Getty Images The 2024 St. Louis Cardinals
It’s been a rough start to 2024 for the St. Louis Cardinals, who are in last place in the National League Central Division. The team began the year 15-23 through their first 38 games, leaving everyone from players to management to ownership searching for answers.
Following a 71-91 finish (last in the NL Central) a year ago, the Redbird fanbase has gotten restless. At the same time, third-year manager Oliver Marmol and longtime team president John Mozeliak have come under intense scrutiny from Cardinal Nation.
In a recent interview with Martin Kilcoyne of St. Louis radio station KTRS, team president Bill DeWitt III discussed the team’s current situation, and where he sees the franchise headed in the immediate future.
DeWitt Speaks in Detail
During the conversation, Dewitt, the son of 82-year-old Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr., spoke openly about the team’s woes and what solutions the front office is considering to remedy them. He also acknowledged the frustrations of the fans.
“[Frustration] is definitely high,” DeWitt said. “You know, we’re in last place in the Central. We all believe – even our fans – that this is a better team than this. You just look at it, there’s some bright spots on the team… I think the approach to our offseason pitching issues, which were the key problem last year, largely worked out. I like our bullpen. You know, so there’s some positives there.
Early on, a lot of the guys aren’t hitting at the same. And, we’ve lost some close games and some weird games. So, I remain optimistic but concerned. I don’t think it’s panic button now. But it’s like, ‘Come on guys, we’re better than this, and we should be able to get back into this race’.”
The 56-year-old team president also stated that after a generation of success, it’s understandable why the fans are having trouble accepting the team’s failures.
“I think it’s just the reality of pro sports where it’s ‘what have you done for me lately?’ for the most part,” he stated. “If you look at any given season, that’s the most important one. Not last season, not next season. It’s this season that’s the most important season right now. And if you’re not in a competitive situation, you’re going to hear it, and I have no problem with that.”
“I try not to look at all of it, but I try to be aware of it. We all are… It’s no fun when you’re getting negative comments.”
Will the Cardinals Expand Their Payroll?
One of the areas of concern for many Cardinal fans is the team’s payroll. According to FanGraphs, the franchise is spending approximately $181 million on player salaries in 2024. In comparison, the New York Yankees will spend a little over $290 million.
As a mid-market team, the Redbirds will never match the figures of teams from New York or Los Angeles. Still, the faithful following feels they need to open their wallet a little more if they plan to compete for a World Series title. DeWitt addressed this issue directly and defended ownership’s financial commitment.
The proud St. Louis fans I talk to or interact with online are somewhere from deflated to irate to hopeless.
Column on the state of the Cardinals and the state of St. Louis:
“If you look at the revenue rankings in MLB, for the most part – with a few rare exceptions – your ranking in revenue translates into your ranking in payroll,” he asserted. “And that’s been true of the Cardinals for many, many years. We have been sort of around 10th out of 30th… and that’s where our payroll’s been. And so it matches for a reason. So, we try to drive additional revenue in every way that we can, so we can drive payroll. Because we know that there’s a correlation between payroll and winning.”
In terms of the team’s overall strategy for improving the on-field product, DeWitt says the team isn’t looking to go into a short-term drought to gain long-term success.
“It depends on where you are in the cycle of competing. We don’t want to tank for four or five years, to get the draft picks [to re-build] and the Astros did it. Or the Cubs did it, or whomever. ”
“We’d like to be competitive every year. We’ve shown we can do that if we make the right decisions and go from there.”