I’m always amazed at how often I see comments like “the Mets should follow the Cardinals model” as if we can just snap our fingers and voila.
What ever model Sandy Alderson decided he was going to use, that process began in October of 2010 and I hope we start seeing some results in terms of winnings seasons. And sooner rather than later.
The St. Louis Cardinals are the Gold Standard. Since 2000 they have been to the post season 11 times, won eight division titles, and two World Series. They do everything right from the top on down.
They are not afraid to be bold, signing Matt Holliday to a seven year $120 million deal, and last season after trying and failing to acquire Troy Tulowitzki from the Rockies, they switched to Plan B and gave Jhonny Peralta a four year, $53 million deal. He may just be the MVP of the team right now. They signed free agent Carlos Beltran in 2012 and he helped lead them to the post season twice despite them losing Albert Pujols. It was a two year deal until their younger options were ready. Then they collected an additional first round pick when Beltran declined their qualifying offer. Brilliant.
Their player development people are the best in baseball and three key players on this playoff team; Kolten Wong, Michael Wacha, and Marco Gonzales are from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 drafts. All three first rounders and all three already in the major leagues in the thick of a championship run. Their first round picks almost always hit, it’s incredible the jewels they find and how well these raw prospects are then developed and ready to play the game the right way. The Cardinal Way.
At the trade deadline they didn’t stand pat after Wacha went down with an injury, instead they went out and acquired John Lackey from the Red Sox. After Matt Carpenter‘s breakthrough 2013 season, the Cards signed him to a six year, $53 million extension.
In the National League there’s the St. Louis Cardinals and then there’s everyone else. They rarely make bad decisions. They genuinely embrace their fan base. They build a team perfectly suited to their ballpark and not the other way around. And there’s a pride and swagger on the field that is hard to come by.
So please, let’s dispense with all the “we should use the Cardinals model” mantras. To do that we need owners who embrace the team’s history and are committed to excellence. We need a front office who’s not afraid to be bold and can do a better job in free agency than they’ve shown thus far. We need a team built to succeed in our ballpark which thrives on pitching, speed, contact hitting and defense. We need a manager who holds players accountable and doesn’t cultivate a culture of losing. And we need money that we don’t have. You want to be like the Cardinals, you can start by fixing all of those things first. Then we can go from there.
