but to give thanks for what we do have, as people and as Cardinals fans. Let’s dive into this like we’ll dive into our plates tomorrow—a few of the side dishes before tackling the turkey in the room.
I’m a very big fan of deviled eggs, especially the ones that my mother makes. While they are not at all the focus of anyone else’s Thanksgiving, mine just wouldn’t be complete without housing at least a half-dozen throughout the meal. In a similar vein, my focus lately has not necessarily been on the meat of the roster but the side issue of how to watch it. Regular readers know that I’ve tried to keep up with the whole Diamond Sports bankruptcy issue because, given my location, the only option to watch the Cardinals was going to cost over $100 a month and as such I’ve not regularly seen the team the past two years. (I know, pretty solid timing.)
That looks to be changing, however. With the news that the Cardinals have redone their contract with Diamond comes the ability to stream the games within the market. There’s been no details yet, especially when it comes to pricing, but it sounds like that people within the market will be able to stream it for some set price (I would guess in the $20/month range) through the FanDuel Sports app. It will also been an option to stream via Amazon Prime, though it will be an additional charge to any subscription you may have there.
Personally, I would love it if they would give some option to watch the Cardinals through MLB.tv as well, even if I had to pay more for the full package than I do now. Being able to contain it all in one app would be excellent, though “containing things in one place” is kinda the antithesis of how sports programming works these days.
Moving to a streaming option without blackouts is progress, though. I’m a little worried about having to walk my 82-year-old father through all this, but no pain no gain.
Much like the dressing (or stuffing), green bean or other types of casserole, or the rolls provide more substantive sustenance, so to was the news that two of the significant contracts, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras, wanted to stay in St. Louis even with the change in direction. Contreras was committed to Cardinal red so much that he was willing to change his position.
Let’s touch on Gray first. I think Gray’s commitment was pretty remarkable. Yes, he just got to St. Louis and one of the major reasons he signed with the team was its proximity to his home outside of Nashville, geography that has not changed. However, he’s only guaranteed two more years in St. Louis (with an option for a third) and there’s a large chance the club won’t be in the playoffs either of those years. With a team like Atlanta also in his geographical radius (as well as an intriguing Cincinnati team with Terry Francona, though he may not have wanted to revisit those haunts) he could have likely forced the issue and been on a contender while still being at home. The fact that he wanted to stay the course here in St. Louis is commendable.
Contreras is a similarly inspiring person. There’s no doubt that, after the two years he’s spent in St. Louis, he could have been looking for the exit and nobody would have blamed him. He hasn’t won like he thought when he signed plus the whole fiasco of 2023 could have soured him on the organization. Instead, knowing that the club doesn’t need three catchers, he didn’t look to find another place, he looked to find another position. Contreras’s bat was good enough last year to be a DH/1B, though that was in limited time. The hope is not catching will continue that production. I think it’s fair to wonder how much changing positions will affect him, though. That focus needed to play first—Mr. Washington would remind us that it’s incredibly hard—may counteract any physical improvements not squatting behind the plate may bring.
That being said, I’m glad that Contreras wants to stay. He’s been a passionate player that has embraced being a Cardinal and it would be painful to see him go elsewhere.
Speaking of painful, it’s time to (ad)dress the turkey of this metaphor. Let me be clear, though, I am not calling Nolan Arenado a turkey by any stretch of the imagination. I was a big fan of Arenado’s when he was in Colorado, was extremely excited to have him come to St. Louis, and the current situation makes me bummed out.
It should also be noted, as Katie Woo did recently in another excellent article, that Arenado isn’t trying to force his way out of St. Louis like he did in his exit from Colorado. He was open to the idea when John Mozeliak and company brought it to him, but he didn’t suggest it. He also sounds perfectly content to stay in St. Louis should the right deal not manifest itself.
I can’t fault him for wanting to go to a contender, of course. Arenado’s most notable trait may be his passion for winning. The last two years must have been pretty rough on him, especially 2023. He thought he was leaving that behind in the thin air of the Rocky Mountains. Instead, it seems to have followed him to the Gateway to the West.
That said, I still think not only does it make sense for Arenado to stay in St. Louis, he probably will. That might be a little bit of bias talking, but I do wonder if the Cardinals really want to pay a ton of money for him not to play for them as well as getting back some gambles in the form of prospects. Does it not make more sense to keep his veteran presence, his excellent glove, and his still potent (if less than it was) bat in the lineup?
