Paul Goldschmidt is entering the last season of the five-year, $130MM extension he signed with the Cardinals back in March 2019, so the star first baseman is on pace to hit agency at age 37. Team president of baseball operations John Mozeliak addressed Goldschmidt’s future when talking with Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat (links to X) and other reporters today at the Cardinals’ Winter Warm-up fan event, and Mozeliak indicated that contract talks might be held off until beyond Opening Day.
“I think right now, I think everybody just wants to see how this season starts. You know, obviously, we want to get off on the right track, and then we can address things like that,” Mozeliak said.
Reports surfaced last month about the Cards’ interest in retaining Goldschmidt, with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noting that talks might well last into the season, even if the team’s preference was to have Goldschmidt locked up in advance of Opening Day. In that sense, Mozeliak’s comments today don’t represent a huge shift in the Cardinals’ overall plan to keep Goldschmidt, yet as Jones notes, a lack of talks at all during Spring Training is perhaps “telling” about both the club’s long-term belief in Goldschmidt and/or the Cards’ own ability to contend.
Goldschmidt hit .268/.363/.447 with 25 home runs over 687 plate appearances last season, translating to a 122 wRC+. These are obviously still very solid numbers, particularly for a player in his age-35 season, yet it did represent a dropoff from Goldschmidt’s NL MVP production (.317/.404/.578 with 35 homers, 176 wRC+) in 2022. The 122 mark is actually the third-lowest wRC+ Goldschmidt has posted in his 13 Major League seasons, which might be more of a sign of how great he has been over a Cooperstown-level career than a sign of any true regression.
That said, if a player is even able to keep playing at a high level until his late 30’s, sharp and sudden declines aren’t uncommon. It could be that the Cardinals are just exercising a bit more caution in seeing how Goldschmidt proceeds over the first couple of months before deciding whether or not to make another pricey commitment, even if the first baseman’s next deal will be shorter than five years in length.
The other financial element involved is the Cardinals’ broadcasting contract with Bally Sports Midwest, and parent company Diamond Sports. While the Cards’ deal runs through the 2032 season, Diamond Sports’ declaration of bankruptcy last year has left the Cardinals as one of the many teams in a state of uncertainty about their TV futures, and the Bally Sports broadcasts might cease once the 2024 campaign is complete.
Discussions about the situation remain ongoing between Diamond Sports and Major League Baseball, though until some resolution is in sight, St. Louis might be keeping spending in check. Club president Bill DeWitt III said earlier this week that might not have much or any remaining payroll space for any significant moves this offseason, and it stands to reason that those restraints might stretch into any big expenditures on Goldschmidt or others beyond 2024.
The Cardinals’ surprisingly disappointing 71-91 record last season is also certainly a factor, and it seems possible that the wait-and-see approach to an extension is shared by both the team and Goldschmidt himself. If he has any doubts about St. Louis’ ability to quickly return to contention, Goldschmidt might prefer to enter free agency and seek out a new deal with a more clear-cut contender for 2025. From the front office’s perspective, if the Cardinals get off to a rough start and might look to again sell at the trade deadline, Goldschmidt would stand out as a big trade chip that could be dealt. Goldschmidt holds full no-trade protection, though if St. Louis is indeed out of the pennant race by midseason, he might welcome a deadline move to a contender.
St. Louis has around $178MM on the books for 2024 and around $102.7MM currently projected for the 2025 payroll, according to Roster Resource. Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Willson Contreras, and Steven Matz are the only Cardinals on guaranteed deals through at least 2025, as Goldschmidt can be a free agent, and Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Giovanny Gallegos are signed through 2024 with club options for 2025.
One of the most underrated players of all time. Ask anybody. Verducci, Rosenthal, Slusser, Jaffe, Kahrl, etc.
Are those your uncles?
Plaschke, Polishuk, Adams, Franco, etc.
Costas, Buck, Uecker, Scully, all of the Caray’s, Rizutto, Allen, Brenly, etc.
Deeds, Macdonald, Dirks, Stephen A.
Pitt, Clooney, Cruise, Travolta, Hanks, Dicapprio, Aniston etc.
DePape, Rogan, Jones, etc.
Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.
Blum, Axisa, Law, Stark, etc.
Car talk.
Stark, Lannister, Frey, Targaryen, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, etc.
Dr Fine, Dr Howard and Dr Fine ?
