We triple dog dare the Cardinals to sign the last former All-Star who deserves it

Fresh off a 71-win season, the St. Louis Cardinals elected to sign several veterans like Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, Brandon Crawford, and Matt Carpenter last offseason in an effort to get back to the postseason.

The Cardinals did win 12 more games than they did in 2023, and got some solid contributions from most of these veterans, but missed the postseason for a second consecutive year. The result of that failure is the team electing to do something that they rarely do - rebuild.

Gray is one of several Cardinals veterans on the trade block (if he's willing to waive his no-trade clause). Both Lynn and Gibson had their club options declined. Crawford retired, and Carpenter became a free agent.

In a perfect world, in the eyes of John Mozeliak, none of those five players will be on their 2025 roster as they devote more playing time to their younger players. With that being said, though, one player in particular from that group, Matt Carpenter, is searching for a new deal, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network. What Carpenter is looking for suggests that the Cardinals can actually be a fit.

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Can the Cardinals bring Matt Carpenter back?

A lot went wrong for the Cardinals this past season, but an argument can be made that Carpenter exceeded expectations. He only appeared in 59 games and had 157 plate appearances, but his 92 OPS+ when he saw the field, while below-average, was 13 points better than his mark in 2023.

He wouldn't be brought back to do much more than pinch hit with the occasional spot start here and there, but they could do worse than Carpenter as a veteran influence for what could be one of the youngest teams in the National League. Carpenter is a 14-year veteran who has spent 12 of those years in St. Louis and been on three All-Star teams.

Still, even in a year in which they don't really care about wins and losses, the Cardinals would be better off pursuing a player who'd give them more on-field value than Carpenter. Leadership is important as well, but they can do better than a 39-year-old who has been a below-average hitter in each of the last two seasons while providing little to no value in the field.

With that said, would it be a surprise to see Mozeliak bring Carpenter back yet again? We've seen him do it before.