WeeVikes wrote: ↑16 Nov 2025 09:57 am
Melville wrote: ↑16 Nov 2025 07:52 am
If the Cardinals would merely do as I advise, we would not be having this conversation.
I alone correctly predicted the current malaise, the factors that made it inevitable, and the correct solutions.
Four very reasonable, very achievable course corrections over the past 5 years would have guaranteed a team capable of winning 90+ each season.
I have been right all along, and I am right now.
Is it acceptable for the owners to not spend 170 Million next year and every year?
It is not.
Does the team need to spend 300+M to be relevant?
Absolutely not.
Can they immediately compete by addressing just 2 positions?
Yes, they can.
85+ wins next year, and 90+ the years following, is ridiculously easy to achieve.
Now, the record is set straight.
Easy.
Obvious.
Correct.
Mel,
Yes, with a couple moves the Cardinals could be relevant again. No doubt.
What is you thought about the ability between the minors and international signing capability of maintaining sustainability of the org from a baseball standpoint? I think that is from where the bulk of the talent acquisition needs to come. From there, they can strategically fill needs from free agency — I.e. spend, but spend wisely. For me personally, I don’t want them to have a short window then fall off again. I really liked our recent long stretch of virtually always having the capability of contending.
Thank you, Sir.
You are, of course, completley correct.
I have come to expect nothing less.
Sustaining the self-renewing pipeline and spending as needed to maintain a baseline of quality veterans is unquestionably the correct model.
But here is where I differ from most.
I believe the organization already has the necessary competence with the domestic draft and international signings process.
That is not the issue now and has not been in the past.
Rather, there have been three constant issues going back several years.
One, the organization became a marketing company built around faded legacy players (a direct by-product of the MV3 years which revived the franchise 25 years ago) rather than a baseball team focused on winning.
I was the only person on the planet who understood it in real time and said so, but the idiotic reunion and extension of the Molina/Wainwright/Pujols career era was unbelievably stupid, incredibly short-sighted, utterly toxic to the entire organization, and inevitably doomed the franchise for several years following.
Perhaps the stupidest decision by any team in MLB over the past decade.
Had the team instead built around N/A and Goldschmidt with talent on the way up, rather than idiotically using those 2 to prop up the rocking chair years of the ME3, the organization would be in a much healthier condition right now.
Two, to repeat the brilliant phrase I coined long ago which perfectly encapsulated him, "when Mo falls in love he falls hard".
Simply put, the issue was not that the team could not draft or sign, it was that Mo was utterly incompetent at knowing who to trade and who to keep.
Time after time, I correctly advised trading the likes of DeJong, C. Martinez, Flaherty, The Paper Tyler, The Poser, Hence, Reyes, Lars The Human Sushi-baar, and others at precisely the time when their value was highest.
I also advised against the extension for Carpenter, Molina, Wainwright, Mikolas, the return of Pujols, and others - and was correct every time.
I was the only person on the planet who predicted Arozarena's imminent stardom, and I correctly advised having Kelly replace Molina, and I stated A. Garcia deserved a chance - and Mo missed badly with all three.
Bottom line: Mo repeatedly fell in love with the wrong guys and it blinded him to better choices.
Three, The Marmot and his staff have badly mismanaged so many young players over the past 4 seasons that it has stunted and paralyzed the team.
Incredible, and so very revealing, that he is still employed with the team.
Good news is, these 3 failure factors are very easily corrected.
We shall see if Bloom is up to the task.
