Every year, or at least every year since 2012, we’ve taken some time after the season was over to look at the past 162 games through the lens of the players that played them (and the management that was in charge of them). Last year, the Exit Interview series spent less time digging into splits and finding numerical oddities and more time reflecting on the player and their season. It was a style that seemed to work so we’re going to bring it back again this year. The legendary cardinalsgifs is back to bring us excellent series art, so it’s all downhill after you see that!
Player: Paul Goldschmidt
Stats: 154 G, 654 PA, 70 R, 33 2B, 1 3B, 22 HR, 65 RBI, 11 SB, .245/.302/.414, 1.3 bWAR
Statcast: 10.7% barrel, 34.3% sweet spot, 111.4 max exit velocity, .310 wOBA, .333 xwOBA, 26.5 K%, 7.2 BB%
Grade: D
This is not the way Goldschmidt’s Cardinal career was supposed to end. It was supposed to end 2-3 years from now, after he passed 400 home runs and hopefully had a deep postseason run. It wasn’t supposed to end with a subpar season that led to his contract not being picked up. Give the front office credit, they resisted the spring training extension for Goldy that seemed almost inevitable and would have looked like a huge self-own now. You hate to say that age just caught up with him quickly, especially since there is still a good bit of red on the Baseball Savant page, but when you watched Goldschmidt take pitches right down the middle and then swing at pitches well outside, you would be forgiven for wondering whether his eyes were up to the challenge of being a major league baseball player.
Goldy was a little more like himself in the second half, posting a .271/.319/.480 line and hitting nine homers in 250 at bats. We’re used to streaky Goldschmidt but this season the highs were much shorter and the lows were much longer. It’s also questionable whether it was a wise idea to run him out there almost every day when he was struggling so much. It’s a balancing act for sure, given who he is and how limited the time left under contract was, plus it wasn’t like he was necessarily blocking a huge bat, but I do wonder if Goldschmidt wouldn’t have been served better with at least a day off a week. It was just sad to see such a drop off for a guy that has meant a lot to the Cardinals over the last few years.
What’s in store for 2025: While there was at least some thinking Goldschmidt might look to retire, he’s said he wants to play again and it seems likely that someone will give him that opportunity, especially if they believe the second half is an indication he still has something left. I would expect his days of being an everyday first baseman are probably over but his defense is strong and the bat might still have some thump. It wouldn’t be surprising if a team like the Yankees (or maybe the Mets if Pete Alonso leaves) takes a look at him. Given history, he’ll probably have a breakout season, but with the Cardinals changing direction, there’s no real case for bringing him back.
