Jeff Passan: Cards Open for Business-Gorman may be moved, no mention of Walker?

[brock118]

Obviously I’m rooting for Gorman and if Arenado is dealt it leaves 3B to him or Donovan(presuming JJ winds up at 2B?).
If Donovan is not dealt he could wind up in LF.
Unless a sweet deal for him transpires giving him one more year doesn’t hurt.
And while I’m pulling hard for him I question his baseball IQ which I believe is his biggest deterrent.
Hope I’m wrong!

Gorman strikes out too much.
Clearly no one disputes that.
But he has by far the highest power ceiling on the team - and the Cardinals were a woeful 29th in HR last season.
And last season he also emerged as the best batting eye on the team.
But regrettably he has been repeatedly hamstrung by The Marmot and the organization.
Despite that, from a production standpoint, he had a top 10 run production rate among MLB 3B's in 2025, and #1 among LH hitters.
He has proven, even with contact issues, to be a 25+ HR / 80+ RBI bat per 600 PA's consistently each season.
The team has no other option anywhere remotely close to that currently available.
You are correct.
It is not only true that "giving him one more year doesn’t hurt", but also the only sensible decision.
The same to make that decision, one way or the other, is AFTER giving him a full season as a starter.

Good points.
But....when you stated “he also emerged as the best batting eye on the team” I almost spit my coffee out!!! LOL
I get that you have a thing for Gorman and you NEVER admit being wrong.....but SERIOUSLY Sideshow????

Even with a poor September, he still had an 11.7 BB rate. That’s good.

Which lead to a robust .296 OBP lol

And just 10 more hits in the season, which is just one every two and a half weeks, would put his OBP above MLB average.
And would put his BA between .230-.240.
That, along with his already established production, would make him a top 5 3b and the top LH 3b.
Like it or not, that is the reality.
It would be foolish to not give him the 2026 full season to answer the question once and for all
Should have happened last year but Super Slow Mo and The Marmot were too stupid, to weak, to do so.
Hopefully Bloom is smarter.

Well dang, I'll bet his trade value is sky high then

Not as high as it once was.
But much higher than many here believe.
Most folks fall into the trap of being "for or against" a player - and allow their bias and emotions to interfere with their judgement.
I suffer no such limitation.
I deal with facts and data - all I do.
Like it or not, Gorman is the best available on-hand option at 3b for 2026 - and the Cardinals are extremely unlikely to find a better option externally.
That is in unbiased reality.

Actually, Gorman is probably the 3rd or 4th best option at 3b at this time.
You're delusional as always. Carry on.

When Mel falls hard for a guy he falls hard...or wait isn't that what he says about Mo. Or does he know Mo better than Mo....Maybe he is Mo. Definitely a stooge.

[Carp4Cy]

Gorman is destined to be a DH/Bench power bat that is capable of 200 SO's a season. Anything in the field and he becomes an injury waiting to happen along with a severe decline in production due to stress on the body. He has back issues and pitch recognition issues. I had high hopes for him but feel the only reason he is still even in the equation is because there is not another younger power bat pushing him from the minors. He just has to do more with the time he gets. His clock is approaching midnight on being that capable every day MLB player. .205, 135 SO's and 14 HR's in 351 AB's is not going to cut it. A full season that is over 200 SO's for the chance at 25 to 30 HR's. That is too many at bats with men on base that yields no results to be an every day player. You better be a gold glove caliber defenseman at that point. 2024 he had almost exact numbers with just a few more HR's. 2023 is the season everyone holds on to hoping he can recreate it. Yet, he still hit for only a .236 average but got 27 HR's and 148 SO's.

Call him what he is. A mistake hitter that should be kept fresh for the big moments you need a big blow. Anything more than that and he becomes suspect. There is a place in MLB for that, with the right team. St. Louis is not that team right now.

Walker is in the same boat except he has not shown he can deliver the power. It is most likely going to take a couple stints at other teams before either one figures it out at least for a season or two.

If Gorman got off with a hot first half (20 HR before the AS break), he might become a really appealing trade piece. It would depend on the rest of our team (Donovan and Arenado both gone) for him to have the runway to do that.

