THE St. Louis Cardinals might be the most depressing team in baseball right now. John Mozeliak is entering the final season of a historic front office career and his mandate is clear: strip this roster down to its studs and rebuild it. This is not how St. Louis fans wanted him to go out, but the last few seasons have been too disappointing. All illusions of fighting against the current core are through the window.

Mozeliak is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Most of his best players are either too old (Sonny Gray) or too expensive (and former, Nolan Arenado) to return reasonable value in a trade. So rather than stockpiling prospects and strengthening the pipeline, the Cards could end up working in some sort of middle ground.

The biggest departure this offseason will almost certainly be former MVP Paul Goldschmidt, who is expected to hang on to a contender, most likely on a one- or two-year deal. There’s a good reason to keep him in St. Louis if the price is right, but Goldy’s production declined last season and, at 37, he doesn’t have much motivation to stay with a losing club.

There are a few obvious landing spots among the MLB elites – Yankees, Mets if Pete Alonso leaves, Astros, etc. — but another potential destination, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, is a little more off the beaten path. A little grittier.

THE Detroit Tigers are interested in Goldschmidt’s services.

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We don’t usually see the Tigers throwing away bills in free agency. Goldschmidt’s contract won’t amount to much, but he should get a reasonably healthy AAV. He finished last season with slash lines of .245/.302/.414, smashing 22 homers in 599 ABs.

Say what you will about some of the more worrying metrics — like age 37 or his career-worst .716 OPS — but Goldschmidt finished the campaign stronger than he started, leaving hope that he could actually bounce back in a new situation. Additionally, Goldschmidt still appeared in 154 games for St. Louis last season. He’s old, but he’s also durable, still providing reliable defense at first base. He finished last season with a hard hit rate in the MLB. 92nd percentile and an expected batting average of .255, implying a measure of bad luck contributing to his declining numbers in 2024.

Detroit has just experienced an improbable playoff series, which has considerably boosted the morale of the fans. Detroit is now expected to build on that. A step backwards or stagnation will not be enough. Goldschmidt may not put the Tigers in the World Series, but he’s an affordable bat and a valuable leader for a young locker room.

No one can mix and match pieces based on matchups better than AJ Hinch, but at some point the Tigers need to transition beyond the platoon brigade and establish a few good, reliable everyday starters. Maybe Goldschmidt’s daily hitting days are behind him, but there’s reason to believe he can still swing the bat well enough to help a mediocre Tigers offense.

Last season, Jack Flaherty, another former Cardinal, parlayed a successful stint in Detroit into a trade with the world champion Dodgers and what will soon be a lucrative new contract. Goldy is likely past the stage of lucrative new contracts, but he could benefit from joining Detroit’s well-oiled machine.