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鈥淵es, I would anticipate seeing payroll go down because of these investments (in minor league development growth),鈥� said John Mozeliak, the Cardinals president of baseball operations.

Right away, for some fans, Mozeliak鈥檚 title might catch them off-guard. He鈥檚 still the president of baseball operations? Yep. Even though he oversaw the slipping (after, to his credit, some great years in the early 2010s), Mozeliak is back for 2025. At a press conference Monday at Busch Stadium, it was announced that 鈥淢o鈥� will remain the baseball boss for this season (his last) and Chaim Bloom will take over after 2025. Yet, the Cardinals plan on making seismic shifts to their thinking and strategy 鈥� and the guy put them in this mess, so it seems, gets to guide them out of it.

But, yes, the Cardinals payroll is expected to go down. This is a huge development, something we haven鈥檛 seen under this current ownership.

鈥淧utting a lot of resources towards player development is a key part of us being competitive year-in, year-out as the years go on,鈥� said Cards chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., who took over after the 1995 season. 鈥淚t's an allocation of resources to a degree and we'll determine the financial ramification of it and go from there.鈥�

Mozeliak wouldn’t get into specifics on trades just yet. But if payroll is going to go down — and younger players are going to get more at-bats and innings — then this implies some pretty big trades. Starting pitcher Sonny Gray will earn $25 million next year, per . Third baseman Nolan Arenado will earn $21 million. Catcher Willson Contreras will earn $18 million. Starter Miles Mikolas will earn $17.6 million.

鈥淚'm not anticipating any big contracts going yet聽鈥� we need to get a little guidance on what our revenues are going to look like,鈥� Mozeliak said. 鈥淯ltimately, when you think about the trading market in general, that starts as we enter post-World Series. Ultimately, there are some players that I still think have some value here, from a leadership standpoint and also from a competitive standpoint. And so that is something that we'll focus on.鈥�

I cannot overstate how big of a deal this is in Cardinals history聽鈥� the proud franchise likely trading valuable players, which would in essence make the Cardinals a worse team.

Mozeliak kept calling it a 鈥渞eset.鈥�

But it鈥檚 simple as this聽鈥� if you thought 2024 was bad, imagine 2025 without, say, Gray and Contreras?

It鈥檚 a long-term plan, of course.

Invest in the minors and new coaches and technology. That will likely produce better young (and cost-controlled) major-league players. And at that point, the Cards could then pounce on free agents to bolster the club. But when is the 鈥渢hen鈥�? Well, it鈥檚 not 2025.

鈥淐atching up is (to the top teams in player development) is important,鈥� Bloom said, 鈥渂ut we want to be able to set the tone, so we're not just going to be looking at copying everybody else. We want to find our own (way).鈥