If he hits 20 HRs in the first half, and we kept Gray, and found 2 .500 SPs on the FA market, then we'd probably be leading the NLC and trying to acquire pieces not trade them.

[riff raff]

Obviously I’m rooting for Gorman and if Arenado is dealt it leaves 3B to him or Donovan(presuming JJ winds up at 2B?).
If Donovan is not dealt he could wind up in LF.
Unless a sweet deal for him transpires giving him one more year doesn’t hurt.
And while I’m pulling hard for him I question his baseball IQ which I believe is his biggest deterrent.
Hope I’m wrong!

Gorman strikes out too much.
Clearly no one disputes that.
But he has by far the highest power ceiling on the team - and the Cardinals were a woeful 29th in HR last season.
And last season he also emerged as the best batting eye on the team.
But regrettably he has been repeatedly hamstrung by The Marmot and the organization.
Despite that, from a production standpoint, he had a top 10 run production rate among MLB 3B's in 2025, and #1 among LH hitters.
He has proven, even with contact issues, to be a 25+ HR / 80+ RBI bat per 600 PA's consistently each season.
The team has no other option anywhere remotely close to that currently available.
You are correct.
It is not only true that "giving him one more year doesn’t hurt", but also the only sensible decision.
The same to make that decision, one way or the other, is AFTER giving him a full season as a starter.

Good points.
But....when you stated “he also emerged as the best batting eye on the team” I almost spit my coffee out!!! LOL
I get that you have a thing for Gorman and you NEVER admit being wrong.....but SERIOUSLY Sideshow????

Even with a poor September, he still had an 11.7 BB rate. That’s good.

Which lead to a robust .296 OBP lol

And just 10 more hits in the season, which is just one every two and a half weeks, would put his OBP above MLB average.
And would put his BA between .230-.240.
That, along with his already established production, would make him a top 5 3b and the top LH 3b.
Like it or not, that is the reality.
It would be foolish to not give him the 2026 full season to answer the question once and for all
Should have happened last year but Super Slow Mo and The Marmot were too stupid, to weak, to do so.
Hopefully Bloom is smarter.

Well dang, I'll bet his trade value is sky high then

Not as high as it once was.
But much higher than many here believe.
Most folks fall into the trap of being "for or against" a player - and allow their bias and emotions to interfere with their judgement.
I suffer no such limitation.
I deal with facts and data - all I do.
Like it or not, Gorman is the best available on-hand option at 3b for 2026 - and the Cardinals are extremely unlikely to find a better option externally.
That is in unbiased reality.

Actually, Gorman is probably the 3rd or 4th best option at 3b at this time.
You're delusional as always. Carry on.

When Mel falls hard for a guy he falls hard...or wait isn't that what he says about Mo. Or does he know Mo better than Mo....Maybe he is Mo. Definitely a stooge.

lol yes, he is

[redbirdfan51]

Cards are overloaded with LH bats and Gorman has been in the organization longer than JW. I think Cards want to give JW one more season or he will be gone in 2027.

[rockondlouie]

If Gorman got off with a hot first half (20 HR before the AS break), he might become a really appealing trade piece. It would depend on the rest of our team (Donovan and Arenado both gone) for him to have the runway to do that.

If Gorman had 20 HR's by the ASB, then you wouldn't want to trade him C-U.

Now if he has 10 HR's and is struggling, then it could be time to cut the cord....take a lotto prospect....and move on.

[C-Unit]

If Gorman got off with a hot first half (20 HR before the AS break), he might become a really appealing trade piece. It would depend on the rest of our team (Donovan and Arenado both gone) for him to have the runway to do that.

If Gorman had 20 HR's by the ASB, then you wouldn't want to trade him C-U.

Now if he has 10 HR's and is struggling, then it could be time to cut the cord....take a lotto prospect....and move on.

No, you could absolutely trade him it would be selling high because you don't expect him to do that again.

[ramfandan]

Bernie had mentioned on a recent podcast that Walker is working with guys (didn't say names if Cerfoli , Larry Day etc . ) but not at Jupiter complex as that is under rennovation . Unless someone here knows, Bernie didnit know what facility they were at.
According to Bernie, he thinks that Bloom will want to see if the offseason work/changes etc. have made any improvement in Walker. At least that is Bernie's take on the Walker situation.

