Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt recently underwent surgery to have a bone spur taken out of his right elbow, according to president of baseball operations John Mozeliak (via Jeff Jones of the Belleville-News Democrat).
Goldschmidt is recovering well from his procedure, which is welcome news for a Cardinals team that can’t afford to go without him. After having a pedestrian season (by his lofty standards) in 2019, Goldschmidt returned to form in a big way this past year. The 33-year-old took 231 trips to the plate and slashed .304/.417/.466 with six home runs, reminding the Cardinals why they paid a hefty price to the Diamondbacks to acquire Goldschmidt heading into 2019.
Goldschmidt was easily the Cardinals’ main offensive threat this year, and barring a major acquisition(s) over the winter, that will remain the case next season. Despite Goldy’s best efforts, the Cardinals only finished 19th in wRC+ (93), and most of their regulars recorded below-average numbers at the plate.
What hefty price did the Cardinals pay? Carson Kelly, Luke Weaver, and Andy Young were all expendable players and they combined for a whopping -0.9 bWAR in 2020
and that competive balance pick.
can’t forget that. sarcasm
Really cherry picking with that stat. They paid a hefty price and would undo that trade in a second
Undo the trade FOR Goldy? Not a chance.
If they could pair it with undoing the Voit trade.
Voit doesn’t hit in St. Louis like he does in Yankee stadium anyways, too many games in a pitchers ballpark that dampens power. There’s absolutely zero chance they would undo the Goldy trade, that has been a success.
Voit doesn’t hit in St. Louis like he does in Yankee stadium anyways, too many games in a pitchers ballpark that dampens power. There’s absolutely zero chance they would undo the Goldy trade, that has been a success.
Undo it? Nah. Even if Kelly and Weaver end up being productive major leaguers, neither really had a spot on the cardinals at the time and to say they wouldn’t make this trade again, 2 years removed from it is just dumb
The chips that got them Goldy could have got them a player of Goldy’s caliber? Or some combination similar.
Greinke, Castellanos, Bauer, Carlos Santana some different players traded that year.
Interesting thought.
The value of a catching prospect really stands out for me.
How many pan out before their teams give up on them?
Alfaro, Mejia, Kelly may have a d’Arnaud type career path in them still.
Gary Sanchez is an enigma.
Realmuto is a rarity. Like Mauer or Posey.
A lot of the top catcher prospects in the last 15 years stayed on the prospect lists, switched positions, or didn’t hit as expected.
Wieters, Mathis, Saltalamacchia had solid careers.
Zunino, Hedges are also solid big league catchers.
But not the careers that were expected.
Jesus Montero, Jeff Clement, Blake Swihart some major flops.
More likely to find a catching star that wasn’t a top prospect than to find one that was?
Better to trade your young catching prospect while the hype is huge?
LMAO!
At the time of the trade it was. Three of the Cards top prospects for only one year of Goldy. Being able to extend Goldy, and the level those prospects may achieve, it looks like the Cards may have ended up with the better end of the deal.
Of course, it’s unlikely Goldschmidt could have gotten $130M over five years as a FA last winter.
HIndsight is 20/20, but the Cards’ trades, extensions (Carpenter, MIkolas, even Yadi at 3/$60M), and FA signings the last few years haven’t looked real good.
St. Louis’ success is largely being propped up by their player development system. Yes, every team does this, but for the Cardinals, it’s more to compensate for the mistakes of the FO, not to compliment their work.
No, no it wasn’t. Weaver and Kelly were no longer “prospects” let alone top prospects. Young was never a top prospect. He was a throw-in.
Right. That trade never had much of a chance to work out for the D’backs, although they did get lucky that Christian Walker out of nowhere became a pretty good replacement for Goldy. .
wish goldschmidt would stride into the ball
He will more if they get him some protection so he gets better pitches to do it. He’s had to figure out how to hit with nobody throwing to him.
“barring a major acquisition(s) over the winter.” That made me chuckle. It’s not going to happen.
I wish Goldie would stand a little closer to the plate. He can’t reach a ball on the outside of it.
That’s a lot to pay for 6 homers. Over a full season he would have hit 16-17 homers.