BenFred: Pete Alonso? Sorry folks, this Cardinals offseason isn't one for free-agent daydreams
Two emails new to my inbox can provide a helpful roadmap to handling this Cardinals offseason.
One was a pitch from a betting website that wanted us to bite on the Cardinals being named as one of the three most likely teams to sign free-agent first baseman Pete Alonso. (What, no Juan Soto?)
Another was an announcement from the Cardinals about their March 24 exhibition against their Class-AAA affiliate at AutoZone Park in Memphis. The Battle of the Birds is back.
If you think the Cardinals are going to sign Alonso or any other big-name free agent this offseason, you are probably setting yourself up for disappointment. The Cardinals are considering offloading high-priced players at or beyond the age of 30. They are not in the business of acquiring more of them. Alonso, who turns 30 next month, would not align with the Cardinals' youth movement.
It's not because Alonso once threw the baseball from Masyn Winn's first hit into the stands. It's not because Stubby Clapp once tossed him like a sack of potatoes. It's because he's going to get paid a bunch of money over a bunch of years.
Instead of dreaming about Alonso (or Soto), consider mentally preparing for a reality in which multiple Cardinals who participate in that Memphis exhibition months from now have more experience in places like AutoZone Park than they do places like Busch Stadium. This offseason? It's going to feel weird.
It has become tradition around here to pick a favorite free agent or trade target and hope the Cardinals see things similarly. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. But we debate until the decisions are made, and the decision is usually made to add at least a significant piece or two.
It's part of the fun, the waiting and the debating. I once beat the drum for Bryce Harper so bad I had to get Tommy John surgery. I don't regret it. I thought he made a ton of sense and would have been worth the massive investment.
Now? There's not a single star free agent or two that fixes this team, and the Cardinals don't sound interested in going that route even if there was.
Instead, the main intrigue of this offseason seems set to revolve around which notable names — Ryan Helsley? Willson Contreras? Nolan Arenado? Sonny Gray? — could go via trade instead of arrive. Dream big for sudden surprises if you like, but I won't encourage it. What I'll do instead is remind folks that previous offseasons of trying to fill holes via free agency hasn't worked out too well at restoring deep postseason runs, and while there have been some big-time trades scored relatively recently, like deals for Paul Goldschmidt and Arenado, the decline of the player development pipeline has been the lead contributor to those two potential future Hall of Famers accomplishing next to nothing in the postseason during their shared time here.
So yes, the Cardinals are smart for returning to their player development roots, though heaping credit upon them for having to restore a strength they let erode seems unnecessary. Let's at least make sure they can indeed restore the former strength. Their future depends on it.
For a team that cares about setting a pragmatic budget and adhering to it, getting back to creating answers from within is a must. The team, to its credit, has been candid about that being the focus of the immediate future, more so than building the best possible roster for 2025.
For those who like to get fired up about player development infrastructure buildouts, this is their offseason. Go crazy, folks.
For everyone else? It's going to be pretty quiet.
What I'm most interested in seeing this offseason is if the Cardinals make moves thanks to incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom that look better months from now than they do in the moment. Maybe Roddery Munoz becomes an example? Maybe he becomes a name to know after being added as a name next to no one knew.
The instant online response to the Cardinals grabbing the former Marlins pitcher from the waiver wire was predictable. Snark and sarcasm. Fans are in a frustrated place. I get it. Munoz had a 6.53 ERA through 17 starts. He allowed a whopping 26 home runs in 82.2 innings. There's a lot to not like, no doubt.
But he's also still 24, still a rookie and still in possession of a fastball that averaged more than 95 mph and a strikeout percentage that reached nearly 19% in his major league debut season. There's a lot to work with.
Munoz is a project. Giving him a shot costs next to nothing. Seeing him capitalize upon it would bode well for the Cardinals getting back to seeing value others miss — and then getting more out of talent than others can.
What the Cardinals can make of Munoz is not front-page fodder, but it's more newsworthy than wasting your time with Alonso and other pricey free-agent daydream fodder. In the past, the Cardinals have been guilty at times of overselling offseasons before underdelivering.
They are not doing that now. Payroll is going down. The future is taking priority over the present. Those realities have been clearly communicated. If you wind up disappointed in prominent additions not made, you can't blame the Cardinals for misleading.
There can, though, sometimes be a silver lining to publicly lowered expectations.
If enough things go right, pleasant surprises can emerge.
Sports columnist
