The players we have (complete deliberation)

[C-Unit]

What we have here is some compiled 3 year (2023-25) and 1 year (2025) stats for the players we have. I did leave out Nolan Arenado.

....................3y...............wRC+......
Vs..............G......WAR....T.......R.......L.......
Herrera .....192...5.5.....133...123.. 159
Contreras...344..8.3.....129...124...144
Donovan....366..7.5.....117...131....81
Nootbaar ..361..5.7.....108... 116...88
Burleson....398..2.8.....109.. 118....70
Gorman ....337...2.4......99.. .98......101
Winn ..........316..6.3......91....87......100
Walker .......279..-0.9.....89.....90....89

....................2025...........wRC+......
Vs..............G.......WAR...T.......R.......L.......
Herrera .....107...2.7.....137...112...205...
Contreras..135..2.8......124...117...142..
Donovan....118..2.9.....119...140....75..
Nootbaar ..135..0.8......96....108....69..
Burleson....139..2.4.....124...132....98..
Gorman .... 111.-0.2.....88.... 82......106..
Winn .........129..3.5......91.....93......89...
Walker ......111..-1.3.....66 .....58.....88...
Scott II......138...1.7.....75......82......57..

I tried to highlight where I see positive and negative value in these players. I'm about done with Nootbaar, Gorman, and (for now) Walker. Herrera and Burleson are noteworthy because they seemed to improve each season over their 3 year stats. I did not realize how poorly Donovan does against lefties. He should bat no higher than 6th against them. Burleson on the other hand holds his own. Keep in mind, on a 90 win team you are looking for 48 wins (using 52 wins as the benchmark of the "replacement team"). Most teams seem to have slightly more (maybe 60%) of their Team WAR generated from the position player side than their pitching side.

So if the Cardinals are to build a position player group that can consistently be counted on to generate about 25 wins, who on this group can be a part of it? Do Herrera, Contreras, Donovan, Burleson, Winn and Scott have value? That's 6 players who tallied for just over 15 WAR in 2025. What immediate impact is Wetherholt capable of bringing in 2026?

This next chart shows the wRC+ by lineup spot for the league, but with only the 12 playoff teams being used in the sample:

1st..118
2nd..113
3rd...125
4th...115
5th...104
6th...102
7th...98
8th...87
9th...86

This tells you, teams do get by with carrying below average hitters in their lineup. For us, that's where players who produce above average WAR based on defense or other factors but below average offense (such as Winn or Scott) can belong.

So let's peg some of the pieces we have:

Vs RHP
1..(Wetherholt?) 2B/3B
2..Donovan (140) 3B/2B/OF
3..Herrera (112) DH/C/1B/OF
4..Contreras (117) 1B/DH
5..Burleson (132) OF/DH/1B
6..
7..Winn (93) SS
8..(catcher?)
9..Scott II (82) CF

Vs LHP
1..(Wetherholt?) 2B/3B
2..Herrera (205) DH/C/1B/OF
3..Burleson (98) OF/DH/1B
4..Contreras (142) 1B/DH
5..(Saggese? Idk) (2B/3B)
6..
7..Winn (89)
8..(catcher?)
9.. Scott II (57)

Here are some of the noteable future pieces coming into view:
Saggese IF 2025-26
Wetherholt 2B/3B 2026
Blaze Jordan 1B 2026
Josh Baez OF 2027
Chase Davis OF 2027?
Jesus Baez 3B 2028?
Rainiel Rodriguez 1B/DH/C 2028?
Deniel Ortiz 1B/3B 2028?
Yairo Padilla SS/CF 2028+?

So you see here how you could look at it one way and maybe we could cobble together something that resembles "enough" offense to be comparable with some of the league average stuff. You could also go the other way and think we are a long way away. It depends on how close Bloom thinks we are, if he doesn't accept totally throwing in the towel for 2026. The telling thing will be if Burleson and Donovan are still both here Opening Day 2026. If they're gone, that pretty much tells you they plan on Blaze Jordan playing a bigger role on the team, I think. Regardless, impact will be needed from both Wetherholt and eventually from outside the organization. To me, Winn and Wetherholt are the only obvious extension candidates in the organization at this point, with a tab left open on Herrera.

The pitching clearly seems like even more of a mess, but I think it's harder to develop a reliable pitching foundation than it is a position player foundation. Seems like you can fix the pitching quicker, once you get to that point.

I think the target for the organization has to be the following: aim to generate a positon player group that can consistently generate 25 WAR, with overflow pieces that can be traded to fill pitching gaps.