Join baseball writer Derrick Goold for his live Cardinals chat

There's no need for some rambling preamble to today's chat.

Cardinals are a few weeks away from spring training in Jupiter, Florida.

They've yet to make a substantive move to add to their roster for 2025, nor have they really advertised any interest in doing so.

You've got questions.

I'll do my best to provide answers.

At the very least, I can promise to type fast.

Apologies for the delay getting set up.

Away we go.

(As always there will be a transcript below this window that allows you read the chat like any other article here at StlToday.) Craig: Are we actually close to a resolution on Bregman, opening up a window to trade Arenado, or is the conjecture about the Astros trading Pressly to free up salary wishful thinking? DG: Why not both? It does appear like there's some a fork in the road arriving for Bregman.

Reports out of Houston suggest that they see signing him as a "longshot." I've been told a few times that Boston has a short-term offer to him that is similar to other deals Boras clients have signed so that they reach free agency again in a year or two.

The Boston Globe had a similar report.

If Bregman goes to Boston, that would eliminate one team we know would be a fit for Arenado, and leave the Cardinals looking elsewhere for that fit.

I think that qualifies as a little bit of both.

Movement for sure.

Toward resolution for sure.

Wishful thinking that it hastens things, for sure.

Cardinal Madness: Could the trade of Pressly open the door for Helsley to Houston? DG: That has not been anything I've heard or been mentioned.

Not in January.

The Cardinals have been clear about Helsley and they've been clear to Helsley about their plans.

jm: Do you have any idea how other teams are viewing the Cardinals lack of doing anything and being stuck in the middle of a sticky situation? DG: I do.

Empathetically, mostly.

Some are enjoying it after years of seeing the Cardinals avoid it.

Cardinal Madness: So is there a chat today? DG: There is indeed! Jim fan since 64: Just a comment....

not a question....I enjoyed your podcast last week about the wages or salaries in baseball.

I believe you and Jeff helped me understand a few things about the different thoughts about a salary cap and or a salary floor.

I did like the thought of using draft picks as a way to compensate smaller market teams that can't or won't spend money for the free agents.

Thanks again, as always enjoy the chats.

DG: Thank you for giving the podcast a listen.

I really enjoyed that conversation with Jeff Gordon.

DT 2024: MAGA!!!!!!!!!!! ICE is coming!!! Choke on it! DG: Welcome to the baseball chat.

Winter is already here.

Spring is coming.

Cardinal Madness: Bees!? DG: How my parents reacted to my report card? It's going to be that kind of chat, is it? U R ON THE INTERNET BUDDY: Who are some potential candidates to replace Manfred? DG: There are several members of his staff that come to mind.

Dan Halem and Morgan Sword are names to know if you're interested in the future of the commissioner's office for MLB.

Ken: Good morning Derrick.

How long do you think it will take for this team to return to sustainable success.

DG: Got to be honest with this: We'll know a lot more in the next 60 days.

That's not ideal, I know.

If they start the season with Nolan Arenado, then they're closer to contending in the NL Central than if they don't.

On paper.

If they get the performances they expect from Walker, Nootbaar, and one other young player (Burleson, Gorman, TBD), then the offense has the chance to be what it wasn't last year, and what it wasn't last year completely cost them a shot at the playoffs.

That puts them closer to contending in the immediate future.

Sustainable? They're going to have to make strides with pitching, with young pitching, and it seems like they're within 12 months of that, helped along by the draft.

A conservative estimate? They have blips of contending, moments where they will maybe catch lightning, but the sustained contending ...

I want to be honest here.

I'm not sure how they avoid the sine wave of contending, downturn, retool, contending, downturn, retool.

That seems to be the new reality they're entering, especially if they tie spending to the rise of draft picks and contending means lower picks, etc.

bob: How much of a performance-based leash do Mikolas & Matz have with McGreevy and Matthews (and maybe Robberse, Graceffo, Hence, and Roby) ready to step into the big league rotation? If one of them has 4.75 ERA on June 1, will the team figure out a way to take them out of the rotation? i.e., move them to the pen, give them a release, send them to the gentleman's IL for the rest of the season? DG: In your scenario how good are the young pitchers? Better than the starters you mentioned or ...

just young and they benefit, in your opinion, from not being the starters who mentioned, and that's the only prerequisite.

Let's pick this apart: First, longtime chatters will know the use of "leash" is to avoided, and I appreciate if you'll do that.

Second, there isn't some litmus test ERA, and if it is it's not going to be 4.75.

Average ERA this past season was 4.08, and there weren't many pitchers who had the innings to qualify for the ERA race with an ERA higher than 4.75.

Replacement level, per se, is going to be higher than that, and a team isn't going to make a decision based on ERA as much as other factors.

Fourth, there is not gentleman's IL, and MLB has really become more proactive when it comes to suspicious use of the IL.

There are requirements and proof that must be provided in many cases.

Now, pitchers are always dealing with something, sure, but the activities of teams caught the attention of their rivals and the commissioner, so that process has improved over the past several years, just FYI.

Yes, I skipped over third.

Third, regarding your reference to June 1 as some kind of date, well, this might be where you climb back aboard this answer.

The Cardinals go into spring training open to the notion that McGreevy may outpitch other candidates for the rotation and force his way into that.

That is possible, and they'd be cool with it.

If Mathews does that, they'll likely look at a different kind of rotation than a five-man look, but they're not closing off that possibility either.

If the young starters make their case and the Cardinals want to get them innings and commit to them -- as they've said this year is about -- then they're going to explore trades for the veterans during spring.

As mentioned in Sunday's Post-Dispatch, that is part of the plan: If they have depth there and a young pitcher they want in the rotation, they'll look to trade a veteran at a time when teams are aching for innings.

U R ON THE INTERNET BUDDY: What odds would you place on MLB experiencing a work stoppage in 2027? DG: High at this point.

Expansion could come to the rescue, though.

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