The St. Louis Cardinals acquired the acclaimed first baseman Paul Goldschmidt from Arizona before the 2019 season. Goldschmidt is a free agent, and he'll undoubtedly play elsewhere in 2025. The Cardinals declined to make a qualifying offer to Goldschmidt, and that closes the book on his St. Louis career.

No question, Goldy had a strong overall body of work in his six seasons as a Cardinal. He won the National League MVP award in 2022. He was an All-Star. He won a gold glove award, and a silver slugger award. He received league MVP votes in four of his six seasons here ... and played a leading role in getting the Cardinals to the postseason four times in six years.

But in the end, Goldschmidt individually came up short in the postseason (with one exception.) And the postseason failures shouldn't be overlooked or ignored. And those October crashes - especially with Nolan Arenado as a teammate -- reduced the impact of Goldschmidt's Cardinal career.