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This is the problem with the rebuild argument. If you're okay with paying for premium talent then why not be okay with it now? Why wait and make the fans suffer through mediocre talent? Make your case. To me, there is no good excuse. Sure losing gives you a better draft slot, but it's also LOSING! If you buy the premium talent now, they'll still be here when your superstar draft picks come up and if not then you just buy more premium talent. This business of having to lose to build a cheap winner is a scam.

CCard wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 09:37 am This is the problem with the rebuild argument. If you're okay with paying for premium talent then why not be okay with it now? Why wait and make the fans suffer through mediocre talent? Make your case. To me, there is no good excuse. Sure losing gives you a better draft slot, but it's also LOSING! If you buy the premium talent now, they'll still be here when your superstar draft picks come up and if not then you just buy more premium talent. This business of having to lose to build a cheap winner is a scam.

Probably the argument is that premium FA talent is normally aged talent.
Have to wait until the youngsters start producing to add that fine wine.
Know what I mean Vern

CCard wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 09:37 am This is the problem with the rebuild argument. If you're okay with paying for premium talent then why not be okay with it now? Why wait and make the fans suffer through mediocre talent? Make your case. To me, there is no good excuse. Sure losing gives you a better draft slot, but it's also LOSING! If you buy the premium talent now, they'll still be here when your superstar draft picks come up and if not then you just buy more premium talent. This business of having to lose to build a cheap winner is a scam.

Correct. No reason we shouldn't be players in the FA market this offseason. We know what we have and what we need. Not filling in with free agency is just cheap - which is EXACTLY what they will do.

Lots of money coming off the books (just under $40M) + BDWJr needs to add another $20M to that total.

Give C. Bloom $60M to work w/and I bet he'd fix Mo's screwed up roster.

rockondlouie wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 09:45 am Lots of money coming off the books (just under $40M) + BDWJr needs to add another $20M to that total.

Give C. Bloom $60M to work w/and I bet he'd fix Mo's screwed up roster.

I wonder what the FA market looks like.
I haven't checked.
Man, they've run this team so far into the ground, it will be hard to convince anyone to sign even.

Bully4you wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 09:50 am

rockondlouie wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 09:45 am Lots of money coming off the books (just under $40M) + BDWJr needs to add another $20M to that total.

Give C. Bloom $60M to work w/and I bet he'd fix Mo's screwed up roster.

I wonder what the FA market looks like.
I haven't checked.
Man, they've run this team so far into the ground, it will be hard to convince anyone to sign even.

Here ya' go bully!

https://www.mlb.com/news/baseball-s-nex ... nt-classes

the problems with buying talent is uncertainty...

the club has no idea who will be available.
some may resign at the last minute with their existing club....some may take the QO....or no one satisfies the criteria of what the club needs most ......not to mention the age factor as most will be over 30 or very close

then.....if the club gets past all that......the player has to agree to come here

a valuable free agent will have several offers.....some from winning organizations...what the allure of STL currently??

unless you want the club to ridiculously overpay......insert your own Sonny Gray joke here

building from within allows the club control their future personnel decisions

CCard wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 09:37 am This is the problem with the rebuild argument. If you're okay with paying for premium talent then why not be okay with it now? Why wait and make the fans suffer through mediocre talent? Make your case. To me, there is no good excuse. Sure losing gives you a better draft slot, but it's also LOSING! If you buy the premium talent now, they'll still be here when your superstar draft picks come up and if not then you just buy more premium talent. This business of having to lose to build a cheap winner is a scam.

Timing. It’s everything. Look what’s needed, ace and power bat, and see what’s there - a Sandy type. Those are the risks you take.
Off season. Get a bat. A Kyle Tucker type. Not Tucker per se, but a like type player.

Chances of a bat at the deadline are less than a stellar arm.

