In a latest chat with readers, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Submit-Dispatch mentioned the futures of a handful of pending free brokers on the Cardinals roster. Most notable amongst them is seven-time All Star and 2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, who Goold famous the membership would speak with after the season “about what a return seems like.” Goold went on to check the scenario with Goldschmidt to the one the membership skilled with longtime Cardinal Adam Wainwright late in his profession, when Goold notes the membership allowed him to achieve free company earlier than finalizing a beforehand agreed-upon deal.
That framing of the scenario signifies that there’s a robust mutual curiosity in Goldschmidt’s keep in St. Louis extending past this season. The veteran first baseman, 37 subsequent month, has spent the final six years with the Cardinals after arriving in St. Louis in a commerce that introduced his tenure with the Diamondbacks to an finish one yr earlier than he would’ve in any other case been scheduled to achieve free company. Whereas Goldschmidt’s thirties with the Cardinals haven’t been fairly as productive as his twenties in Arizona, he’s nonetheless be among the many video games most dependable offensive abilities with a .286/.373/.500 slash line (138 wRC+) with St. Louis coming into the 2024 marketing campaign.
Given his consistency on the plate and his still-recent MVP marketing campaign in 2022, Goldschmidt entered the 2024 season wanting as if he is perhaps one of many offseason’s most engaging offensive abilities regardless of his superior age. A troublesome 2024 marketing campaign has modified that, nonetheless, because the veteran has hit simply .228/.288/.384 (91 wRC+) in 110 video games this season. Age-related decline turns into a priority for many any participant as their profession advances into their mid-to-late thirties, and for Goldschmidt to have the primary below-average offensive season of his profession at age 36 absolutely units off alarm bells for some golf equipment.
Given Goldschmidt’s struggles this yr, it’s straightforward to see how a reunion might take advantage of sense for all sides. In any case, the Cardinals lack a transparent inheritor to Goldschmidt at first base amongst their corps of younger hitters, which is populated primarily by center infield and outfield choices. Luken Baker is the one first baseman on the 40-man roster managed for the 2025 season, and the 27-year-old has but to seem within the large leagues this yr after a 33-game cup of espresso in 2023 the place he struck out at a 31.3% clip and mustered a wRC+ of simply 79. Retaining Goldschmidt would permit the membership to maintain a revered and adorned veteran who has had success within the latest previous within the fold whereas they kind out long-term choices at first base.
In the meantime, a reunion would supply Goldschmidt a snug and acquainted place to attempt to bounce-back in 2025 with a company that has caught by him as their on a regular basis first baseman even amid his hitting woes this season. It’s additionally value noting that there’s some purpose for optimism concerning Goldschmidt baked into his newer efficiency this season. After an ice chilly begin to the season the place he posted a paltry .530 OPS in 37 video games, Goldschmidt has bounced again considerably with a extra respectable .247/.294/.446 in his final 316 journeys to the plate. That determine is nice for an above common wRC+ of 108.
Setting apart Goldschmidt, Goold goes on to counsel that there’s no less than two different pending free brokers the Cardinals might discover reunions with this winter: relievers Keynan Middleton and Andrew Kittredge. Of the 2, Goold appears to suggest {that a} reunion with Middleton is extra doubtless, including that there’s “mutual curiosity” in figuring out a cope with the 30-year-old who has missed the whole 2024 marketing campaign on account of season-ending flexor tendon surgical procedure.
The Cardinals maintain a $6MM membership choice with a $1MM buyout on Middleton’s companies for the 2025 marketing campaign, however after the righty missed his first yr with the membership it wouldn’t essentially be a shock to see St. Louis brass decline that choice in hopes of re-signing Middleton to a smaller assure. The righty posted a 3.38 ERA in 51 video games with the White Sox and Yankees final yr and was significantly spectacular throughout his time within the Bronx, when he pitched to a 1.88 ERA and struck out 30.4% of opponents. As for Kittredge, the 34-year-old righty has carried out solidly in his first season with the membership with a 3.12 ERA with a 4.19 FIP in 49 innings of labor and can doubtless be eyeing a increase over the $2.263MM wage he’s earned in his last journey by arbitration this yr.
