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They are, by definition and by their own admission, a conservative group when it comes to making moves. John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations, calls it "data-driven," he once gave the example of the Pedro Feliz deal that they felt they made in duress, and didn't want to repeat. That's their style, that's their business model, and they believe it has helped them more than it has hurt them, and the Cardinals point to the run of winning seasons and playoff berths as proof. That's fine. We have a stockpile of examples -- both superb and subpar -- to point to when it comes to how that conservative approach plays out. It means they don't make the play for Scherzer, but it does mean they make a trade for Arenado or Goldschmidt and then, in Goldschmidt's case, set the market in order to keep him. It does mean they don't trade O'Neill or Bader for Wheeler at the trade deadline, and it also does mean they don't trade O'Neill or Bader for a few months of Wheeler at the deadline. It means they're gobsmacked by the cost of trading for Adam Eaton and a reluctance to give up Flaherty when they can commit that extra year to Fowler and bring in the leadoff hitter/center fielder they want while also subtracting that player from their rival's lineup. 

By now we know what kind of moves they prefer to make and the moves they'll stop shy of making, and yes the loss of Arozarena and success of Arozarena informed decisions made later and still made today. We'll see if they pay off. It's possible to say that O'Neill certainly has, and that's an example of a commitment to playing young players the Cardinals made as a fallout from missing on Arozarena. 

I wonder if they'll be pushed there as the Dodgers continue to rule the NL and the New York Mets enter the realm of the biggest spenders. I'm not sure. We'll see how important winning the pennant becomes to the Cardinals or how much they valuable the tagline that they have the most World Series titles in the NL. If the Dodgers encroach on that, what will the Cardinals do to protect their brand? I think that is a fair question and it's one some member of the media will be asking in the years ahead.

Coming out of their run of three consecutive years without the postseason, the Cardinals felt there were two things they had to do: One, become more innovative, particularly with their offense, and reclaim some of the edges they lost to other teams. They felt they had fallen behind and were no longer a leader in areas, they were lagging behind. Two, spend more. The broadcast rights agreement is staggered and rising to fund a larger payroll. The pandemic and no ticket sales in 2020 to go with the shortened season and reduced revenue put a wrinke/detour in that plan. They're coming out of it now. Full season to sell now. We'll see if that puts them back on track to raise the payroll in the coming years as they had scripted for these years before 2020 led to a rewrite for many teams.

First, Cot's is an excellent resource, but even its number is off because, if you look closely at how the number is calculated, every player with less than three years of service time has a salary of $700,000. That's not going to be the case for Edman, who won a Gold Glove Award, and came a few days shy of being arbitration eligible. The Cardinals have an in-house formula that uses publicly available WAR to determine the raise above the minimum for players, and there are several players who will receive more than that.

So, we can estimate what those will look like and based on reporting, research, and some estimates the Cardinals are going to come in with an opening day payroll of around $150 million, maybe close to $152 million. Pujols' salary gives it a bump, too.

That's up from $137.6 million last year.

And that was a stepback, as advertised, due to the zero ticket sales of 2020, and that means this year's payroll, while up from last year, is not what they had originally budgeted before 2020 arrived.

I did not include the signing bonuses. I did include the money being paid Fowler to play for the Angels. I did include players on the injured list. I did not include Arenado's salary for 2021 because what the Cardinals owe him is all deferred from that season, and the Rockies handled the rest of his salary, so the net cost IN 2021 of Arenado's 2021 season was zero. That bill will be due later.

Onto the other question you asked. Yes. In person. And yes checks out. He has the athleticism to be Kris Bryant-like in his ability to play the outfield as well as infield positions. Would not surprise anyone who has watched him play if there's a corner outfield work in his future.