The Athletic is doing something that’s created some old-fashioned entertainment for the baseball fans in their reading audience.
In his column that was part of the announcement, the Hall of Fame baseball writer Jayson Stark wrote this: “So here at The Athletic, we had a fun idea. Let’s pick a baseball All-Quarter Century Team. And guess what? We’re going to let you pick one, too.”
That’s right. It’s a poll with a ballot. Subscribers are invited to cast their votes for the All-Quarter Century Team. The ballot – starting with the 2000 season – is loaded with incredible, history-making names.
One player picked at each of the eight positions. One designated hitter will be selected. As for the pitching, voters can select their own five-man starting rotation and two relievers. Some of the choices are incredibly difficult.
The Athletic staff put together a great ballot – though it’s impossible to please everyone. In the comments section under Stark’s column, readers are going bananas. The debates are on full blast. The passion – with a dash of craziness – is part of the entertainment.
Stark cast the first ballot. Among other things he was ripped by one reader for choosing Albert Pujols at first base over Miguel Cabrera. Pujols was an obvious choice – there’s really nothing to discuss – but at least one Detroit Tigers fan was OUTRAGED. And you can probably imagine the spirited (and nasty) exchanges over Derek Jeter.
I love this kind of thing, and I’ve already voted. The poll is open until Tuesday, May 27 at 8 p.m. central time.
I planned to do a column today about how the Cardinals are showing good progress in an important area: developing homegrown position players. And even though Tampa Bay drafted pitcher Matthew Liberatore, much of his developmental time occurred after he was traded to St. Louis in January, 2000. Liberatore – like Adam Wainwright back in the day – was drafted by another team, spent considerable time in the Cardinals system, and made his major-league debut as a Cardinal.
And I’m going to visit this topic – player-development aspect – later on.
I’ll break this column into two parts.
PART ONE
First, I want to bring up something that takes us back in time, when the Cardinals had one of the best teams in baseball over many seasons.
There are retired or former Cardinals all over the ballot in The Athletic’s “All Quarter-Century Team” rollout. Here’s the list:
First base: Albert Pujols and Paul Goldschmidt. Goldy had great seasons for Arizona but had a strong six-year run in St. Louis and won the 2022 National League MVP Award as a Cardinal. Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals.
Catcher: Yadier Molina. He was drafted by the Cardinals. Like Pujols, Molina didn’t need much development time in the minors before making the jump to St. Louis.
Third base: Nolan Arenado and Scott Rolen. Arenado became a star in Colorado, and Rolen did the same in Philadelphia. But unless Arenado is traded, he’ll end up playing seven seasons for the Cardinals. As a Cardinal, Rolen won three Gold Gloves, was selected for two All-Star teams and finished fourth in the 2004 National League MVP voting. And over a three-season period Rolen was a valuable presence on STL teams that had two 100-win seasons, won two NL pennants, and won the 2006 World Series.
Left field: Matt Holliday, who was acquired from Colorado in July 2009, signed a long-term contract, and was an outstanding player for the Redbirds through 2017.
Center field: Jim Edmonds. His first season in St. Louis was 2000, so that’s the perfect entry point on this ballot. He’ll go down as one of the most underrated center fielders in MLB history. Carlos Beltran, who is on The Athletic ballot, had two very good seasons in St. Louis (2013-2014) and was an important talent on the 2013 team that won the NL pennant.
Starting pitchers: Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. I think we can claim both aces. The younger Carpenter was derailed by a shoulder injury in Toronto, signed with the Cardinals at a low cost, won the 2005 Cy Young award, and was the rotation ace of two World Series champions (2006, 2011.) Waino became a major-leaguer here, and ended up being the second-best starting pitcher in franchise history to Bob Gibson.
That prestigious list of talent has 10 names – and only Pujols and Molina were drafted and developed by the Cardinals. As for The Athletic voting, let’s be realistic here. Only Pujols and Molina will be prominent in the voting results at first base and catcher.
It would be a travesty if Pujols doesn’t win the vote at first base.
Jayson Stark wrote this:
“So why did I pick Albert? Oh, no particular reason … other than that he ranks first among this group in pretty much everything. We’re talking over 700 homers and 3,300 hits, 101.3 WAR (according to Baseball Reference) and the most total bases in history (6,211) by anyone not named Henry Aaron.
Want to argue that any of those other first basemen were greater? Sure. Go for it. But Pujols was the easiest pick, for me, on this whole ballot. #Legend
(Side note from Bernie: Pujols is the only player in major-league history to have 3,000-plus hits, 2,000-plus RBIs, 700+ home runs and win multiple MVP awards. But I’m sure we’ll see some idiots vote for Todd Helton.)
Molina has a chance to win out at catcher, but it actually requires a capable and thoughtful brain to understand why he’s No. 1. Or we could select catchers largely based on offense, which misses the point. Or we could vote for a catcher (Joe Mauer, Buster Posey) who moved to other positions. Molina didn’t give up his catching armor until the day he retired after the 2022 season.
Stark chose Molina over Mauer and Posey. and here's a take from the excellent baseball analyst Joe Sheehan:
“As I said, I’m not just using WAR here. Molina is 14 (WAR) behind Mauer, who walked into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Setting aside any framing considerations, I’m willing to give Molina credit for managing pitchers as well as any catcher in his era.
“Also not included in WAR is how Molina didn’t just throw runners out, he completely discouraged them from even trying. From 2004 through 2022, the Cardinals allowed 1451 stolen-base attempts. Every other team in baseball allowed at least 1400 stolen bases. Mostly, though, this is a catching argument. Molina caught more innings than Mauer and Posey combined. I don’t know that this is a slam-dunk case, but between the elimination of the running game and all those innings behind the plate, Molina is my choice.”
