2025 Trade Deadline Sepculation Thread ALL ABOARD

[Mdcardfan60]

I should have started a poll on this, but I'm pretty sure I've hit rock bottom of my Cardinal fandom. I'm not old enough to have experienced the 70's. The 90's were certainly bad, but this is feeling eerily similar. The Cardinals currently sit 11th(!) in the NL in attendance, despite a .500-ish team. It has never been that low. We're 2 spots behind the Rockies!

Ownership has given up investing in the team at all. The 3 headed GM is adrift at sea. We were finally sellers for once, and I'm not sure we got a single player in return that will spend more than 150 games on a MLB roster. We don't seem to have an electric player in the system that we can look forward to.

It is really tough to have any sort of faith in the Cardinals right now. No one running the team seems to give a [expletive]. I'm not sure why any of the fans should either.

What’s happening with ownership now is exactly what happened in the 90’s. Dewitt Jr, like Gussie before him, cared about winning and led the team to its longest sustained success ever. But he’s old and had little to do with the team for at least the last 5-7 years. Dewitt III, like Busch III cares only about profit, and has allowed everything to go to sh*t. There won’t be any change until BD2 dies and BD3 sells the team to someone who cares.

[Fan_In_NY]

The Cards will float in this mediocre to poor range until they luck into a generational or difference maker star - at that point you hope that they have the "good enough" supporting class plus an ownership group that is willing to invest. But right now there isn't one available MLB player that could make a difference for this team so they will just tread water with some interesting but not difference making players.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I should have started a poll on this, but I'm pretty sure I've hit rock bottom of my Cardinal fandom. I'm not old enough to have experienced the 70's. The 90's were certainly bad, but this is feeling eerily similar. The Cardinals currently sit 11th(!) in the NL in attendance, despite a .500-ish team. It has never been that low. We're 2 spots behind the Rockies!

Ownership has given up investing in the team at all. The 3 headed GM is adrift at sea. We were finally sellers for once, and I'm not sure we got a single player in return that will spend more than 150 games on a MLB roster. We don't seem to have an electric player in the system that we can look forward to.

It is really tough to have any sort of faith in the Cardinals right now. No one running the team seems to give a [expletive]. I'm not sure why any of the fans should either.

I always said that if I was angry, it was a good thing because I still cared. I'm as apathetic about the Cardinals as I can remember being in my life.

[Popeye_Card]

I read recently that in relationships, the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. That's precisely where I'm at with the organization, and I sense that is where a good chunk of the fanbase is.

[heyzeus]

I read recently that in relationships, the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. That's precisely where I'm at with the organization, and I sense that is where a good chunk of the fanbase is.

That’s right. The Dewitts have value engineered the franchise to a .500 outcome so precisely that there’s hardly anything to watch. Then their comments that if attendance declines they’ll just reduce spending gave the whole game away. Ownership/management no longer talks at all about the goal being the World Series. It’s about ensuring a guaranteed rate of return. We might as well be rooting for a railroad stock price.

[Radbird]

Had this convo with Zeus in Sunday’s GDT that fits into this discussion.

Man I remember when the Cardinals had a legit playoff/WS shot most years. We eroded so quickly.

I was there for the ‘70s, the transition decade between El Birdos and Whiteyball. But this is different as it entails the rebuilding all aspects of the organization from the top down (“top” meaning “ownership”). While optimistic about Bloom taking care of fixing the baseball side of things, I have a high degree of concern with ownership. Are we going into a downward spiral of limited budget Impacting payroll, the resulting mediocre play impacting attendance which results in lower revenue which means reduced budget yada yada yada before new ownership arrives.

I would love to see another golden era of Cardinals baseball but feels like it’s going to take more time to fix things than I have left.

100% Rad. I'm convinced we aren't going to get an actual commitment to trying for a WS win again until we get new ownership. This group is only interested in balancing its assets and liabilities to guarantee an x% rate or return, like it was the local power company.

We’ve never had an even decade without a WS title (‘20s, ‘40s, ‘60s, ‘80s, ‘00s) but I’m not seeing the 2020s keeping that string alive. And next year is the 100th anniversary of the first WS win and I’m sure there will be celebrations which will likely be held in a sparsely populated stadium.

The Cards have been a huge part of my life but I think Popeye is right about indifference vs hate. It’s where I’m at right now too. New ownership is the only solution and it can’t come fast enough.

[Popeye_Card]

Just to show how poor of businessman BDW III is, he seems to be actively destroying the most valuable intangible the Cardinals have as a franchise. For valuation purposes, the Cardinals have had an advantage over the Guardians, Reds, Pirates, etc. of the baseball world because of their strong fan loyalty. They've completely tanked it. No one is paying a premium for it now.

[cardsfantx]

[youtube][/youtube]You guys hit the nail on the head as usual

And what’s worse is they’re now losing 2 generations of fans. The adult ones who have WAY too many other options than watching a team that it’s clear to everyone the FO doesn’t care about. And then if they’re not watching? Then their little kids are not watching with them, to one day become fans themselves.

I wonder how much the strike looming after next season is factoring into their decisions as well. The owners seem determined to finally have a salary cap like all other sports do, and the MLBPA (the strongest union of all), seem dead set against even mentioning it. So after another year, there is another work stoppage, and one way or another, things are going to change….why invest a lot into something that you don’t know how it will function in a year?

And for the fans? I don’t see another McGwire/Sosa on the horizon (say what you want about steroids, but those guys saved baseball)

[heyzeus]

To be quite honest, if there's another lockout in 2027, I don't think my fandom survives it. I'll always love baseball, but my days as an active consumer of this product will probably be over.

The Simpsons was my end all/be all through the 90s and even early 2000s. I watched every episode religiously, and bought the DVDs. I own Simpsons books and even bought the half-assed albums they put out in the 90s. The show is still on today, somehow, and I literally never watch it. It's a shell of its former self. Sometimes I pull up on an old episode on Disney+ for old times' sake, but it's just no longer part of my regular life.

That's the trend baseball is heading for me. A thing I loved. The opposite of love is indifference. Thanks, Popeye!

[pioneer98]

Yes, the glacial indifference of the Cardinals ownership and front office is killing the franchise. The players still care and some play hard every day. Winn, Noot, Scott, Pozo, Arenado, etc. We need the front office and ownership to show that same motivation to win as the players. I mean, even if they don't have it, at least pretend? Maybe Bloom improves this situation but we'll see.

I think it's a bit much to say the Cardinals are "losing 2 generations of fans". They have a ways to go before that happens.