What will it take to fill the stands?

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

It will likely take the absence of Mo, the presence of a couple of proven superstars, and a willingness of DeWitt to add more if needed I.e. manager with success in playoffs etc.

Get over your obsession with Mo.

You first.

Tanker can't, his nose is stuck in MO's behind.

[renostl]

Simple

1 - Winning (duh)

2 - BDWJr allowing Mo/Bloom to ADD a piece or two at the trading deadline if the Cardinals are in or near 1st place in the NLC

I know there's a segment that wants to just punt 2025 and selloff anyone they can (Helsley, Fedde, NADO, Matz, ect...).

On one hand they have a point.

On the other the return for those players is NOT going to be a teams Top 10 prospect so it's really a c r a p shoot if dealing them ever leads to even one player being a big contributor for the Cardinals down the road.

Selling would guarantee Dewitt 10-12,000 per game for the rest of the season or a disaster!

And who knows what's going to happen, there's no guarantee the Dodgers or Mets or Yankees are winning the WS this season.

If they're where they are now or in 1st place, then ADD a piece or two Dewitt and you'll start seeing those 35-40,000+ size crowds again!

JMO

That segment that wants to punt and sell off even more this year is gonna be sorely disappointed when the youth movement stalls out in 26 and beyond. Look at Baltimore.

Our current record depends heavily on sometimes inconsistent, but meaningful production from:
Fedde
Mikolas
Helsley
Willson
Grey
Nado (walkoff HR and great defense).

Meanwhile Gorman and Walker are big reminders you can’t just project prospect progress linearly upwards.

What if Libby takes a step back or gets hurt next year?
What if Hence, Matthews Roby etc can’t shake the injury bug?

Maybe McGreevey succeeds and replaces Mikolas in the rotation, but he can’t replace three starters.

sometime it will be time to move on from certain vets, but a lot of them we will have to replaced externally and then take our internal development as a bonus to push us over the top instead of planning to not replace them and hope that our development program rolls snake eyes and succeeds phenomenally in every direction at every position.

Furthermore, you can’t just reduce Payroll from 190,000,000 to 40,000,000 and then expect to spend that dry powder later when all of your internal prospects are suddenly regulars and All-Stars at the same time. It doesn’t work that way because there will always be one or two prospects We’re still waiting on and in the meantime, some of your former prospects Will either regress or age out of their cost controlled years and start costing real money - then you trade them for a AA prospect and you’re four years away again from replacing that production, best case. That’s Pittsburgh for you.

Meanwhile, you lose so many games and have so little star power that attendance and revenue continues to drop and you don’t have the funding to bring back the free agents or re-sign your own prospects as they age out. And the big free agents won’t want to come here if we are losing 90 games a year. Dragging out a rebuild too long just becomes a death spiral. It’s time to put a period and a paragraph mark on 2023 and realize the future is now.

[bgwinn01]

To answer the orignal poster's question - winning. Which they're doing now. And playing exciting, good fundamental baseball. The stadium will be full shortly. School not out yet either.

[WLTFE]

It will likely take the absence of Mo, the presence of a couple of proven superstars, and a willingness of DeWitt to add more if needed I.e. manager with success in playoffs etc.

Get over your obsession with Mo.

Front office (donkey) kisser is upset because someone criticized Mo-ran!

[Cranny]

It will likely take the absence of Mo, the presence of a couple of proven superstars, and a willingness of DeWitt to add more if needed I.e. manager with success in playoffs etc.

Get over your obsession with Mo.

You first.

Tanker can't, his nose is stuck in MO's behind.

Disgusting imagery.

[WLTFE]

It will likely take the absence of Mo, the presence of a couple of proven superstars, and a willingness of DeWitt to add more if needed I.e. manager with success in playoffs etc.

Get over your obsession with Mo.

You first.

Tanker can't, his nose is stuck in MO's behind.

+1...now that's [fork]ing and very accurate!

[Cranny]

Stalker troll.

[Midrange Jay]

What will it take for the best fans in baseball to return? 1st place in the Cental by June? 10 games over .500? 15 games?

I would assume the best fans in baseball would still be with their team, thick and thin.

Right?

“Best” means “smartest,” not “most blindly loyal.”

To answer the question, if the team keeps playing well and the old, white, Safe Charles crowd realizes that traveling downtown isn’t an immediate death sentence, the stands will fill.

Ummm people have been shot and killed leaving the Cards games, you know this correct? I don't blame anyone for having trepidation when it comes to going downtown.

Until they make a safety a top priority I don't blame anyone not wanting to go.

I would be very interested to read a story about someone being shot and killed leaving a Cardinals game. And so would you.

Again, parking garage attached to the stadium. I promise you’ll live through the experience and no homeless person will talk to you for more than a second or two.

My apologies, shot and paralyzed, because that is much better

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/other ... inals-game

No, it’s tragic. But is a tragic story like that limited to St. Louis? That could happen in any city in America. Are fans in other cities afraid to go downtown because of a five-year-old incident? And again, walking through the Arch grounds. At night. In a group of two. Does that sound like smart situational awareness to anyone? Of course not. Does it excuse or justify a tragic event? Not at all. But we all have a responsibility to minimize risk and be smart when in any city. Walking through a dark park after a game to save a few bucks on parking is not what I would call smart.

And mysteriously it did not affect attendance for the next 4 years. It took multiple bad teams and the ownership cutting 20% of the payroll with no free agent additions. It wasn’t about suburban panty waste.