Tarrio, Musk, QAnon Shaman
Sam, Coach, Diane, Carla, Norm, Cliff, Woody
You can tell a lot about somebody by who their heroes are. This tells me all I need to know about you buddy boy. Perfectly explains your idiotic trolling behavior.
Abbott and Costello
Yes, b/c during the season is when most players want to talk extensions. No distractions at all. Good call, Moz. Trendsetter.
Code for: we don’t want to commit if this team sucks again
I was going to say that it doesn’t sound like Mo is very confident in the team success.
Also, I wouldn’t be talking extension at all, just look to re-sign him at the end of the year.
They could also wait and give him a qualifying offer next year and see what happens.
Cardsfan, that’s been my thinking as well.
He’ll be a 37 year old free agent first baseman with a qualifying offer attached to him; how many teams would go after him even if he DID have a good season?
Cards wait and see that his decline isn’t precipitous and if they still think he has something left in the tank, they make him a fair offer. If he goes elsewhere, team gets a draft pick and they move J Walker or Gorman to 1B.
Even MENTIONING the idea of an extension publicly is yet another in a recent string of odd public utterances that this team has been making in the last 24 months.
Also code for “if we are tanking again since we’ve made almost no changes since last year, maybe we can beg him to waive his no trade”
the issue is, I think that mozeliak is afraid to make any moves right now. If you think about it, the leake deal, the matz deal, the trading of arozorena, the trade of Alcantara for one year of ozuna. the only decent deals that MO has made are the Montgomery for Bader and bringing in mikolas. We honestly should have been talking to Toronto about alek manoah. The dude had a bad year, and I can see him flourishing as an ace. but MO won’t part with anyone. He’s hamstringing the cards by not bringing in good players. gray is good, but he’s not an ace. we honestly have a plethora of hitters prospects, and if it meant parting with Gorman for manoah, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’d say the only untouchables are walker, the up and coming ss, and nootbar. otherwise, open the team up for pitching. We never compete in free agency, and we haven’t drafted a decent pitcher since Alcantara. Waino wasn’t drafted by us. So part with offense to get young pitching. MO is stupid and a terrible GM/VP. He’s not putting the cards in a good spot this year by signing retreads. Sure, we open up the roster for 2025 but we rarely have a chance to compete in FA. So you trade for what you don’t have. MO is a terrible tactician. If we had anthopolous we’d probably have redeveloped the whole roster and parted with guys before it’s too late. Kind of like we did with O’Neil.
we’ve made almost no changes since last year
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They signed three SPs, and made two trades. They’ve been one of the most active teams in baseball.
They’ve signed one pitcher and two prayers.
That might be Goldschmidt’s call since he might want to see the team the Cards coddle together. Obv. Moz can’t state that.
It seems Goldschmidt is the one being cautious, and not in a hurry to extend. He wants to see how this season goes too and decide if he wants to get off the sinking ship.
Could be. But free agency already isn’t kind to 1B/ types as it is, let alone one’s heading into their age 37 season. It’s a gamble but its his gamble to make
YBC & LHemandGH,,,,,,, watch Arenado if this team struggles again this year. He’ll be chomping at the bit to be traded, IMO. I don’t think he was all that happy last season! Dodgers???
It’s better to wait and see if Walker can stick in right field first. Give it at least a few weeks of spring training.
The dumbest thing they could do is extend him. About time that front office did something worth congratulating them on.
But they get appreciated all the time..oh I get it! =}
Respectfully, the dumbest thing the Cardinals could do is sign Lance Lynn for $12 million in 2024. Now, you may want to change your user name, because Lance Lynn will eat every slider with cheese left on the planet.
Your right they should pocket the money and spend it on ballpark village.
Yes, don’t read anything into this peculiar dance they’re starting.
CardsFan57. Agree. Believe nothing you read and hear and only half of what you see. More smoke and mirrors than a circus.
He is a class act and reportedly a hard worker. He still has the physical tools so a 2-3 yr extension shouldn’t be any kind of bad deal even if he isn’t mvp level over the duration.
Loyalty extensions have burned Mo too many times before. We all love Goldy but why pay anyone when you don’t have to just yet?
Conversely, the same Mozeliak sensed Pujols was done in 2012 and let him go in free agency. That contract was a disaster for an Angels team that doesn’t go over the luxury tax threshold.
Mo offered almost what the Angels did. He sensed nothing. Ownership drew a line in the sand. Mo is a moron.
