Inside The Cardinals

Re-Examining Cardinals' Decision To Cut Ties With Former MVP

The St. Louis Cardinals moved on before the 2025 season...
Patrick McAvoy|
Aug 17, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (48) bats against the St. Louis Cardinals during the sixth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Aug 17, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (48) bats against the St. Louis Cardinals during the sixth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

In this story:

St. Louis CardinalsNew York Yankees

The 2025 Major League Baseball regular season has gone by in the blink of an eye.

There are just about two weeks to go in the regular sesaon and with the St. Louis Cardinals currently holding a 73-77 record, the playoffs are a pipe dream at best. St. Louis isn't mathematically out of contention, but need a long winning streak and a miracle.

With the season winding down, now is a good time to take a look back at the decisions made before the season to see if the decisions were correct or not. The Cardinals didn't do a ton ahead of the 2025 season. St. Louis opted against picking up the club options for veteran pitchers Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. Both have since retired, although Gibson did pitch some earlier in the season. He appeared in four games with the Baltimore Orioles and had a 16.78 ERA.

Did the Cardinals make the right decision?

New York Yankees first base Paul Goldschmidt
Aug 21, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first base Paul Goldschmidt (48) hits an RBI single in the fourth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

The other big decision that the Cardinals made was cutting ties with former Most Valuable Player Paul Goldschmidt when he hit free agency.

Goldschmidt landed with the New York Yankees and looked like his old self in the first half of the season. In Goldschmidt's first 94 games of the season, he slashed .289/.347/.431 with eight homers and 37 RBIs. This was up until July 21st. There was a time in which it seemed like Goldschmidt had a shot at an All-Star nod this year and maybe even that the Cardinals made the wrong decision.

He has slightly cooled off since, though. Over his last 39 games, he has slashed .241/.272/.361 with two homers and six RBIs. Overall, he's slashing .278/.329/.414 with 10 homers and 43 RBIs in 133 games played. He is at 1.3 wins above replacement. He's having a better season this year than last from a batting average and on-base percentage perspective, but has less pop.

The Cardinals opted to move Willson Contreras to first base this year and he is slashing .255/.342/.444 with 20 homers and 79 RBIs in 134 games played while tallying 2.4 wins above replacement.

Losing Goldschmidt was tough, but still arguably was the right decision.

More MLB: Cardinals $55 Million Man Wants To Return In 2026

Published
Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu

Home/St. Louis Cardinals News