MLB Writer Suggests Cardinals Will Miss Fan Favorite Slugger

The St. Louis Cardinals seemingly kicked off their rebuild by letting veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt walk in free agency. Goldschmidt soon signed a one-year deal with the New York Yankees and has been excellent ever since.

The ex-Cardinals slugger is among the best in baseball in batting average and OPS while eyeing an All-Star appearance again in 2025.

FanSided's Mark Powell recently suggested the Cardinals would come to miss Goldschmidt, but it wasn't strictly because of how well he's playing this season. Instead, Powell suggested the Cardinals would miss Goldschmidt's leadership the most.

"The Cardinals can overcome missing out on Goldschmidt's swan song. What they might miss the most, however, is his locker room leadership," Powell wrote. "After Goldschmidt's new team, the New York Yankees, lost in embarrassing fashion to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night, the 37-year-old first baseman said all the right things.

"Back in March, the Cardinals spoke fondly of Goldschmidt to the media, while also acknowledging this very theme – that it'd be tough to replace him in the clubhouse. The young Cardinals pitched a couple of leaders to be their new clubhouse voice, including Arenado and Brendan Donovan."

Having a veteran voice like Goldschmidt doesn't show up on the box score, but it's invaluable. The Cardinals have some leaders on their team, but nobody like Goldschmidt.

While they haven't felt the impact of the loss yet, there's a chance they do when the dog days of summer begin to hit the team pretty hard. St. Louis is set to play 28 games in 29 days, which will really test the roster and coaching staff.