Last night, Nolan Arenado suited up for the National League All-Star Team as the lone representative of the St. Louis Cardinals. There were other Cardinals with credible All-Star Game cases, but when you’re in last place and the home of awful 2023 vibes, you take what you can get.

But what was notable is how many near-St. Louis Cardinals were in the game. Some are former Cardinals; some were nearly members of the Cardinals. And at every turn, Cardinals fans were angry at the failure of the organization to not have an endless string of All-Stars.

As far as I can tell, there aren’t fans of the other 29 NBA teams besides the Denver Nuggets who get mad that theirs was not the one to draft Nikola Jokić, nor are Green Bay Packers fans mad that their team cut pre-MVPs Kurt Warner, so the anger of Cardinals fans that the organization was not perfect at making decisions on the margins of the roster does come across as a bit spoiled at times. But it also isn’t totally irrational, either. There is a lot of 20/20 hindsight but there is also legitimate criticism to be had. Hence, this ranking of the six nearest almost-Cardinals All-Stars, from least to most infuriating.

#6–Juan Soto, San Diego Padres: Juan Soto has been really good this season for the San Diego Padres, and there were numerous rumors last trade deadline that he could have been a Cardinal. But I am ranking him last here for the simple reason that while the Cardinals would be better with Juan Soto in 2023 than without him, the cost of the trade would have made this season even more frustrating, because Soto was never going to be able to single-handedly turn around this team. Like with Paul Goldschmidt, there would be fan suggestions to trade Juan Soto for prospects followed by the most aggressively fun-at-parties commenters saying that such suggestions are stupid because the trade would never happen. And while Soto is currently more valuable than (conservative estimate of the high-end pieces that would have gone to Washington in such a deal) Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn combined, it’s fun to at least have the hope of possibility. Acquiring Juan Soto would have felt like a ticking time bomb.

#5–Adolis García, Texas Rangers: If you have a memory of Adolis García, then known as Juan Adolis García, as a St. Louis Cardinal, it is almost certainly of him face-planting while trying to score a crucial game-tying run against the Milwaukee Brewers in 2018. This was a good metaphor for how he was perceived as a Cardinal–in his 21 games as a Cardinal, Adolis García hit four total bases, two singles and a double, and had zero plate discipline. Even in 2019, when he had a power surge with the Memphis Redbirds and hit 32 home runs, his OPS still only reached .818, and at 26 years old, there was little hope for him as a future MLB player, much less a future star. There is something aggravating about the fact that he was traded for cash in December 2019, but ultimately I don’t think a single Cardinals fan cared that he was gone. Nor did Texas Rangers fans seem to care when García was placed on and eventually cleared waivers. It would be nice to have Adolis García, to be sure, but this is also based entirely on hindsight.

#4–Zac Gallen, Arizona Diamondbacks: By far the three most famous people included in the December 2017 trade between the Cardinals and Miami Marlins were Marcell Ozuna, the star outfielder being sent to St. Louis, Sandy Alcantara, who surprised many by becoming a legitimate ace but who was at least ranked sixth in the Cardinals organization by MLB.com, and Magneuris Sierra, a super fast guy that immediately became your uncle who won’t stop talking about Whiteyball’s favorite player. Way down the list was Zac Gallen, who at the time ranked 24th in the Cardinals organization. Even as Gallen in interviews has tried to pretend his absence from voluntary workouts is what forced this trade, he was an afterthought; that he pitched well in Miami and still got flipped to the Arizona Diamondbacks is a reflection of what little belief there was in Gallen. This is basically the same set of circumstances as Adolis García except that I’d rather the 2023 Cardinals have Zac Gallen, but it’s a strictly hindsight-based distaste, though it does also make me wonder how the Cardinals whiffed so badly on developing him.

#3–Randy Arozarena, Tampa Bay Rays: I have seen Arozarena grouped with Adolis García, a late bloomer, and Lane Thomas, who currently has a .380 batting average on balls in play with the Washington Nationals and was demonstrably bad as a Cardinal, as the outfielders that got away, and this is honestly unfair to Randy Arozarena. Although there is some hindsight involved in hyping up Arozarena as viewed as a super-prospect (and also a deeply weird line of thinking that he got traded because he filmed Mike Shildt giving a speech that one time), he was a productive minor league hitter and he had performed well in St. Louis–unlike García and Thomas, the Cardinals were absolutely not going to be willing to give away Arozarena for free. And they didn’t–in January 2020, MLB ranked Matthew Liberatore as the #58 prospect in baseball and did not rank Arozarena in the top 100. And while I have not given up on Matthew Liberatore being a decent MLB starting pitcher by any means, Randy Arozarena, though I think he tends to get a bit overrated because his biggest moments happen during the rare moments when Cardinals fans are watching Tampa Bay Rays games, has been demonstrably better, and unlike with the previous prospects on this list, there was at least some proof of concept with Arozarena when the trade was made.

#2–Sean Murphy, Atlanta Braves: I was content with the Cardinals signing Contreras rather than trading prospects to get Sean Murphy at the time, but based on the Cardinals’ actions towards Contreras this season, to not have pounced on Sean Murphy makes less sense than ever. It was well-established in the moment that while Contreras was a comparable hitter to Murphy (although Murphy has been much better at the plate in 2023), he was a relatively mediocre defensive player, and then when Contreras showed even the slightest defensive shortcoming, the Cardinals immediately backtracked on Contreras. Where to rank Murphy on this list is confusing because frankly I’m content with Contreras if acquiring Murphy meant dealing Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar, as has been rumored, but the lack of coherent plan by the Cardinals is what is dizzying. Even though Willson Contreras has been basically what could reasonably be expected–a 111 wRC+ to match his 2021 mark and defense that isn’t great but is more competent than it was early in his career–the organization seems to be mired in a constant state of buyer’s remorse.

#1–Luis Robert Jr., Chicago White Sox: Luis Robert Jr. was the rare prospect who was widely known before reaching major professional or high collegiate status. He defected from Cuba in 2016 and in 2017, there was a sincere competition for his services. In the end, Robert signed with the White Sox for a $26 million signing bonus. And the Cardinals, who were by most accounts very much pursuing of Robert, reportedly offered him somewhere between $20 million and $25 million. And it’s that tiny difference on what turned out to be a no-brainer bargain that is so frustrating. This isn’t Shohei Ohtani, where the margins were small but ultimately the Cardinals only had so much power to convince him to sign with them. This isn’t Gerrit Cole, who is obviously an awesome player but whose signing would have certainly precluded the Cardinals from other actions if you work under the assumption that every team is going to have a budget of some sort. Luis Robert Jr. was truly the one that got away.