COVID-19 is responsible for St. Louis Cardinals demise as a competitive baseball team

Whether or not Major League Baseball plays a game in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic will likely affect the St. Louis Cardinals for years to come.

A few weeks ago, it seemed that the Cardinals were the most likely to trade for disgruntled Colorado Rockies slugger Nolan Arenado if he is traded. But, ticket sales and concessions are major contributions of the Cardinals revenue. More than teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs who play in larger television markets and therefore receive a lot more money in their local broadcasting contracts.

St. Louis doubled down on its in-person revenue by gambling on the construction and expansion of Ballpark Village. Now, not only does Busch Stadium sit empty. So do all the restaurants and shops across the street. With an uncertain present and an uncertain future, I just can’t imagine the Cardinals have another gamble in them. The St. Louis front office doesn’t run deficits, so it’s more likely that the team will roll back its finances than that will make a bold, win now type of move.

This should be a time when the Cardinals are ready to turn the page on some questionable financial deals of the past. Brett Cecil’s contract is expiring, the team’s commitment to Mike Leake will finally be off the books. Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina’s large contracts are up and could be either reduced in the future or allowed to expire altogether. There would have been room on the books — had the revenue not dried up.

Instead of ramping up, I’m concerned the Cardinals might be in a position where they have to cut costs. Might that be the reason Yadier Molina wouldn’t finish his career in St. Louis? I could see if he wants another substantial contract that would pay him for two years as a starter. Why pay a guy in his late thirties $20 million a year when you could pay Andrew Knizner one-fortieth of that amount? What about Kolten Wong? In 2021 he has a player option for $12.5 million. It would be a shame as he has finally arrived as the player the front office has long imagined he could be that the team might be forced to trade him away — I can’t believe it would just decline his option and get nothing — and play Tommy Edman at second base next year.

Those are certainly choices that the Cardinals could be forced to make because of the pandemic that they never would have chosen if the money flowed like it usually does.

Will there be a 2020 MLB season?

Rumors abound that some major league owners would rather see the 2020 baseball season canceled than play games without full ballparks. I can’t say I blame them because they’re going to lose money every game that’s played. And I’m not talking about making less money. I’m talking about actually having a negative cash flow. If the average MLB team spends 60 percent of its revenue on player salaries, paying players 50 percent of what they’ll usually get is impossible when teams stand to lose all of their ticket sales, all of their concession sales, half of their television contracts, the vast majority of their ballpark advertising and other things.

Regardless of what happens with the soon-to-expire collective bargaining agreement between players and owners, I won’t be surprised if some teams, including St. Louis, drastically alter their willingness to make massive financial commitments to players as they try to dig out of the financial crater that is 2020. We may have seen the last 10-year, third of a billion-dollar deal that we’re going to see for a very long time, if we ever see it again.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.