The punishment will not be felt, if felt at all, for a few years. The nature of baseball is that a draftee will take a few years to develop into a Major League contributor. So while the St. Louis Cardinals will not be active today, giving up their top two picks in the draft may hurt in years to come.
Lucky for the Redbirds, they have built up a good farm system that has the potential to cover up this punishment by itself. This year, the St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers have been impressive enough to have four players in MLB Pipelines top-100 prospects.