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JUPITER, Fla.Ìý— From notes he’d jotted down on various sheets, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol drew his thoughts together onto one 8½-by-11-inch piece of blank copy paper, no lines, and mapped out in pen the direction he wanted to set for the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals.

He wrote a notion repeated later by several playersÌý— “everybody loves an underdog storyâ€�Ìý— but also outlined the “messy, hard, and uncomfortableâ€� work it takes to earn that love. In the clubhouse and in front of the full squad this spring, that single sheet in hand, he wanted to get to the point.

For decades, the Cardinals and their fans have started seasons with championship expectations befitting the logo on their front and history at their back. This season, they’re trimming payroll, trying to steer toward youth and “doing something historically we’ve never done,� the manager said later.

A club usually aiming to live up to its past now insists its focus is on the future.

Marmol sought to address the present.

“The only people who get to define that,� he said this past week when asked about his message to the team, “are in the room right now.�

When the Cardinals welcome the Minnesota Twins to Busch Stadium for opening day March 27, more than facing a former World Series opponent will feel disorienting. The Cardinals begin their 134th season in the National League openly acknowledging the pursuit of a 12th World Series championship is not their divining rod, even after a pennant drought of a dozen years, six without a playoff series win and two with nary a trickle of postseason appearances. The current front office, under president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, is preparing the organization for next season's front office, overseen by president-in-waiting Chaim Bloom. There is an emphasis on player development when it comes to spending and Bloom's concentration in ’25.

The Cardinals called their approach a “reset� all winter. By spring, it had been renamed a “transition.� Pick a "re-" word for this rebranding. Just don’t call it a rebuild.

Maybe it’s their gap year.

“This transition is going to be about a youth movement, and it is going to be about giving players opportunities,� Mozeliak said. “It will have a different feel to it. Maybe the language has changed. But the hope hasn’t. It’s not always what you spend. It’s not always who you sign. It’s not always who you trade for. Sometimes it’s about what do you have and what do you do with it.�

Reacting to a reduction in broadcast TV fees and braced for reduced ticket sales due to a reluctant fan base, the Cardinals dropped payroll by nearly 20%. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were prepared to cut more.

In the clubhouse listening to Marmol’s opening statement were zero major league free-agent additions and three veterans with no-trade clauses the Cardinals explored dealing to jump-start a “transition.â€� When asked if they wanted to go elsewhere, two of themÌý— opening day starter Sonny Gray and catcher-turned-first baseman Willson ContrerasÌý— said they “would prefer not to,â€� as Bartleby the Scrivener might. The winterlong search to trade Nolan Arenado to a contender became another of Herman Melville’s characters.

Arenado vetoed a deal to Houston. When Boston signed Alex Bregman to a whale of a deal and talks with the Yankees submerged, the 10-time Gold Glove-winner reported to camp a few days early. He planted his cleats at third base. A strong start could still carry him to another team.

His strong start could carry a team.

"We know in our hearts that last year wasn't something as a team to be proud of, and we have to go out and play better," Arenado said. "And if we play better than we did last year, you never know what’s going to happen."

The bottom-line directive of this season for the Cardinals is to determine the leading players for the two-, three-, four- or more-year plan to reestablish the birds on the bat’s perch in a National League veering into plutocracy. As Marmol stated: “We can’t (get) to the end of this year and still have question marks on certain guys.�

Who will become clear.

What is already: The next six months belong to the players in the room.

“People always want the team to invest and get the best player they can for the most money,� Contreras said. “Which is fine. But we also have a lot of talent in this group. We have a lot of high-energy guys in this group. We just need to let them play comfortable, let them be who they are and let them become who they want to be.

“That’s what I’m betting on,� Contreras continued. “It’s not the team that spends the most money. It’s the team that is willing to make sacrifices on the field, to stick together day in and day out, to grow together and that is the team has good chemistry and talent.�

He nodded in the direction of the other All-Stars.

“We decided to stay and compete,� Contreras said. “And we’re not giving up.�

Vibe check

All in their St. Patrick’s Day green caps, outfielder Lars Nootbaar and the Cardinals infielders lined up on the far edge of the turf field nearest their clubhouse Monday morning. A pitching machine stared at them 40-50 feet away, ready to spit short hops.

Let the games begin.

Masyn Winn missed one to his backhand, trotted back in line and did five pushups. Contreras and Arenado missed back-to-back backhands. Before getting in line, they stopped, dropped and rolled out five pushups. When he mishandled a toss back to the bucket, coach Stubby Clapp put down his glove and did five pushups. What started in February as a contest between Contreras and Alec Burleson at first base with pushups after each misplay spread to other infielders and drills and now the coaches.

“The general vibeÌý— as the kids sayÌý— is a good sense of togetherness,â€� starter Miles Mikolas laughed.

“Playful accountability,� Marmol said. “There is a certain demeanor, edge to them that is natural to who they are. Guys are being themselves. And collectively, when they do that, you have a pretty youthful, electric, fun-to-watch group. The vibe of camp has been detailed but loose. For a young player, that’s the place to be.�

The Cardinals are not quite as young as they initially planned, but they are younger-ish. The starting rotation, led by Gray, remains one of the eldest with four members 32 or older. The average age of opening day pitchers dipped from 30.8 last year (fourth-oldest) to 29.8. The position players fell from 27.7 (12th) to 26.5. There could be 14 homegrown players on the opening day active roster, up from 11.

