Paul Goldschmidt could follow in Jack Flaherty's footsteps as Cardinals, John Mozeliak luck out again

The St. Louis Cardinals might be the most depressing team in baseball right now. John Mozeliak is entering the final season of a historic front office career and his mandate is clear — to strip this roster down to its studs and rebuild. Not how St. Louis fans wanted him to go out, but the last few seasons have been too disappointing. Any of illusions of contending with the current core are out the window.

Mozeliak is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Most of his best players are either too old (Sonny Gray) or too expensive (and old, Nolan Arenado) to return reasonable value in a trade. So rather than stockpiling prospects and boosting the pipeline, the Cards might end up toiling in a sort of middle ground.

The biggest departure of this offseason will almost definitely be former MVP Paul Goldschmidt, who is expected to latch on with a contender, most likely on a one or two-year deal. There's a case for keeping him around St. Louis if the price is right, but Goldy's production tapered off last season and, at 37, there's not much motivation for him to stick around a losing clubhouse.

There are a few obvious landing spots among the MLB elites — Yankees, Mets if Pete Alonso leaves, Astros, and so forth — but another potential destination, per MLB Network's Jon Morosi, is a little more off the beaten path. A little more gritty.

The Detroit Tigers are interested in Goldschmidt's services.

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Tigers could pry Paul Goldschmidt away from Cardinals in rare free agent splurge

We don't generally see the Tigers throwing bills around in free agency. Goldschmidt's contract won't amount to much, but he should get a reasonably healthy AAV. He finished last season with .245/.302/.414 splits, mashing 22 home runs in 599 ABs.

Say what you will about some of the more worrisome indicators — such as 37 years old, or his career-worst .716 OPS — but Goldschmidt did finish the campaign stronger than he started, leaving hope that he could actually rebound in a new situation. Moreover, Goldschmidt still appeared in 154 games for St. Louis last season. He's old, but he's also durable, still providing dependable defense at first base. He finished last season with a hard-hit rate in the MLB's 92nd percentile and an expected batting average of .255, implying a measure of bad luck contributing to his down numbers in 2024.

Detroit is coming off an improbable postseason run, which raised spirits considerably in the fanbase. Now there is an expectation that Detroit builds on this, though. A step back or stagnation won't cut it. Goldschmidt might not put the Tigers in the World Series, but he's an affordable bat and a valuable leader for a young locker room.

Nobody can mix and match pieces depending on matchups better than A.J. Hinch, but at a certain point, the Tigers need to transition beyond the platoon brigade and establish a few proper everyday, dependable starters. Maybe Goldschmidt's days of everyday hitting are behind him, but there's reason to believe he can still swing the bat well enough to help a mediocre Tigers offense.

Just last season, Jack Flaherty, another former Cardinal, parlayed a successful stint in Detroit into a trade to the world champion Dodgers and what will soon be a lucrative new contract. Goldy has probably passed the point of lucrative new contracts, but he might benefit from joining Detroit's well-oiled machine.