[rockondlouie]

If Gorman got off with a hot first half (20 HR before the AS break), he might become a really appealing trade piece. It would depend on the rest of our team (Donovan and Arenado both gone) for him to have the runway to do that.

If Gorman had 20 HR's by the ASB, then you wouldn't want to trade him C-U.

Now if he has 10 HR's and is struggling, then it could be time to cut the cord....take a lotto prospect....and move on.

No, you could absolutely trade him it would be selling high because you don't expect him to do that again.

Why?

He makes NO MONEY and has YEARS of control left!

If he had 20 HR's by the ASB as your post suggest, then he's figured something out and is the LT answer at 3rd base where his power bat would be exactly what's needed.

Trade him away at that point for some prospect/suspect and he goes on to hit 30+ HR's for the next ten years and it's a massive failure.

And don't you think his trade value, even then, would be minimal given other teams would think like you..."..you don't expect him to do that again".

But let's wait and see where he's at when we hit the 2026 ASB.

More than likely he's closer to my 10 HR's at next seasons ASB than your 20 HR's and then Bloom can make the call.

[C-Unit]

If Gorman got off with a hot first half (20 HR before the AS break), he might become a really appealing trade piece. It would depend on the rest of our team (Donovan and Arenado both gone) for him to have the runway to do that.

If Gorman had 20 HR's by the ASB, then you wouldn't want to trade him C-U.

Now if he has 10 HR's and is struggling, then it could be time to cut the cord....take a lotto prospect....and move on.

No, you could absolutely trade him it would be selling high because you don't expect him to do that again.

Why?

He makes NO MONEY and has YEARS of control left!

If he had 20 HR's by the ASB as your post suggest, then he's figured something out and is the LT answer at 3rd base where his power bat would be exactly what's needed.

Trade him away at that point for some prospect/suspect and he goes on to hit 30+ HR's for the next ten years and it's a massive failure.

And don't you think his trade value, even then, would be minimal given other teams would think like you..."..you don't expect him to do that again".

But let's wait and see where he's at when we hit the 2026 ASB.

More than likely he's closer to my 10 HR's at next seasons ASB than your 20 HR's and then Bloom can make the call.

Tyler O'Neill's 2021 season certainly did not foretell a 10 year stretch of prolific power.

Buy low, sell high. Or do I have that wrong.

To be clear I'm laying out an "if" scenario, not making a "call"

[rockondlouie]

If Gorman got off with a hot first half (20 HR before the AS break), he might become a really appealing trade piece. It would depend on the rest of our team (Donovan and Arenado both gone) for him to have the runway to do that.

If Gorman had 20 HR's by the ASB, then you wouldn't want to trade him C-U.

Now if he has 10 HR's and is struggling, then it could be time to cut the cord....take a lotto prospect....and move on.

No, you could absolutely trade him it would be selling high because you don't expect him to do that again.

Why?

He makes NO MONEY and has YEARS of control left!

If he had 20 HR's by the ASB as your post suggest, then he's figured something out and is the LT answer at 3rd base where his power bat would be exactly what's needed.

Trade him away at that point for some prospect/suspect and he goes on to hit 30+ HR's for the next ten years and it's a massive failure.

And don't you think his trade value, even then, would be minimal given other teams would think like you..."..you don't expect him to do that again".

But let's wait and see where he's at when we hit the 2026 ASB.

More than likely he's closer to my 10 HR's at next seasons ASB than your 20 HR's and then Bloom can make the call.

Tyler O'Neill's 2021 season certainly did not foretell a 10 year stretch of prolific power.

Buy low, sell high. Or do I have that wrong.

To be clear I'm laying out an "if" scenario, not making a "call"

Understood but comping Gorman to T.O. is apples to oranges.

I totally understand your position, even could get on board.

But if he did have 20 HR's by next seasons ASB, man it would be hard to ship him off and then (potentially) watch him hit 30+ for the next ten years.

Guess that's why Bloom is getting the big bucks, to make tough calls like this.