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

It will likely take the absence of Mo, the presence of a couple of proven superstars, and a willingness of DeWitt to add more if needed I.e. manager with success in playoffs etc.

Get over your obsession with Mo.

You first.

Tanker can't, his nose is stuck in MO's behind.

Disgusting imagery.

Thought you had a military background Cranny old chap. Nothing should disgust you.

[Cranny]

It will likely take the absence of Mo, the presence of a couple of proven superstars, and a willingness of DeWitt to add more if needed I.e. manager with success in playoffs etc.

Get over your obsession with Mo.

You first.

Tanker can't, his nose is stuck in MO's behind.

Disgusting imagery.

Thought you had a military background Cranny old chap. Nothing should disgust you.

I do. 6 1/2 years on active duty followed by several years in the Guard. But matured and grew out of stuff like that years ago. Maybe should loosen up and go back to it?

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

It will likely take the absence of Mo, the presence of a couple of proven superstars, and a willingness of DeWitt to add more if needed I.e. manager with success in playoffs etc.

Get over your obsession with Mo.

You first.

Tanker can't, his nose is stuck in MO's behind.

Disgusting imagery.

Thought you had a military background Cranny old chap. Nothing should disgust you.

I do. 6 1/2 years on active duty followed by several years in the Guard. But matured and grew out of stuff like that years ago. Maybe should loosen up and go back to it?

I did four active and 20 in reserves. I saw stuff that might sicken you, especially the way the troops were treated like animals and exposed to terrible risk for no apparent reason other than to get some kind of unit citation. The Vietnam era was absolutely the worst.

[desertrat23]

What will it take for the best fans in baseball to return? 1st place in the Cental by June? 10 games over .500? 15 games?

I would assume the best fans in baseball would still be with their team, thick and thin.

Right?

“Best” means “smartest,” not “most blindly loyal.”

To answer the question, if the team keeps playing well and the old, white, Safe Charles crowd realizes that traveling downtown isn’t an immediate death sentence, the stands will fill.

Ummm people have been shot and killed leaving the Cards games, you know this correct? I don't blame anyone for having trepidation when it comes to going downtown.

Until they make a safety a top priority I don't blame anyone not wanting to go.

I would be very interested to read a story about someone being shot and killed leaving a Cardinals game. And so would you.

Again, parking garage attached to the stadium. I promise you’ll live through the experience and no homeless person will talk to you for more than a second or two.

My apologies, shot and paralyzed, because that is much better

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/other ... inals-game

No, it’s tragic. But is a tragic story like that limited to St. Louis? That could happen in any city in America. Are fans in other cities afraid to go downtown because of a five-year-old incident? And again, walking through the Arch grounds. At night. In a group of two. Does that sound like smart situational awareness to anyone? Of course not. Does it excuse or justify a tragic event? Not at all. But we all have a responsibility to minimize risk and be smart when in any city. Walking through a dark park after a game to save a few bucks on parking is not what I would call smart.

And mysteriously it did not affect attendance for the next 4 years. It took multiple bad teams and the ownership cutting 20% of the payroll with no free agent additions. It wasn’t about suburban panty waste.

When people get stuck in fearmongering echo chambers that further a fear of other it’s not particularly surprising.

[Ike Hammett]

What will it take for the best fans in baseball to return? 1st place in the Cental by June? 10 games over .500? 15 games?

I already go to all the games, some guy the other night called me the mayor of ballpark village I am there so much. I love Busch and for real baseball fans and people that like fun, it is baseball heaven. These loons that say downtown is unsafe and no good probably never really come down here. I live less than a mile away from the park, Enterprise center, Dome and walk around after games and nitelife all the time, no issues. These haters are more likely to get hit by a drunk driver on the highway, slip on a patch of ice and bump their head, get assulted by their brother in law, or have their teenager steal their cash or car than any random act of anything. No, downtown is not under invasion by immigrants that escaped insane asylums and Hanibal Lectur.

When school is out, weather is nicer, Dodgers, Yanks, Cubs etc come to town attendance will pick up. Listening to the best podcast in baseball, I thought Goold had some good ideas about sing a longs and changing some of the programing for a more party atmosphere. I think a .556 winning % really helps and have been loving all the bands in the Plaza after games on weekends. Propaganda and winning the messaging battle against constant negativity would definitely help.

[Cranny]

It will likely take the absence of Mo, the presence of a couple of proven superstars, and a willingness of DeWitt to add more if needed I.e. manager with success in playoffs etc.

Get over your obsession with Mo.

You first.

Tanker can't, his nose is stuck in MO's behind.

Disgusting imagery.

Thought you had a military background Cranny old chap. Nothing should disgust you.

I do. 6 1/2 years on active duty followed by several years in the Guard. But matured and grew out of stuff like that years ago. Maybe should loosen up and go back to it?

I did four active and 20 in reserves. I saw stuff that might sicken you, especially the way the troops were treated like animals and exposed to terrible risk for no apparent reason other than to get some kind of unit citation. The Vietnam era was absolutely the worst.

That was my era. All of ‘68 in SEA.

[desertrat23]

What will it take for the best fans in baseball to return? 1st place in the Cental by June? 10 games over .500? 15 games?

No, downtown is not under invasion by immigrants that escaped insane asylums and Hanibal Lectur.

You're just not watching the right news channel.

[stlbirdlover]

I think the attendance will pickup this next homestand.