The St. Louis Cardinals are falling out of the postseason race. At 61-61, they are four games back in the National League Wild Card race and 16 games back in the NL Central after losing an excruciating series to the Colorado Rockies. The New York Yankees are coming to town next, and Paul Goldschmidt, who signed with them after six seasons in St. Louis, is having a strong 2025 season.
However, he may not be active for the series against the Cardinals. According to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, Goldschmidt may have to go on the injured list after suffering a knee sprain in Tuesday night's game against the Minnesota Twins.
In the offseason, the Cardinals chose to let Goldschmidt walk and move Willson Contreras to first base to replace him. Depending on the severity of the knee injury, the Cardinals could have ultimately made the right choice by not trying to sign him back.
Cardinals may have made right choice by not signing Paul Goldschmidt
Goldschmidt is hitting .276/.331/.422 with 10 home runs, 40 RBI, a 1.4 WAR and a .753 OPS on the season. The Yankees signed him to a one-year, $12.5 million contract last offseason. The Cardinals had him from 2019-24.
With St. Louis Goldschmidt won an MVP in 2022 and helped guide the Cardinals to four straight postseason appearances, including two division titles. However, he began to decline in 2023, and he struggled mightily in 2024, which in part led to his exit from St. Louis.
At this point, Goldschmidt is 37 years old and well past his prime. He has been able to stay healthy for most of his career, but a knee injury could be severe, and it appears that the Cardinals may have made the right choice to let him walk at just the right time.
St. Louis already has plenty of depth at first base with Contreras and Alec Burleson. Nolan Gorman has even started taking reps at first base.
Goldschmidt is a seven-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner and five-time Silver Slugger in addition to his 2022 MVP season. He is a free agent again at the end of the 2025 season.
But while 2025 hasn't gone according to plan for the Cardinals, they can likely rest assured that Goldschmidt is past his prime and moving on from him was ultimately the right call, especially to make room for some of their younger players.