3 more St. Louis Cardinals who won't be back in 2025 and why

The 2024 St. Louis Cardinals went out and became buyers at the trade deadline, but they ultimately came up short of the postseason. They're going to need to make some changes if they want to see success next season. Mark Powell of FanSided recently put together a list of a few Cards who shouldn't be back in 2025, including Andrew Kittredge, Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldschmidt.

But St. Louis could look even more different than just those three roster changes. We'll add a few more players to that list today.

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3. RHP Miles Mikolas

The St. Louis Cardinals are going to have to find a way to dump Miles Mikolas this offseason. They have aspirations set way too high for them to have somebody on the active roster who isn't a net positive for the team. Starting pitcher Miles Mikolas is past his days where he was a contributor to a postseason team. The Cardinals still inked him to a three-year deal worth $55.75 million a few off seasons ago.

Mikolas is entering the final year of his contract and is owed nearly $18 million. The Cardinals need to find a way to dump his contract, however possible, or their 2025 roster will never be as good as it could be.

Mikolas, 36, posted a negative WAR last season, and he was often uncompetitive when he was on the mound. He posted a 5.35 ERA in more than 30 starts for the Cardinals. His ERA+ was below league average for the third time in four seasons. The fact is that Mikolas just can't compete at the level that St. Louis needs their starting pitchers to compete.

St. Louis is going to be aggressive in free agency. They need the money and the roster space to do so. With Mikolas on the roster, they have neither of those two things. St. Louis should be parting ways, if at all possible, with him this offseason.

2. RHP Lance Lynn

The St. Louis Cardinals have a pitching rotation that is built on age and experience. At some point in time, they need to make way for their young starting pitchers who are coming up the minor league ladder, like top prospect Tink Hence and a few others who should make it to the big leagues in 2025.

With that in mind, the Cardinals would be wise to decline Lance Lynn's player option worth north of $10 million for next year. Lynn will be 38 next season, and his production is likely to see a rapid decline, as Father Time remains undefeated.

St. Louis is also going to need to be very active in free agency, both looking for pitchers and position players. They could absolutely use the $11 million from Lynn's team option on another player that would provide them slightly more value.

While Lynn was still competitive in 2024—posted a sub-4.00 ERA in more than 100 innings—the Cardinals need to get younger and they need to do it fast. They have a few pieces locked into their rotation with a few top prospects on their way up. Going after a better free agent pitcher and then letting a younger pitcher take the fifth spot in the rotation may not be the worst idea.

1. Manager Oli Marmol

While the Cardinals are always pointing the blame at the players on the field, sometimes it's much deeper than that. As we have seen with the White Sox and Reds already, MLB teams don't accept a manager who is content with losing or playing .500 level baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals, more than anybody, won't accept losing baseball, so they're likely to part ways with their manager Oli Marmol at the end of the season.

Marmol has been on the hot seat for just about the entire season, either because of his decision making, the Cardinals losing or his lack of accountability. It's about time for a change in St. Louis because they're spending too much money to miss the postseason.

St. Louis is going to look at free agent managers like Skip Schumaker of the Miami Marlins to try to fill their hole, if they opt to let go of Marmol. Schumaker spent a majority of his playing career in St. Louis, but he's also going to be the most sought after manager on the market this season.

There's also been speculation that St. Louis could opt for somebody like Yadier Molina or Albert Pujols, but I believe that the Cardinals will look for a proven winning manager for next year.