45s wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 10:09 am the problems with buying talent is uncertainty...

the club has no idea who will be available.
some may resign at the last minute with their existing club....some may take the QO....or no one satisfies the criteria of what the club needs most ......not to mention the age factor as most will be over 30 or very close

then.....if the club gets past all that......the player has to agree to come here

a valuable free agent will have several offers.....some from winning organizations...what the allure of STL currently??

unless you want the club to ridiculously overpay......insert your own Sonny Gray joke here

building from within allows the club control their future personnel decisions

Agree with Candy they need to keep building internally before going all in on FA’s

Any one expecting them to go on a big spending spree in the offseason and bring in premium talent are going to be very very disappointed

45s wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 10:09 am the problems with buying talent is uncertainty...

the club has no idea who will be available.
some may resign at the last minute with their existing club....some may take the QO....or no one satisfies the criteria of what the club needs most ......not to mention the age factor as most will be over 30 or very close

then.....if the club gets past all that......the player has to agree to come here

a valuable free agent will have several offers.....some from winning organizations...what the allure of STL currently??

unless you want the club to ridiculously overpay......insert your own Sonny Gray joke here

building from within allows the club control their future personnel decisions

They aren't doing a very good job of building within.
I'd say the fanbase most likely will need to wait until the next decade to see any semblance of a winner here.

Bully4you wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 10:33 am

45s wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 10:09 am the problems with buying talent is uncertainty...

the club has no idea who will be available.
some may resign at the last minute with their existing club....some may take the QO....or no one satisfies the criteria of what the club needs most ......not to mention the age factor as most will be over 30 or very close

then.....if the club gets past all that......the player has to agree to come here

a valuable free agent will have several offers.....some from winning organizations...what the allure of STL currently??

unless you want the club to ridiculously overpay......insert your own Sonny Gray joke here

building from within allows the club control their future personnel decisions

They aren't doing a very good job of building within.
I'd say the fanbase most likely will need to wait until the next decade to see any semblance of a winner here.

I don’t disagree that they have done a poor job of building….perhaps the bloom regime will be more accomplished

It has several years for the club to sink to this level…..it’s not going to be resurrected in a year or two

Bully4you wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 09:41 am

CCard wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 09:37 am This is the problem with the rebuild argument. If you're okay with paying for premium talent then why not be okay with it now? Why wait and make the fans suffer through mediocre talent? Make your case. To me, there is no good excuse. Sure losing gives you a better draft slot, but it's also LOSING! If you buy the premium talent now, they'll still be here when your superstar draft picks come up and if not then you just buy more premium talent. This business of having to lose to build a cheap winner is a scam.

Probably the argument is that premium FA talent is normally aged talent.
Have to wait until the youngsters start producing to add that fine wine.
Know what I mean Vern

There *could* be younger guys available in the right scenario. It could be argued that Pittsburgh is so bad, they should trade Skenes for an absolute haul because the team isn't going to be good for several years and by the time they are, he'll be priced out of their range for an extension. His arbitration raise alone will probably be more than they're willing to pay because they are so cheap.

He's an extreme example but there are others that could make sense. Another extreme example might be James Wood for the Nats. I think the OP suggests being aggressive any time the opportunity presents itself, and no need to always wait until next year or trade for lottery tickets that won't help for 3+ years, if at all.

It's simple. A 23% loss of TV revenue, a failure of the fan base to support the team during the rebuild and a strike after the 26 season.

bretto12 wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 11:06 am It's simple. A 23% loss of TV revenue, a failure of the fan base to support the team during the rebuild and a strike after the 26 season.

The fan base has in no way “failed to support the team.” Quite the opposite, and there’s no reality-based argument otherwise.

45s wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 10:52 am

Bully4you wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 10:33 am

45s wrote: ↑20 Jul 2025 10:09 am the problems with buying talent is uncertainty...

the club has no idea who will be available.
some may resign at the last minute with their existing club....some may take the QO....or no one satisfies the criteria of what the club needs most ......not to mention the age factor as most will be over 30 or very close

then.....if the club gets past all that......the player has to agree to come here

a valuable free agent will have several offers.....some from winning organizations...what the allure of STL currently??

unless you want the club to ridiculously overpay......insert your own Sonny Gray joke here

building from within allows the club control their future personnel decisions

They aren't doing a very good job of building within.
I'd say the fanbase most likely will need to wait until the next decade to see any semblance of a winner here.

I don’t disagree that they have done a poor job of building….perhaps the bloom regime will be more accomplished

It has several years for the club to sink to this level…..it’s not going to be resurrected in a year or two

This^^^^plus an impending work stoppage after the 2026 season make me think we should tap the brakes on signing any free agent contracts longer than one year. We still have lots of pending free agents to sort out in the next ten days. Lots of work to do before we start filling holes with $$$ and giving up prospects. We’ve got a .500 ish MLB team, a lame duck manager, a thin group of high end prospects and a dim revenue forecast. Bloom and Cerfolio have their work cut out for them.