The St. Louis Cardinals used to be the gold standard of how an MLB organization should be run. The Cardinals, located in a small-mid market in St. Louis have been able to capture the second most World Series wins ever only behind the New York Yankees. They did it in a completely different way than the Yankees as well. 

While the Yankees were known to be able to go out and buy the best players and team that money could buy, the Cardinals took a different approach. Throughout their history, they have instead used something known as the “Cardinal Way.” Although not a commonly used term until 2011, the way the Cardinals have operated has followed the “Cardinal Way” long before. 

The “Cardinal Way” in its most basic form is to draft and develop players in their farm system and create homegrown talent that will eventually produce and help the Cardinals win at the Major League level. This process started back as early as the 1920s as former Cardinals manager, Branch Rickey, started the Cardinals minor league team. This decision led to the farm system that we see today in the MLB. The Cardinals farm system has delivered superstars for their organization from Bob Gibson and Stan Musial to Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols.

However, in recent years the Cardinals have not had the success they have grown accustomed to, and the “Cardinal Way” seems to be a thing of the past. This can be seen in the fact that they have had four top 30 prospects since 2019: Alex Reyes, Dylan Carlson, Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker. Those four have only combined for one all-star appearance. Two of them, Alex Reyes and Dylan Carlson, are no longer with the organization, and Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker have their own questions about whether they will blossom into the stars that they looked poised to become as prospects. 

The Cardinals also seem to have an issue with evaluating talent from within their organization. This is most notable in their moves to trade Randy Arozarena, Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara. Those three players have combined to make four all-star games and win numerous awards, most notably with Sandy Alcantara winning the 2022 CY Young award.

This trend started after the 2011 season, when Jeff Lunhow left the Cardinals organization to become the Astros GM. While with the Astros, he oversaw the development of Jose Altuve, George Springer, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and many others. Lunhow also took several other executives with him and this severely damaged the Cardinals long term. This can be seen as since 2012, the Cardinals have only drafted six all stars. They have also failed to win a World Series since Lunhow’s departure. 

This damaged the Cardinals greatly, and they never fully recovered. The Cardinals have dwindled into mediocrity over the last decade while the Astros with Luhnow’s players have skyrocketed to new heights winning two World Series in the same time frame (2017, 2022).

That is how the Cardinals organization has gotten to the current state it is in, but is the Cardinal way itself dead? The “Cardinal Way” is no longer a process in the Cardinals organization, but it is not dead in the MLB. 

Teams like the Astros have proven that the “Cardinal Way” can work, but the Cardinals are not utilizing it the correct way. The Rays also use the same philosophy of the “Cardinal Way” and they have seen sustained success for most of the 2010s and into the 2020s although still looking for a World Series. The “Cardinal Way” in theory can still work at the Major League level, and that the Cardinals management has just failed in development and talent evaluation.

There is some hope however for the Cardinals organization. They recently announced that they would be investing heavily in their minor league system and development process. This also comes along with news that starting next year, former Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom, will take over as GM for the Cardinals. During his time with the Red Sox, he rebuilt their farm system into one of the best in baseball and appears to have positioned the Red Sox for success in the future. He will aim to do that same process in St. Louis and try to revive the “Cardinal Way” to bring back their former glory. 

Only time will tell if they will be able to return to the glory days of the “Cardinal Way” or if there has been too much damage done to the Cardinals organization. It remains clear, however, that the “Cardinal Way” lives strong in other organizations despite being dormant in the current Cardinals organization.