***Official 2024 STL Cardinals Thread ***

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Jordan Walker is one of the few things the Cardinals have gotten right.

He’s not a big leaguer right now. At all. And letting him continue to hit 50% of his balls into the dirt would’ve been an insane waste.

They’ve done all they can do. The rest is on Walker. He can grow up and earn his way to St. Louis (or out of St. Louis through reviving his trade value) or he can languish away in Memphis and then ride the bench for 4 years.

The Cardinals aren’t remotely to blame for Walker. His failings are on him.

the Cardinals will still have 5 years of control when he gets to the show, right?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

the Cardinals will still have 5 years of control when he gets to the show, right?

With as long as he spent in Memphis last year, they might still have 6.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

With as long as he spent in Memphis last year, they might still have 6.

He had 149 days of service time coming into 2024, according to fangraphs. Its 172 days for a full year, so he needs 23 days this year to break a full year. Cardinals opened on April 4 and sent him down on the 24th. So he still needs 3 days, if I'm not missing something.

I have to imagine he'll be traded long before he reaches 6 years of service time, probably before he even reaches 1 year. If he continues to suck in AAA he's going to start the year there next year and thats going to trigger his final option. Then his trade value will plummet, because if he still doesnt get it he'll have to either be on the MLB roster or waived and you arent going to waive a prospect with that potential before you trade him. We aren't talking about Estevan Florial here.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by jd1020

He had 149 days of service time coming into 2024, according to fangraphs. Its 172 days for a full year, so he needs 23 days this year to break a full year. Cardinals opened on April 4 and sent him down on the 24th. So he still needs 3 days, if I'm not missing something.

I have to imagine he'll be traded long before he reaches 6 years of service time, probably before he even reaches 1 year. If he continues to suck in AAA he's going to start the year there next year and thats going to trigger his final option. Then his trade value will plummet, because if he still doesnt get it he'll have to either be on the MLB roster or waived and you arent going to waive a prospect with that potential before you trade him. We aren't talking about Estevan Florial here.

That's by fair and away the biggest mistake the organization made in bringing him north in 2023 - they started burning through his option years.

It was just so dumb. But developmentally, it shouldn't STILL matter. Because again - he got to even footing by the last half of the season last year. He'd found some form to build on.

And instead regressed. Badly. To the point that he's not even really an asset in AAA right now. And the organization isn't rewarding that with a call-up (and are only getting criticized for it).

They'll probably end up forcing him into the lineup sometime in 2025 and into 2026 to either sink or swim. And ultimately that's going to be after more than 2 seasons worth of ABs in AAA to establish who he is.

So the options thing will likely sort itself out to some extent. But he needs to start developing.