Moves not made this winter did create a tug-of-war in spring between aging stars aching to win and a pledge to let the kids play. A common thread from evaluators on opposing teams:

“It's hard to tell what direction they are really going?� said an AL scout.

The Cardinals weighed short-term jolts of yore vs. long-term growth, such as Matthew Liberatore in an impact relief role or upside starter. Victor Scott II, Thomas Saggese and Michael McGreevy had strong sprints, but their status pitted limited roles in the majors against daily development in Class AAA Memphis.

“So our mantra this offseason has been we’re going to give guys opportunities to play," Mozeliak said. "Find out what they can do for usÌý— and not see them doing it in a different uniform just to make a move.â€�

From the creation of the farm system by Branch Rickey to the cutting-edge farm system of 10-15 years ago, the Cardinals remained so adept at developing players and amplifying fundamentals that rivals used “The Cardinal Way� as a compliment, not a social media punchline. That strength nourished four consecutive National League Championship Series appearances, from 2011-14, and then wilted from the industry lead. A rival executive said, "It became difficult to call them a modern organization."

The Cardinals’ player development powerhouse eroded like Ernest Hemingway once described a character going bankrupt.

“Gradually, then suddenly.�

An explanation from ownership for the slideÌý— the lack of high draft picksÌý— is also a reason the Cardinals should have been more vigilant with innovative development. To catch up this past winter, the Cardinals spent between $4 million and $5 million more to increase staff, technology and travel for the player development group. New facilities will rise, too. This spring training had a kinetic feel to the schedule and drills, in part because of the expanded staff that gave players at all levels more coaches, more tech, more support.

An undercurrent to the upgrades is something old-fashioned: the schooling from winning.

“That has to be the aim whether it’s a transition year or not,� Marmol said. “I think you have to teach guys how to win, and you do that by winning. Now, will how you get there look a little different time to time? Absolutely.�

The Cardinals, at 83-79, finished tied with the Cubs for second in the National League Central — Still baseball’s most hospitable division! Come visit!Ìý— and only accomplished that by outplaying their offense. The 2024 club was the lone winning team with a negative run differential and the first Cardinals team to pull off the feat in 50 years. Their 83 wins were the most ever by a Cardinals team that allowed more runs than it scored.

The Cardinals defied limited production with a heat-shield bullpen with record-setting closer Ryan Helsley and setup man Andrew Kittredge landing leads. Replacing Kittredge is vital to avoid late-game ruptures that could torch the ’25 team like they did the ’23 team.

Or the Cardinals could just score more. The Cardinals slugged a puny .342 with runners in scoring position (RISP), the lowest in the NL in 24 and their fifth-lowest since 1974.

Their .229 average with RISP was the Cardinals’ single-season low as a team since the stat began being tracked.

To be fair, the Cardinals’ .229 average and .342 slugging was similar to a Silver Slugger’s career average and slugging. Cy Young winner Zack Greinke hit .225 and slugged .335 in his career.

“I hope it’s a club that scores runs,� Mozeliak said. “I think that put so much pressure on us last year. It exhausted our pitching. It was like our pitching was always stressed. And that meant that your defense was always stressed. You’re always playing tight games. And I think from an offensive standpoint, I just think everybody was trying to hit the five-run homer trying to make up for it.�

Enter the youth, some still as green as St. Patrick’s hats.

Brand loyalty

On their way to get tacos late after a game with Class AA Springfield (Missouri) or on the bus to the next far-flung Texas League locale or just playing an NBA video game, Jordan Walker and Winn would talk about winning as Cardinals, like they heard Cardinals do.Ìý

“You give off that energy when it’s how you feel,� Walker said of the conversations between two centerpieces of the Cardinals' 2020 draft class. “We’re going to catch somebody by surprise.�

Their pro careers began during a pandemic, and Walker and Winn are a snapshot of the contemporary Cardinals in flux. In Winn’s and Walker’s first pro season, the Cardinals farm system had one of the lowest combined winning percentages of any franchise — ever. Helsley, the longest-tenured Cardinal, recently noted he made the playoffs in his first eight consecutive years in the organization. Few, if any, in Generation Reset have one.

A year after the Cardinals turned to older throwback starters for an immediate turnaround, they’re turning toward youth with a longer time frame.

“The message is: Compete every minute of the day,� Marmol said. “And that is creating an identity of being a team that gets better every week, every month so that May looks better than April and June looks better than May.�

For the pitching to improve, it will need Matthew Liberatore, Ryan Fernandez, Michael McGreevy and the ascending talent Quinn Mathews. For the offense to correct, it will take a lift from Nootbaar and Walker or Nolan Gorman.

The players in that room have the floor.

The Cardinals history that's front of mind during other years or weighing on the shoulders of other seasons is now in their hands.

“Everybody in the league knows that we have a saying, ‘The Cardinal Way,’â€� Winn said. “That’s really just winning baseball. That could be small ball. That could be 'Whiteyball' or longball like Albert Pujols. To me, it just means being here and winningÌý— winning a lot. It’s definitely tougher with some of the teams buying pretty much everybody. You still have to play nine innings. You still have to get hot at the right time. We’ll take it from there.

“It’s baseball,� Winn concluded. “And we're still the Cardinals.�

Lead the Way.

This article is part of the St. Louis Cardinals season preview section, which will be in print on Sunday, March 23.

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