Fans vote with their pocketbooks. Yet somehow after three years of missing the playoffs and having Major League talent across the roster, fans are happy to keep throwing those votes into the owner’s pockets instead of towards the product on the field. The St. Louis Cardinals won 77 games and have found the “next core” that we have been craving. 5-6 spots in the lineup and ~3 spots in the rotation are absolutely MLB talent.
Even with these players on the roster at extremely affordable rates with years
of control, some fans are still advocating to “stick to the plan” (that doesn’t have an end date) and save money that will not be reallocated in future years. My favorite part of that? It isn’t even their money so why the heck do they need to save it?
To add the same disclaimer I’ve had to add every tweet/article/post that I put out: I, Scott Plaza, do not want Chaim Bloom to spend tens of millions of dollars on multi-year reliever contracts, high-cost starters, or superstar lineup options that don’t even exist this offseason. I, Scott Plaza, and asking Chaim Bloom to write three or four checks to fix the squeaky wheel, because if he doesn’t, we will be riding with an annoying and frustrating sound. Again.
“But Scott! If we spend money then the whole long-term plan is out the window and we’ll be in another decade of mediocrity!”
Just blatantly false. Those that refuse to even entertain the reliever market for say, $20 million, are allowing Bloom and DeWitt to act in this cost-cutting way. My continued call has been to spend money on accomplished, higher tier than JoJo relievers because, shockingly, Peter Strezelecki, Matt Pushard, Chris Roycroft, and the others did not get it done. “BUT WE SAVED MONEY! And they weren’t supposed to win anyway!”
WHY NOT?
The lineup has major league talent. The rotation has major league talent. The rotation has prospect capital on the way but it is not yet complete. The bullpen has… some guys that can pitch in major league games. In most world’s of work, if there is a blatant problem with a clear solution, yet that problem is ignored, that person is no longer employed. I am not saying that Bloom has to drop $50 million on relievers and if he doesn’t he needs to be canned. I am saying if he continues to roll out the same team that won 77 games, which most saw as an overperformance, he is effectively punting on 2027.
“BUT THE PLAN”
As mentioned, we hear about the plan and how everything is moving as expected. However, both Oli and Bloom publicly say they don’t put timelines on things. I plan to be a millionaire. Currently, I am not. Nowhere near it, in fact. But I plan to be at some point. Without holding myself accountable to stop spending, invest better, etc. I can continue to push the million dollar plan down the road and still feel like I’m headed the right direction. We should expect… nay… demand more.
77 wins is my baseline. Is that fair when wins don’t tell the story? I really don’t care if its fair. When fans are saying they won’t pay to watch losing baseball, then they need to win. DeWitt says fans aren’t going to come to games to watch a losing team. He’s right. We’ve seen it. So why are we, the fans, okay with another losing team?
In the theoretical situation that Bloom actually does spend on the bullpen, I would think we can safely assume the 2027 bullpen would not blow 30 games or have 34 losses as a squad. Maybe it’s only five more wins. Oh no, a winning season, what a nightmare! No, 82 wins won’t get you into the Wild Card, but doesn’t September baseball sound so much more fun when the team has a semblance of a chance AND didn’t give up their farm system just to fall short?
Gabe put it well to summarize his Thursday article. Why would any free agent want to come to St. Louis if they weren’t trying to win? Why would I, who lives 5 hours away from STL, drive, stay in a hotel, and buy tickets to watch a team that isn’t trying to win? Will I? Yes because I’m a sicko with a baseball problem, but the more casual fans cannot be expected to drop hundreds of dollars to watch a game that is over in the fifth inning.
So that brings me back to the title of the article: For those that are against Bloom spending $20-30 million on the bullpen, why? We are not talking a Brett Cecil deal. Never again am I advocating for a 4+ year deal on a reliever. So I ask again, what is wrong with winning more games?
Sorry for the short article, but I didn’t want to repeat much of what I’ve been saying for a couple weeks here or on Twitter. I really just want to hear the argument for why Peter Strzelecki is better than Bryan Abreu.
Thanks as always!
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