Pujols wife wanted to live in LA. They constructed “Cardinals disrespected me” narrative. Disaster averted for Cards.
Nolan Arenado is under contract through 2027 and may need to move across the diamond at some point before that. Extending Goldsmith would basically lock in two 1B/DHs.
There is no evidence whatsoever Arenado will need to move off of 3b. None at all.
Exactly!
If you want evidence take a look at his 2023 FanGraphs and Statcast arm strength numbers. Not saying anything’s definite but Father Time and accumulating wear and tear have a say with even the best of them.
He was playing hurt in 2023. And even hurt he was decent. He wasn’t as good as he was in 2022 of course but he was still decent.
Is he permanently hurt? I don’t think he is.
Gorman, Walker, Burleson, Donovan, Baker… loads of 2025 1B options.
Regergetating the sorry excuse of the Bally situatión is puré folly. The viewership in the STL área is off the chárts. There would be a line a mile long waiting to broadcast Cards’ games. Please stop insulting the fans. We know better.
Even if we can’t spell “regurgitated”
Just looked at the back of his baseball card. Dude just shows up every single day and hits for a more than respectable average, gets on base as more than 80% of the leage with some pop and drives in runs. 2 or 3 more of what he did in 23 and his last stop is Cooperstown.
Regurgetating the same Bally excuses is lame. There would be a long line of broadcast businesses just waiting to air Cards’ games. Please stop insulting the Red Bird fans. We know better.
He is literally worth his weight in gold.
No Schmidt
I love when someone actually uses the word “literally’ correctly.
220 Lbs x 16 oz x $2050 per oz + $7,216,000
He might even be worth more than his weight in gold.
If could get him for even twice that, extend him.
Goldy, please come home, where your jersey is still proudly worn and you have a die hard following. Demand a trade to AZ. We have the DH now and you and Walker can save each other from injury by sharing time at 1st. We’ll retire your number as soon as possible. You’ll be our second HOF player behind RJ. I am sure Hazen wishes to undo his only real blunder of a trade. Wishful (dream) thinking anyhow.
By the way, if we pay him in declining years, he is still valuable as a presence and face to the franchise, like all our other greats that they still employ.
Goldy & Walker are both FA at the end of the year. Could end up with Walker moving on and Goldy coming back to AZ in 2025
OK, but you have return Zac Gallen to his original organization in exchange.
lol, while I see you following the same logic, that wouldn’t be a fair trade, especially with all the Cardinal fans saying Goldy is washed up. I left that part off my post. You all think he’s in decline one year removed from an MVP, while most Dback fans think he could have another MVP because he’s extremely disciplined.
Should have been traded at last year’s deadline. There is no point in an extension. The Cardinals are going to need to spend on the rotation again next winter. That’s where the money should go. Goldy has been great, but there is no point in paying him to decline.
They won’t spend! He will just pocket it.
Goldie & Arenado both should’ve been gone. That’s not a knock on either player, but the setup of the team is awful. As you said, they need pitchers a lot more than hitters, and $61M could’ve bought you two of the best.
Yeah trade those 2 players and watch them lose 100 games! Yeah that’s smart
The unusual situations regarding his personal life may also come into play.
Could, in that case, do one of three things:
1. Look for a FA replacement (not likely)
2. Move Arenado to 1B if his D struggles somewhat again this year, then look internal or external for new 3B.
3. Move Walker in from the OF, or move Burleson there to keep DH a “day of rest rotation” slot.
Gorman would also be a good candidate for first. Move Edman back to second or use Donovan at second.
I can see the reason why the St Louis Cardinals do not wanted to give out a contract extension to any of there player
The reason the Chicago Cubs will own the Central Division for the next 5 years with Craig C & Jed H & Tommy R the 3 Head monster will rule
Goldy is due for a decline sooner than later with his age. Probably be smart to see how he starts next year off.
Already started last year
Cards spent Goldy’s money on Sonny Gray & 3-4 # 5 starters. Don’t want to put Gray in the # 5 category as he is better than the others they signed….but who knows once the season plays out! I just don’t see Gibson or Lynn winning 20 games, or 15, but maybe Gray! See you in this section at the trade deadline, Goldy!! Adam Wainwright, STANDBY!
???
gray is a #1 or a very good #2, but he isn’t an ace. He can’t handle the stress from being the leader. He couldn’t handle it in NY for this reason. I have been saying the cards should have went and traded for Alek Manoah. He’s a legit ace if he turns it around. And I believe he can. MO is afraid to trade anyone. We haven’t developed a top quality starter since Alcantara.
