The St. Louis Cardinals have several names on the payroll for 2025 that will likely have to be eliminated this upcoming offseason.
According to Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, the front office won’t focus on building the best big-league roster possible but will instead prioritize fixing the club’s broken player development system.
Payroll needs to be reduced, which could jeopardize multiple pitchers’ contracts for next season. Fortunately, a fan favorite might not have to worry about leaving St. Louis.
“The Cardinals could bring back (Kyle) Gibson for $12 million but doing so would almost guarantee the club trades either Miles Mikolas (due $17.6 million in 2025) or Steven Matz (due $12.5 million),” The Athletic’s Katie Woo wrote Wednesday morning when discussing St. Louis’ offseason agenda.
Gibson posted an 8-8 record with a 4.24 ERA, 151-to-68 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .251 batting average against and a 1.35 WHIP in 169 2/3 innings pitched for the Cardinals this season.
The 37-year-old gained St. Louis fans’ trust from a respectable 2024 campaign in which he was a reliable back-of-the-rotation starter and a community member.
A University of Missouri graduate, Gibson resides just outside of St. Louis with his family during the offseason. He’s hopeful the Cardinals will pick up his 2025 club option.
Losing Mikolas or Matz to retain Gibson for another season isn’t a bad deal. The former is signed to a contract that significantly overstates his true value and the latter has been incredibly unreliable — injuries have somewhat derailed his career.
It would be wise to bring back a well-respected veteran such as Gibson to help lead next season’s youth-laden roster. Hopefully, St. Louis can find a way to dump Mikolas’s contract elsewhere to ensure room for the Mizzou alumni in next year’s rotation.