Now I hear you saying, “Veteran presence? He and Paul Goldschmidt specifically requested veterans to come in and lead because they couldn’t.” Which is both a fair point and one that is probably a bit overstated. By the end of the season, Arenado had joined Instagram (which I wouldn’t be surprised was encouraged by some of the younger players, though given the content it’s just as likely it was his agent/sponsors) and had pictures with some of the younger players like Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn. It really felt like Matt Carpenter and the others had either set the tone, given the template, or freed up the space for Arenado to find his own leadership voice. I think he could be a great resource for these guys, especially since Carpenter may not be back and the club has already moved on from Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. He and Contreras are easily the most experienced hitters on the roster right now and keeping him around wouldn’t be the worst thing.
That said, if some deal like that three-way Phillies/Mariners/Cardinals suggestion was actually out there, it would be really tough for St. Louis to turn it down and I don’t think Arenado would either. Scott Rolen might not recommend it for him but I also think the Phillies fanbase has a different reputation than it did in the ‘90s when Rolen was there. Winning helps, of course.
Arenado’s best years are probably behind him but I’d be fine with watching him play out the rest of his career in Cardinal red. We’ll probably have a better feel after the winter meetings if that is at all plausible.
There’s always one dish at the Thanksgiving meal that people tend to forget about or ignore. In a similar fashion, we should note that Miles Mikolas is also a contract that the Cardinals would like to shed and, from what I hear, he is also open to moving on. The problem is, of course, that another team would want to take him on.
Unlike Arenado, I think the Cards would be best served by actually paying as much as they need to move Mikolas. I know that Arenado’s moving on would free up third base, which could help roster construction, but not having Mikolas in the rotation next season would really allow for more looks at some of the young arms in the system. I’m not necessarily talking about the Tink Hense but maybe more the Sem Robberse. A spot to try out those that are maybe ready, maybe not, maybe never will be.
That said, finding a willing partner, even if you are paying 75% of the salary, could be an issue. Mikolas has a no-trade so you can’t just dump him. Would a contender want him to eat innings, even when you aren’t real sure that the output would be worth it? My guess is no and that Mikolas will finish his contract with the club.
There’s also Steven Matz, of course, who doesn’t have a no-trade. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Cards dealt him at the winter meetings, honestly. His contract isn’t onerous, he can be a starter or a reliever, and someone probably would give up a AA arm for him.
My hope is that you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving. (If we have any international readers, I hope you have a great….Thursday.) We have so much to be thankful for. Beyond our friends, our families, our freedoms, and our faiths, there are great things to be thankful for as specifically Cardinals fans. For instance:
—Say what you will about the DeWitt era, it’s been a successful one. We might wish they’d spend more, we might wish they’d be a little smarter with how they spend, but we’ve never had to worry about tanking and half a decade of terrible teams. There are a lot of terrible owners around MLB but I don’t think you can put the DeWitts in that group.
—There’s a lot of fun young talent on this team. I am always going to be raving about Masyn Winn and I look forward to him playing in St. Louis for a long time (sign that man to an extension now, folks) but you also still have the potential of Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman, the fun production of Alec Burleson, the excitement of Quinn Matthews and Tink Hence, the personality and excitement of Victor Scott II, the goofiness of Lars Nootbaar. While the Cards do have some work to do in development, there’s no doubt that the collection of players that they currently have can also provide a lot of memories.
—The Cards have lost a lot of legends over the past few years, but we still have a number of them that we see from time to time. You can’t escape Ozzie Smith (not that you would want to) and there’s the more recent legends of Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina (OK, we haven’t really seen Yadi much), and Adam Wainwright. Plus folks like Willie McGee, Ray Lankford, Scott Rolen, David Freese, Chris Carpenter, and others will turn up with varying frequency. The history of the Cardinals is deep and living.
—We aren’t Cubs fans.
I’m personally thankful, beyond all already mentioned, for my podcast cohosts. Allen and I haven’t done a Musial in a few weeks (and probably won’t this weekend) but I look forward to getting a couple of more shows done before he goes off to coach high school baseball and I start the Cavalcade of Stars that is about half the season. David has dealt with vertigo and related issues a lot over the past few months, but it cleared up enough for us to record Sunday, which was a great thing. Both guys make me look good on the regular which is a real hard job.
I’ve spent a little more time over at BlueSky (you can follow me over there if you like) but I’m not leaving Twitter/X any time soon, I don’t think. Good people in both places and I’ve got my Twitter setup well enough that a lot of the issues people complain about I don’t see often.
I plan to finish up the outside lights today and we’ll flip the switch tomorrow night. If we’re friends on Facebook you can watch the reveal live but for those that aren’t, I’ll have pictures up on the socials and likely here if I get another post done before the holidays. I think there’s about 26-28 hours into the work this year and now we’ll get to start getting the inside decorated.
Thanks to all of you that have subscribed and encouraged me all year long. You really are the best. Enjoy your holiday!