Projected Paul Goldschmidt contract is a brutal indictment on Cardinals

It's all but a foregone conclusion that Paul Goldschmidt will be among the headlining departures for the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason. Perhaps the only question John Mozeliak has to answer is just how many familiar faces will follow him out the door as trade rumors continue to circulate around Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Ryan Helsley and others.

Goldschmidt, however, won't be departing via trade. The 37-year-old first baseman who captured NL MVP honors with the Redbirds in 2022 is a free agent this offseason. As Chaim Bloom enters the fray for the Cardinals and after two dismal postseason-less seasons (that weren't even close, it should be said), the expectation is that the team will shed payroll instead of making meaningful additions.

That, in itself, is a painful message to send to the St. Louis faithful. At the same time, it's also an indictment on Mozeliak and the Cardinals organization for how brutally they've mismanaged this organization that they won't be bringing Goldschmidt back — particularly at the price tag it seems he's going to demand based on the early projections.

If the Cardinals were competing, it's a contract they could easily fit into the budget. But again, they won't be.

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Cardinals failures paved way for Paul Goldschmidt departure

No matter where you look, it seems as if Goldschmidt is going to be both coveted and relatively friendly to the market. Jim Bowden of The Athletic ($) projected the soon-to-be former Cardinal's deal to come in at one-year, $15 million, which is the same projection that MLBTradeRumors offered for the first baseman's deal. And while ESPN's Kiley McDaniel ($) projects the deal to be slightly more expensive at one-year, $18 million, McDaniel also called Goldy one of the free agents worth investing in at that price.

Considering that we're looking at projections around $24 million in AAV for someone like Christian Walker or even $26.5 million AAV for Pete Alonso, taking an older but still proven (and with some good underlying metrics for a potential bounce-back in 2025) Goldschmidt for substantially cheaper and for less of a long-term commitment should be attractive for a contender.

And yet, the Cardinals aren't that. Again, this is an organization for which all indications point to the start of a teardown and ultimately a rebuild. Seeing that happen when the intent was allegedly to contend is a gut-punch in and of itself. Watching a player who immediately became a fan-favorite and a modern legend for St. Louis like Goldschmidt basically be shown the door when he would've otherwise been affordable makes it worse.

There's truthfully no sugarcoating the current situation for the Cardinals right now. It's been bad on the field the past two seasons and it's only likely to get worse. Goldschmidt's projected contract, which the club should've been able to afford if things were going better, now only serves as a painful reminder of how the mighty have fallen — and may only continue to do so in the immediate future.