The St. Louis Cardinals are currently in the middle of a top-to-bottom rebuild in efforts of becoming competitive in the future.

Cardinals fans will likely have to watch through some disappointing results before the team returns to the level it was at in the 2000s and 2010s, where it was one of the most competitive teams in the National League.

One of the defining players for St. Louis in the '00s was center fielder Jim Edmonds. Another former player, Kyle Gibson, offered his opinion that Edmonds should be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame on the heels of one of his contemporaries, Andruw Jones, being elected to Hall of Fame.

"I think that there are certain times where it seems like the writers — maybe this is their write because it is their Hall of Fame — They try to be extremely exclusive and get maybe the best center fielder from the generation," Gibson said on the Cardinal Territory podcast. "(Andruw Jones) and Edmonds overlapped a lot. Most of their career. So, in their mind, if they were trying to get the best center field of the time. OK, a few more Gold Gloves, they were probably one and two most years when Jim was in the NL. What, Jim's six home runs short of 400? If he has 400 is he a shoo-in? Kind of silly. I think those guys are right. The veterans committee will get him in, it's just kind of crazy they didn't even get a chance to stay on when a lot of those numbers showed he had a better overall career."

Edmonds had an 18-season major league career from 1993-2010. He played with the California/Anaheim Angels from '93-99, the Cardinals from '00-07, the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs in '08 and the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds in '10.

Edmonds was a four-time All-Star ('95, '00, '03, '05), eight-time Gold Glove-winner ('97-97, '00-05), one-time Silver Slugger winner ('04) and won the World Series with St. Louis in '06. Three-of-four All-Star selections, six-of-eight Gold Gloves and Edmonds' only Silver Slugger came with the Cardinals.

Edmonds was inducted into the team Hall of Fame in 2014.

Edmonds was on the modern era committee Hall of Fame ballot for the class of 2016. He received only 2.5% of the vote and fell off the modern era ballot. Players need 5% of the vote to stay on the ballot an initial season.

As alluded to by Gibson, there's still a chance that Edmonds could get into Cooperstown, N.Y. via the contemporary baseball era committee (formerly the veterans committee).

The contemporary era committee, which was established in 1980, considers players, executives, managers and umpires no longer on the modern era ballot, which is voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).

Notable players voted in by the contemporary committee include former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Dave Parker, Pirates manager Jim Leyland, Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges and Chicago White Sox designated hitter Harold Baines, among many others.

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