The Manoah train wreck is a better bet than the runner up for the AL Cy Young? Wow!
yes. manoah is 25 years old. gray is 34. manoah had one bad year. He also had a really solid ace year the year before. Alcantara wasn’t an absolute stud right away either. some pitchers have ups and downs. and manoah isn’t a train wreck, he’s probably not in the right organization. who would feel happy or excited to go to work when their name is smeared all over the place about how bad they are and they aren’t developing right or this and that. I’d probably not want to go to work and sure as hell wouldn’t be at my best either with all the stress.
Comparing Manoah to Gray is laughable at this time. MO would have been crucified if he traded for Manoah and presented him as the solution. We’ll see in spring training if Manoah can even crack the Blue Jays rotation.
gray is 34 years old. manoah is 25. manoah had one bad year. What are you smoking? I’d totally take a waiver on monoah in a heartbeat.
I think he would wave the no trade just to remove the problem of a qualifying offer.
Good player. Hopefully for his legacy to end better he will get traded out of cesspool east Missouri and finish in a better organization. Maybe back to Arizona.
Who hurt you?
you. You touched me and I’m hurt now.
you hurt me. I’m hurt since you touched me.
No reason to extend him, and like others said, if they’re out of it they can trade him at deadline
The issue is that I think that mozeliak is afraid to make any moves right now. The sooner we relieve MO of his duties and bring someone else in the better the team will be. MO was reaping rewards of championships off previous regimes. If you think about it, the leake deal, the matz deal, the trading of arozorena, the trade of Alcantara for one year of ozuna. the only decent deals that MO has made are the Montgomery for Bader and bringing in mikolas. We honestly should have been talking to Toronto about alek manoah. The dude had a bad year, and I can see him flourishing as an ace. but MO won’t part with anyone. He’s hamstringing the cards by not bringing in good players. gray is good, but he’s not an ace. we honestly have a plethora of hitters prospects, and if it meant parting with Gorman for manoah, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’d say the only untouchables are walker, the up and coming ss, and nootbar. otherwise, open the team up for pitching. We never compete in free agency, and we haven’t drafted a decent pitcher since Alcantara. Waino wasn’t drafted by us. So, part with offense to get young pitching. MO is stupid and a terrible GM/VP. He’s not putting the cards in a good spot this year by signing retreads. Sure, we open up the roster for 2025, but we rarely have a chance to compete in FA. So you trade for what you don’t have. MO is a terrible tactician. If we had anthopolous, we’d probably have redeveloped the whole roster and parted with guys before it’s too late. It’s kind of like we did with O’Neil
Reports surfaced last month about the Cards’ interest in retaining Goldschmidt, with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noting that talks might well last into the season,
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That automatically means that one side of the other doesn’t want to sign. It doesn’t take 6 months to put a contract together.
probably. MO has created a dumpster fire of an organization since firing schildt. We are afraid to trade anyone and get pitching. We have tons of offensive players to trade for good pitching and we need a different manager. And MO needs to go as well. He’s lost the team and set the organization backwards. We have some good offensive prospects, and supposedly some decent pitching prospects, but I’m not holding my breath on any of the pitching ones. We haven’t developed a good pitcher internally since Alcantara. and we could have acquired Alek Manoah from Toronto. That would have given us an Ace, but MO is afraid to make any further deals because of all the bad deals he has made over the years with leake, Alcantara, matz, and arozorena. We have pulled off two decent deals with Montgomery and mikolas. gray will turn out well, but he’s not an Ace pitcher. He’s a really good #2 or a #1 but doesn’t have ace stuff. An Ace is Waino in his prime. Gray is good but not a waino or a TOR guy
until the cardinals realize that MO is not a good vp/gm and they fire the coach nothing will change. MO is setting us back. We all Cardinals fans know we don’t compete in FA, so we are stocked with offense guys but no pitching.Who is going to put us in contention next year when we have 3 pitchers? We just going to keep signing retreads? We need to trade from our stockpile of offense to get pitching and MO is afraid of doing anything. I’d totally part with Gorman in a heartbeat if we could get monoah from Toronto, or even trade to get one of the millions of young studs the giants have. The giants have issues with offense and so forth, and too much pitching. We have the offense but no pitching. MO is a shitbum and has no confidence to pull off a deal.
They missed the boat there