Put Your Owner Hat On: Would you hand over 200M+ to Jordan Walker?

[Bully4you]

He briefly went from the worst player in baseball to the best.
That was over maybe 40 games or so.
Now he's coming back to reality.
Pitchers and the league figured him out.
Still a lousy defender or average at best.
Probably a LT DH candidate.
No way I'm giving this person 200M contract.
Doesn't have the mental fortitude either.

I'm likely going to try and sign the following LT:

1. Burleson-Consistently good.
2. Winn-You can bank on the D and hope he continues to improve the bat.

That's it.
There are no worthy players to sign LT here.
The rebuild is showing little talent thus far.
And the pitchers are generally all hacks too.
Gonna be a long, long decade of [shirt] baseball.

[CCard]

He briefly went from the worst player in baseball to the best.
That was over maybe 40 games or so.
Now he's coming back to reality.
Pitchers and the league figured him out.
Still a lousy defender or average at best.
Probably a LT DH candidate.
No way I'm giving this person 200M contract.
Doesn't have the mental fortitude either.

I'm likely going to try and sign the following LT:

1. Burleson-Consistently good.
2. Winn-You can bank on the D and hope he continues to improve the bat.

That's it.
There are no worthy players to sign LT here.
The rebuild is showing little talent thus far.
And the pitchers are generally all hacks too.
Gonna be a long, long decade of [shirt] baseball.

He's slumping and pressing. He has very little protection in the lineup, yet he's probably your best bat and he's still young and learning. Yeah, I give him the long term contract. If he continues to hit the way that got him to the all-star team then you have a great deal and if he falls off of a cliff, well, you took a gamble, just as you do with every (bleep) signing you ever commit to.

[StlMike1969]

I would sign him to a 5 year deal for nothing more than $20 mill a season. If he takes off then revisit in 3 years on a reworked extension. Otherwise if he balks then trade him while he has high value. He is just too inconsistent and strikes me as someone that will figure it out in year 29 to 32 for a good 4 or 5 year run. To pay the money it will take for the good years during the bad years your better off going with someone else. The reason the Cards locked up JJ when they did was because the kid exudes confidence and ability all day long, every day. You can see it as a fan he is a professional with a singular focus and a personality to persevere through the hard times. Those are the kind of players that win championships. Walker seems like a good guy, but he does not exude confidence. His results are scattered. Winn is another one that has the glove but is not bringing the wood. You would hope there is time for him to figure it out, but he is apparently pressing for that long term deal now. This speaks to attitude and personality of the individual. I get it, he wants the Lamborghini while young, but you don't go showing frustration the day after another player gets a contract. In the long run both may need to be gone as they are best friends, and best friends talk and bleed together. They can be a dynamic duo for the Cards if given deals seems to be the narrative and that is not how you build a winning team.

[mattmitchl44]

No one is offering Walker $200+ million. That is just a complete fantasy.

Something roughly like the last six years of Wetherholt's deal - six years/$90-$100 million with incentives that could bring it up to $120 million over the course of the deal.

[She didn't know I was a midget]

He briefly went from the worst player in baseball to the best.
That was over maybe 40 games or so.
Now he's coming back to reality.
Pitchers and the league figured him out.
Still a lousy defender or average at best.
Probably a LT DH candidate.
No way I'm giving this person 200M contract.
Doesn't have the mental fortitude either.

I'm likely going to try and sign the following LT:

1. Burleson-Consistently good.
2. Winn-You can bank on the D and hope he continues to improve the bat.

That's it.
There are no worthy players to sign LT here.
The rebuild is showing little talent thus far.
And the pitchers are generally all hacks too.
Gonna be a long, long decade of [shirt] baseball.

What do you mean by saying that he doesn't have the mental fortitude?

[RunSup]

I am the owner? Finally I'm the King.


If I can't extend Walker, I'm trading him for the best return I can get.

$200M is too much? What's the price that works.

I want to keep Walker. RH power bats that can play in the field are at a premium. And he seems like a good kid and positive teammate.

Mental fortitude questions are nonsense. He's progressed despite what cardinals under development system and too quick promotion did. He's strong and resilient.