I must include what Stark wrote on this …
“Did I really just overlook Joe Mauer’s whole first-ballot Hall of Fame career? I did. Did I seriously then bypass Buster Posey, the face of a three-time World Series champion? I did that, too.
“I overlooked those men because I watched the impact Molina had on the Cardinals for nearly two decades. It was real. And it was spectacular.
“I ran this by a scout who once played in the big leagues. He didn’t even hesitate.
“ ‘It’s Yadi,” the scout said. ‘It’s got to be Yadi. End of story. I don’t care about the numbers. Yadi has all the nuanced stuff you can’t measure. Go look at all those Cardinals pitching staffs that got better when he was behind the plate. And the second he left, they have not been the same. So it’s Yadi. It’s got to be Yadi.’ ”
(Side note from Bernie: Thank goodness for smart people.)
A few other points:
1. Eight of the 10 Cardinals on The Athletic ballot came to St. Louis from other teams. Molina and Pujols are the exceptions. But as I said earlier, I think it’s fair to give the Cardinals credit for Carpenter and Wainwright. General manager Walt Jocketty took a chance on the Atlanta prospect (Waino) in the deal that sent outfielder J.D. Drew to Atlanta.
Carpenter’s career was at risk because of his shoulder problems, and he washed out of Toronto following the 2002 season. Jocketty gambled on Carpenter returning to health and was willing to pay the big righthander not to pitch in 2003 – setting aside that season to let Carp rehab.
It worked out GREAT. As a Cardinal Carpenter won that 2005 Cy Young award, finished 2nd or 3rd in the voting in two other seasons, was chosen for three All-Star teams, received MVP votes in three seasons, anchored two World Series champions, and set a franchise record for most career postseason wins (10).
2. The late Walt Jocketty was brilliant at his job. Among the 10 retired or former Cardinals on this list, Jocketty drafted Pujols and Molina, traded for Wainwright, Edmonds and Rolen, and signed Carpenter. Current president of baseball operations John Mozeliak acquired Holliday, Beltran, Goldschmidt and Arenado. But the Cardinals’ tremendous seasons from 2000 through 2006 were fueled by additions made from the outside by Jocketty.
3. Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. hired Jeff Luhnow to transform the team’s scouting, drafting and development model, and Luhnow did an exceptional job before becoming the GM at Houston. DeWitt believed the Cardinals had to do a much better job of producing homegrown talent instead of always having to rely on trades to win. The goal was payroll efficiency.
And while Mozeliak did trade for several major talents after replacing Jocketty, those great Cardinals teams from 2011 through 2015 were strongly supported by homegrown players produced by Luhhnow’s advanced draft-development model. The Luhnow way put the Cardinals on a new track, and DeWitt’s franchise matched what the “Moneyball” Oakland A’s were doing around the same time. And DeWitt supplemented the home-developed talent by giving Mozeliak the room to cherry-pick talent in free-agent moves or trades.
But as the afterlife of Luhnow’s impact faded, the Cardinals received less and less from their drafted-developed talent – especially the starting pitching. And this was a major reason behind their hideous 71-91 crash in 2023.
Which brings me to …
PART TWO
Over a fairly recent stretch of seasons, the Cardinals’ homegrown system began to dry up. Based on WAR, the 93-win 2022 team had a roughly even split of talent: a lot of players-pitchers had graduated from the minors to the major-league club, and the mix had a heavy dose of impact talent acquired from other teams. But that changed in 2023. Even though the Cardinals still had a good number of players who were developed within, they weren’t getting much WAR from them. Acquired players generated more than 60 percent of STL’s WAR in ‘23.
The 2024 season was a little more balanced, but some of the younger Cardinals were still trying – some struggling – to get established at the big-league level.
The 2025 campaign has shifted the other way. As of Friday morning, among the top nine leaders in position player WAR, seven are homegrown Cardinals. That list includes Brendan Donovan, Ivan Herrera, Victor Scott II, Masyn Winn, Alec Burleson, and Pedro Pages. And the club is still waiting for Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman to flourish.
On the pitching side, Liberatore leads the staff with 1.7 WAR. To repeat: I count him as a homegrown Cardinal because he spent considerably more time in the minors as a Cardinal, and he made his big-league debut as a Cardinal and is thriving this season. The St. Louis bullpen has four internally developed relievers including Ryan Helsley and Kyle Leahy – with Gordon Graceffo in line for a busier role.
I’m not trying to claim that all of these guys are stars, or will become stars. Several have that potential including Herrera, Winn, Donovan and Scott. Liberatore belongs in that category, Helsley was the National League’s best reliever in 2024, and Andre Pallante has been a solid starting pitcher since late May of 2024.
The only point I’m trying to make is noting how the Cardinals are finally starting to get more payoff from their drafted-developed players. And that value would rise higher if Walker and Gorman could start cranking some offense.
As is, the Cardinals are a much improved team despite cutting nearly $40 million from the payroll before the ‘25 season. And the homegrown players are an important factor in that.
This is nice timing, because the Cardinals have the pieces in place for a surprisingly good season. And Chaim Bloom is busy overseeing the rebuilding of the player development system, and he’s hired an excellent staff that is already making a difference.
After the season, Bloom takes over for Mozeliak as president of baseball ops. So the Cardinals are, in fact, building a bridge to the 2026 season and doing a lot of it with their own guys instead of relying too heavily on talent landed from the outside. If that trend continues, the Cardinals will be in good shape going forward beyond 2025.
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend.
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting. You can access all of his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on SportsHubSTL, catch him weekdays on the “Gashouse Gang” or “Redbird Rush Hour” on KMOX (104.1-FM and 1120-AM, and he is a regular guest of “Cardinal Territory” video show hosted by the great Katie Woo of The Athletic.