Mozeliak says Contreras will be Cardinals’ new first baseman, but there are other options
When the St. Louis Cardinals discuss their commitment to providing opportunities to young players in the coming season, there is perhaps nowhere that will display that intent more strongly than first base.
Paul Goldschmidt’s pending departure in free agency left incumbency at the position wide open, though there were several obvious candidates who will receive at least some opportunity to secure a future for themselves in the infield.
The Cardinals, for the moment, are leaning on experience.
President of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters in San Antonio at the annual MLB general manager meetings that Willson Contreras would move to first base for the 2025 season. Contreras, who has three years remaining on the free agent deal he signed prior to 2023, has made 11 career appearances at first base totaling 51 ⅓ innings. He has not appeared there since 2019, when he made one start at first for the Chicago Cubs.
Contreras, who turns 33 early next season, was on pace for a career best offensive year in 2024 before being derailed by two freak injuries. His left forearm was fractured on a swing on May 7, and after returning faster than expected in late June, saw his season end on August 24 after fracturing his middle finger on a hit by pitch.
With three years and more than $50 million remaining on his free agent contract, Contreras was one of several veteran players whom the Cardinals could have sought to move this winter in their attempt to shed payroll. For now, however, they have decided that this is the role he fits in their advertised reset.
Five players took time in the field at first base for the Cardinals in 2024, though three of those five (Carpenter, Luken Baker and Pedro Pagés) combined for only 14 innings. Goldschmidt started 148 games at first and handled 1313 of the club’s 1444 defensive innings there. The change will not be an insignificant one and will require flexibility and patience.
Alec Burleson’s 13 starts at first amounted to the second highest total for any Cardinal last season, and as the offseason gets underway, he is perhaps the leading candidate to hold down the bag for the greatest number of innings next season.
Burleson’s outstanding first half appeared to be the result of a hitter maximizing a consistent opportunity and growing into the kind of offensive player the Cardinals believed could help anchor their lineup. In short, his first half was proof of concept for how St. Louis is looking at 2025, though ultimately the concept did not hold.
Burleson hit .288 with 17 home runs in the first half, and while his swing-first approach will rarely result in strong on base numbers, he pushed his OBP over .320 and his slugging percentage to near .500. That is a more than playable contribution, especially from the strong side of a platoon.
In the second half, though, his numbers cratered. He would hit only four additional homers and saw his batting average and on base percentage plummet, even as his walk rate ticked up. A great deal of that can be chalked up to an atrocious September in which he did not homer in 95 plate appearances and hit only .202. There is something to be said about the grind of a first big league season with everyday playing time, but it’s Burleson’s inability to close strong which has in large part left the door open.
Baker, meanwhile, continued to demolish Triple-A pitching without much indication that he can translate those skills to the big leagues, albeit in very sparse duty. His skills around the bag are also more developed than Burleson’s, largely as a result of age and experience. Baker has four years of experience at Triple-A and will turn 28 in March; whatever he has to offer the Cardinals is unlikely to be the result of development as much as exposure and opportunity, but he now finds himself stuck behind Contreras, at best, on the wrong side of a platoon.
Throughout the summer, as a result of Contreras’ injuries, the Cardinals had the opportunity to provide extended playing time to both Iván Herrera and Pedro Pagés. In doing so, they grew fully confident in Herrera as a hitter and Pagés as a receiver; each has strides to make on the other side of the ball, but both are capable big league catchers whose presence contributed to a small roster jam. Herrera, now out of options, must be on the big league roster. Pagés, with full trust from the pitching staff, has seemingly earned his spot through that trust.
Herrera in particular might otherwise have found himself as a trade candidate this winter. Instead, the prospect who was long presumed to be the heir apparent to Yadier Molina now ascends into that role with a minor delay.
This is not the first time, of course, that the Cardinals have decided to move Contreras from behind the plate. Barely a month into the 2023 season the club announced he would spend time primarily as the designated hitter and even flirted with the corner outfield before restoring him to his previous role. Now, after a second season half lost to injury, the Cardinals appear to be committing to a permanent removal.
The positional makeover is a direct microcosm of the changes the Cardinals plan to make throughout the system. Where once there was stability there will now be flexibility and opportunity, and from that, they hope an obvious solution will emerge. That would be consistent with a reset. Stepping outside the system nudges toward rebuild territory, and they remain steadfast in their refusal to embrace that possibility.
