$12.5 Million Ex-Cardinals MVP Predicted To Be All-Star Starter

The St. Louis Cardinals are playing much better baseball than anticipated this year. Instead of being bottom dwellers in the National League Central, they are only four games back of first place in the division.

This comes after St. Louis said goodbye to a few key pieces last offseason. One such piece was first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. The former NL MVP signed a one-year, $12.5 million contract with the New York Yankees.

However, after a bad 2024 season, Goldschmidt has turned things around with the Bronx Bombers.

Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter even predicts Goldschmidt will be the starting first baseman for the American League next month.

"The Yankees voting power is enough to predict Paul Goldschmidt starts over Jonathan Aranda (TB), Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Tyler Soderstrom and Spencer Torkelson in a deep field of AL first basemen. The 37-year-old ranks fifth in the AL batting race with a .323 average," wrote Reuter.

With the Yankees, Goldschmidt is slashing .323/.380/.471 with six home runs, 28 RBI, five stolen bases and an .850 OPS. The Cardinals acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks prior to the 2019 season.

He helped guide the Cardinals to four straight postseason appearances and even was the NL MVP in 2022. In addition to his MVP award, Goldschmidt is a seven-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove first baseman and five-time Silver Slugger.

His power isn't quite where it once was, but he is still a very productive hitter. The former Cardinal has a great chance to be named an All-Star for the eighth time.