In 2024, Paul Goldschmidt will begin his sixth season in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.
The powerful first cushion player will be in the last year of the five-year contract extension that he signed with the Missouri team in 2019. This agreement ultimately earned him the tidy sum of $130 million.
Even though Goldschmidt and the Cardinals have expressed interest in negotiating a new agreement, team management does not want to make it happen before the opening of the next season.
Asked about this, Cards president of baseball operations John Mozeliak was categorical and his position will not change.
The Cardinals have things to make up for this season and Mozeliak will wait for the situation to improve before considering the contract extension of a 36-year-old player. Yes, the fans and the club's upper management want to see Goldschmidt finish his career in St. Louis, but the team will have to demonstrate its desire to return to a level of play that results in victories before anything else.
Remember that the team, which had accustomed us to success in the past, finished last in its division at the end of the last campaign. The core of the team will remain essentially the same despite several changes on the mound and the veterans will have to give more.
Goldschmidt is an integral part of this core and he will have to raise his game a notch in order to hope to remain with the team for a few more years.
Basically, the team's plans are no different with regard to Goldschmidt and both parties want a medium-term agreement (we are talking here about less than five years), the only difference is that this new pact will not come to fruition until the first pitch of 2024.
Yes, the two clans will talk between now and then in order to lay the foundations so that the Delaware native is not tempted to assert his autonomy at the end of the 2024 season. In the event that the team stalls during the first months of the new season, perhaps Goldschmidt will not be inclined to see his future within this team.
Waiting to see if this lineup can perform again benefits both parties, because the team's management won't want to commit to another five years and their first baseman will want to look elsewhere if ever (this which is unlikely) the Cardinals couldn't do it.
In the event that the team is no longer in the race at mid-season, Goldschmidt would then become a highly prized bargaining chip, even if he has a concrete clause on this subject.
This team has too much talent to relive such a nightmare. This 71-91 record is a mistake and things will return to normal in 2024.
