Paul Goldschmidt, New York Yankees | Harry How/GettyImages

The St. Louis Cardinals’ offseason did not exactly go to plan. With John Mozeliak entering his final campaign and Chaim Bloom propped up as his successor, the expectation was that St. Louis would finally embrace a youth movement and reshuffle the roster.

That meant letting Paul Goldschmidt walk, and understandably so. Goldy’s production plummeted in 2024 and, well, he’s 37 years old. Keeping him around on a one-year deal never really fit the new timeline.

Except… St. Louis really didn’t do much else to embrace this so-called youth movement. Nolan Arenado stuck around. Now 33-year-old Willson Contreras is playing first base instead. And, in the most unexpected plot twist yet, the Cardinals look like a real Wild Card threat in the National League. This is still an expensive, veteran roster attempting to win games. They could probably use Goldschmidt’s production.

Now with the New York Yankees, Goldy’s production has swung back in the right direction. He’s batting a crisp .290 with an .826 OPS, logging seven home runs, 31 RBI and five stolen bases across 257 at-bats. He also leads the All-Star voting at first base in the American League.

In first release of All-Star Game voting results, Paul Goldschmidt leads AL 1st base.

The #Cardinals who crack the top 10 at their positions: Contreras (8), Donovan (4), Arenado (9), Winn (10), and Herrera (7 at DH). No outfielders crack top 20.

— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) June 16, 2025

Paul Goldschmidt’s Yankees All-Star voting rubs salt in Cardinals wound

Goldschmidt is polling first in All-Star fan voting at first base in the American League. Is there Yankees bias there? Probably. He’s not outperforming Tampa Bay Rays star Jonathan Aranda, for example, who sits in third in the polls with a .319 average and .902 OPS. Detroit’s Spencer Torkelson and Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. both have strong cases to slot ahead of Goldschmidt as well.

And yet, Goldy’s numbers stack up well, and there’s something to be said for anchoring a top-ranked offense on a team with the second-best record in a cutthroat division. Aaron Judge is obviously the head of the snake in the Bronx, but for a lineup with a lot of volatile bats, Goldschmidt’s consistency has been absolutely essential. He is a real stabilizing force at the plate — not to mention a top defender at his position and a tremendous leader in the locker room.

Of course the Cards would be better off with Goldschmidt on the roster. Contreras has fared well enough at first base, but moving him off of catcher was never an ideal setup. Moreover, St. Louis just does not have much pop in the lineup these days. That Cardinals team is relying a lot on an overperforming pitching staff and a lights-out defense, which can only get you so far once October rolls around — assuming St. Louis can even last until October.

Cardinals probably regret letting Paul Goldschmidt walk

Considering how important Goldschmidt was to the Cardinals clubhouse, both as a player and a leader, it’s hard to believe St. Louis feels good about how things transpired. His one-year, $12.5 million contract is a bargain-bin discount.

If St. Louis wasn’t going to meaningfully shake up the roster and really commit to a new team-building vision, then what was the point of letting the 2022 MVP and the heart and soul of your locker room leave? There ain’t one. Goldschmidt could be providing sage wisdom to St. Louis’ scant young core and elevating a mediocre lineup in a competitive National League landscape. Instead, he’s doing those things in the Bronx, on a perennial big-market contender that does not need him nearly as much.

The Yankees will replace Goldschmidt in a heartbeat once he’s gone, probably with a glitzy free agent — or just with their ascending 26-year-old, Ben Rice, who will need to face left-handed pitching on a regular basis eventually. Goldschmidt’s departure left a noticeable fissure in St. Louis. One can’t help but think about what could have been…