Thoughts from Tuesday’s press conference

Let’s address the press conference. Not the one on Monday, which was a swan song of sorts for John Mozeliak. That was a look at the past. No, I’m referring to the press conference featuring new President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom and owner Bill Dewit Jr. and his son Bill Dewitt III. That was more of a future-oriented outlook. And frankly, I don’t just want to talk about the press conference. Bloom revealed other things in more personal interviews. So I’ll do my best to summarize what we’ve learned:

Oliver Marmol is coming back

This barely qualifies as news in my opinion. If you’ve been paying attention, it was pretty clear he was coming back. There has been speculation that the Cardinals could change managers because Bloom would want his own guy. I think this has been a mistaken belief. Bloom has now been in the organization for two seasons. He has formed a relationship with Marmol. He is not some new guy who was just hired who needs to know if he’s on the same page as his manager. He has made sure that he is on the same page as his manager.

This was strangely not really addressed in the press conference, but Daniel Guerrero had a piece about the relationship between Marmol and Bloom in the Post Dispatch. If you have access to the PD, I recommend reading it and if you do not, I’ll try to share what stood out to me.

“Bloom confirmed Tuesday that Marmol will return to manage the Cardinals in 2026, the final year of Marmol’s current contract. Bloom said he expects “continuity” from the coaching staff’s personnel but noted there are decisions to be sorted as some conversations still need to be had.”

So expect no major changes on that front. There might be some changes, but at least how this is phrased, it doesn’t sound like any of the major names are leaving. Unless they go to a different job, but they won’t be leaving involuntarily it seems. But yeah the “big” news if you can call it that, is that Bloom and Marmol very much seem on the same page. He said he felt a lot of synergy with Marmol.

Now, obviously, it’s going to change as the partnership builds. It’s going to be a little different for each of us with the seat I’m in now, but I’m optimistic about it. I’ve enjoyed working with him.”

Bloom will look to free agency for a starter

I originally said “expect,” but that was too strong of a verb for what was actually said. Which was that he’ll look to free agency to fill a need in the rotation. I will quote Derrick Goold’s article directly: “Bloom said he plans to look into the free-agent market to fill a need in the rotation, add a veteran reliever for the bullpen and possibly add depth.”

They did not shed light on whether they were planning to trade Sonny Gray. I’m curious if that’s a part of the plan. That plan would make no sense to me. I know there are budgetary concerns, but trading Sonny Gray and then signing a starter is dumb. Signing a free agent starter in addition to Gray makes sense to me. They need another starter, even if they don’t have any intention of actually competing.

Think about it like this. If they sign a starter in free agency, Andre Pallante, Kyle Leahy, and Quinn Mathews are competing for the 5th spot. That’s if they get another starter and don’t move Gray. That’s a perfectly good trio of starters to compete for a 5th spot, but asking two of them to be in the rotation, oh and also nobody can get hurt, is not. And there’s no depth behind Mathews, no MLB ready depth anyway. All the depth guys are at least a half season away.

And my other argument is that I don’t think Sonny Gray is returning anything given his age and his salary. And you might argue that the Cardinals should pick up more of the check, except teams would generally rather spend money if they have it than give up a better prospect, so the only money thrown in would be likely be whatever was required to get the bare minimum prospect back.

And to add to that point, Bill Dewitt did say “if a “giant chunk” of the payroll is traded, he expected that to be spent on improving the roster in other area.” Again, quoting Goold’s article.

Cardinals willing to include additional money in trades

I’m not sure how much this counts as news or notable, and the only reason I say that is because…it’s very required. This would be news if Nolan Arenado had trade value. It is not news because Arenado has negative trade value. In order to actually trade him, the Cardinals need to throw in money. This is likely also true of Sonny Gray. They need to throw in money to get a return, not get a good return.

If the Cardinals wouldn’t throw in money, they wouldn’t be traded is what I’m saying. And they understand that. Now if they said they were picking up the entire tab…. that would be news.

Bill Dewitt heard the message

After the PR fiasco last offseason when Bill Dewitt kind of mocked fans not going to the games by saying (paraphrasing) “well that’s not going to make us spend,” he spun a bit of a different tune this time. Unfortunately, he didn’t say that they would spend this time, just that he got the message. The fans didn’t come, they’re not happy about it, and they want to change that.

But they still kind of came across as tone deaf. The elder Dewitt suggested he and Bloom have not talked payroll yet. This is laughable. I know how he can justify saying that and claiming he didn’t lie. He hasn’t given Bloom a specific number. That I believe. That I’m sure is why he can say with a straight face that he has not talked payroll with Bloom.

But you’re trying to tell me that you have hired a man entering his first offseason with the team, where knowing what kind of budget he has to work with would seem to be pretty important information to know, kind of like I don’t know the bare minimum, and you just have never discussed payroll is either insane incompetence or a lie. It’s a lie. It’s obviously a lie.

Again, I know there’s not a specific number like in a video game, but there’s definitely a range that Bloom surely knows about. It’s as simple as “expect the budget to be about the same as this past year” or “I’m willing to go higher” or “just warning you it’s going to be lower.” That’s discussing payroll and it has to have happened. I can’t imagine a guy accepting a job like this and just never being informed of the budget.

More light was shed on Walker and Gorman

This was the hour long interview with the writers that was not in press conference. I learned about this by listening to BK and Ferrario on 101. Pure accident. Happened to be driving and in a car where I couldn’t connect my phone. On Nolan Gorman:

“I still believe in the upside of both of those guys to perform. In Nolan Gorman’s case, he’s shown flashes. This year he hasn’t been able to get there consistently. I think for him coming into the offseason with a consistent and clear idea of who he wants to be and something he believes in enough that it can withstand the ups and downs of the season. I think that’ll be really important for him.”

Honestly, not sure that told us much about what the Cardinals actually plan to do with Gorman. With Walker, it was a bit more clear.

“With Jordan, we all have a good idea of what the adjustments should look like. I give him a lot of credit trying to do that in midseason. I felt it was something you’d hope to see good returns from in-season, but really the offseason was always going to be the real test of trying to cement that and have it be second nature for him. I really do think Walker is the type of talent and player where we are going to see results at the big league level. For his sake, certainly but also for our sake as an organization, we need to see that happen soon. This offseason is a big one.”

So that’s interesting. Not positive he’s spending next season in AAA actually based on those comments, but ideally if that is the case, it’s because they think he’s made the adjustments.

They will not rush pitching prospects out of need

This is from Katie Woo. So I wouldn’t really expect the AA guys moving to AAA to pitch in the majors until later in the season, if that. On top of that, I’m not positive Mathews will make the Opening Day roster. He had a 17.5 BB% last season in AAA. But this was something Bloom said in the hour-long interview and also something he has historically not done. So if you expect the Cardinals to have a bunch of exciting pitching prospects next season, well we might see a couple of them, but I wouldn’t expect a ton of starts from them,