[C-Unit]

Walker is a core piece

To me that means:

Offer him the extension (I'm gonna be in the 8/140 or 9/160 neighborhood),

If he declines it, NO I am not turning around and trading him today.

I am keeping him through the end of the 2028 season at minimum, because he is a core player and my goal is going to be to win with him for the next 2 years. Then, if no extension is in place you can trade him with 1 year left. Still would get a good return if he has more good seasons.

The team can be set to win in 2027 and 2028 and Walker will be driving in 100 runs. Just because he turns down an extension doesn't mean you are forced to stop right here and forfeit the player. Trading him voluntarily sets you back further than you were at any point during 2024-25 as an organization. Go win with him while you have him.

If we're complaining about a bad month... PCA had 5 bad months last year. This year, he became more consistent. That's what happens as young players develop.

[JDW]

First, Burly has not been consistently good, thus his current trajectory doesn't have him reaching a +3 bWAR this season, which Walker passed by maybe a month ago, and the Cards have good prospects coming up that may benefit if the 1B position wasn't blocked.
With Walker, if he and his camp were willing to work out a reasonable extension, ok, and if not then Cards still have some controllable years with Walker while striving to build the farm to the point where it likely produces a good prospect to take his spot when the time comes.

[Swuhgen]

I wouldn’t sign Walker to an extension. He’s too streaky and hasn’t proven he can be a consistent offensive threat.

[Jatalk]

I am the owner? Finally I'm the King.


If I can't extend Walker, I'm trading him for the best return I can get.

$200M is too much? What's the price that works.

I want to keep Walker. RH power bats that can play in the field are at a premium. And he seems like a good kid and positive teammate.

Mental fortitude questions are nonsense. He's progressed despite what cardinals under development system and too quick promotion did. He's strong and resilient.

Agree with you totally. As I have stated if there have been extension talks and his expectations are too high then he needs to be traded. Maybe not by the deadline but soon in offseason.

I’m sort of comfortable at around $18 million for 5 years.

[scoutyjones2]

He briefly went from the worst player in baseball to the best.
That was over maybe 40 games or so.
Now he's coming back to reality.
Pitchers and the league figured him out.
Still a lousy defender or average at best.
Probably a LT DH candidate.
No way I'm giving this person 200M contract.
Doesn't have the mental fortitude either.

I'm likely going to try and sign the following LT:

1. Burleson-Consistently good.
2. Winn-You can bank on the D and hope he continues to improve the bat.

That's it.
There are no worthy players to sign LT here.
The rebuild is showing little talent thus far.
And the pitchers are generally all hacks too.
Gonna be a long, long decade of [shirt] baseball.

He's slumping and pressing. He has very little protection in the lineup, yet he's probably your best bat and he's still young and learning. Yeah, I give him the long term contract. If he continues to hit the way that got him to the all-star team then you have a great deal and if he falls off of a cliff, well, you took a gamble, just as you do with every (drat) signing you ever commit to.

Protection is a myth. I think he will work thru this. Will he be a 900 OPS hitter? I sure hope so...but I'm not locking him up for $200 million

[Alex Reyes Cy Young]

For that contract I personally wouldn't lock him up. Most likely I would be looking to do the opposite, trading him for a lot of young high end prospects, assuming he continues his trajectory even with mini slump.

[rightthinker4]

If you’re the owner you have to wonder is Walker in a slump, or is he regressing. Walker isn’t going to get $200M. Maybe 5 years at $112M yo $115M.

[rockondlouie]

No...no...and H E L L NO!

2024 & 2025 actually happened and we're seeing some serious regression post all star break:

65 PA
0 HR
5 RBI's
.200 .262 .267 .528

He's still going to end up having a very good season, .825+ OPS/30+ HR/95+ RBI's would be strong.

But is 2026 an outlier season?

A deal similar to JJW's dollar wise is more in line, generational wealth and he can still hit FA again at age 30/31/32 depending on how many years the extension would be.

[jbrach]

walker has had exactly hapf of a season that would be worthy of a big extension otherwise he has been pretty bad..recently he has fallen back to earth and to be honest it would be a huge buyer beware to give him a big long term deal

[Cusecards]

Too much too soon