– Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images
Last off-season the Cardinals traded David Freese and Fernando Salas to the Angels for Peter Bourjos and Randal Grichuk. This deal filled several holes for the Cardinals. It moved Matt Carpenter to third base, Kolten Wong to second, and solidified the outfield bench with the two new acquisitions. Yesterday’s deal with Atlanta also filled more than what you see on the surface.
Right field
The big name is Jason Heyward. Heyward comes over to St Louis after an inconsistent five seasons in Atlanta. In 2012, Heyward’s power showed up with 27 homers on the season. Since then, his power numbers have fallen off. He hit 14 homers in 2013 and 11 long balls this past season. However, Heyward’s game is much more than hitting. He finished with a 6.35 WAR (Wins Above Replacement), which was 11th in Major League Baseball among position players. In Defensive Wins Above Replacement, Heyward finished second in MLB among outfielders. Jason Heyward will come to St Louis and play for the first time without having the weight of the world on his shoulders. He doesn’t have to be the man in St Louis. The optimistic Cardinal fan inside wants to think Heyward will find his stroke and produce they way Atlanta fans thought he would. But, if he just plays the way he’s been playing, St Louis still has a better right field situation than most of the league.
Bullpen
Jordan Walden gives St Louis a steady rock in the back end of the bullpen. He features a heavy sinking fastball that touches 98 MPH. In 50 innings of work, he only allowed two homeruns and recorded 62 strikeouts while posting a 2.88 ERA. Walden’s arm is much needed, considering Jason Motte and Pat Neshek will most likely not be back in St Louis next season.
Bench
Acquiring Heyward helps keep the St Louis bench in order. Peter Bourjos and Randal Grichuk will give Mike Matheny some right handed options and both players can play plus defense. Grichuk can spell Heyward against tough lefties and Bourjos will still be a late inning defensive upgrade over Jon Jay.
The Future
Jason Heyward is only under club control for the upcoming season. After that, there’s no telling where he’ll go. He could re-sign in St Louis, but I see that as unlikely. Depending on the season he has in 2015, he might get six years with an AAV (Average Annual Value) of over $15 million. If he does leave after one season, that opens the door to top prospect Stephen Piscotty. Piscotty had a decent year at Memphis last season, but needs another full season there to hone his skills. His swing looks great, but his power hasn’t quite shown up yet. With another season at Triple-A Memphis, Piscotty will only get better and the Cardinals will only be better in the long run.
Needs
The Cardinals don’t have many holes to fill. Cardinal Nation should feel good about their starting eight. Molina, Adams, Wong, Peralta, Carpenter, Holliday, Jay and Heyward. The one thing the Cards need offensively is a right handed bat to come off the bench that can play first base. Corey Hart’s name has been tossed around, and I like that fit. The pitching rotation is full. Wainwright, Lynn, Lackey and Wacha will fill spots one through four. The fifth spot will be most likely occupied by Marco Gonzales or Carlos Martinez. If Gonzales wins the spot, Martinez will go to the bullpen. If Martinez wins the fifth spot, Gonzales will most likely go back to Memphis and be groomed as a starter.
Just assume Gonzales breaks camp as a starter with the big club. Martinez, Walden, Maness and Rosenthal will make up four of the seven bullpen spots. Randy Choate will take one of the two lefty spots, with either Kevin Siegrist or Sam Freeman filling the other. That last bullpen spot could be filled in house with Keith Butler or Sam Tuivailala.
What about Jaime Garcia? Garcia has shown flashes of brilliance when healthy. But, when is he healthy? If he can enter 2015 at full strength, that could move Martinez to the pen.
There really isn’t much left to fill in St Louis. Aside from the power right handed bat off the bench, I think most of Cardinal Nation wouldn’t mind seeing Randy Choate leave town. Andrew Miller would be a perfect fit for that “Lefty Specialist” role for Matheny.
There is still a lot of off-season remaining and we have all been surprised by the Cardinal front office before. I don’t see any more big names making a splash in St Louis, but I could be wrong.
139 more days till opening day!
4 comments
Yes, I think you’ve summed it up nicely. Hopefully that right handed power bat can play first to cover Adams against those same “tough lefties”. Choate seems like a nice guy but I think it is time for him to get a new job that doesn’t involve throwing a baseball. (Well…it would be okay if he played for the Cubs.) Andrew Miller works just fine. And of course, if Sherzer decided to come home to St. Louis, well we wouldn’t really need to be concerned about Jaime staying healthy or if Wacha is fully recovered. Cheers!
If he could be had for 15 Million a year for 6 years I would take that deal. After all, somebody has to replace Holiday in a couple years…
Even though we have a lot of fruitful talent in the outfield…none are close to the impact players J-Hey is…I think 6 yrs 15 would be a great contract for Heyward’s “prime” years. I mean if he was 28 or 29 we probably let him walk and take our compensation pick, but he is 25. If this is indeed what it takes to keep him, I think the Cardinals make a very strong run at him. They don’t give up 10 years of control between Miller and Jenkins for 3 years of Walden and Heyward for the sake of making room for up and coming talent. That doesn’t happen without at least a very solid effort to retain Jason.
MLBTR is reporting that the Cards are now in on John Lester. Some fans seem to believe that we need another veteran starter and that Lester or Scherzer fit that need. I’m not one of those fans. I think Scherzer is going to command far too much and the Cards definitely do not want to go into that bidding war. Lester is more intriguing for a few reasons. He would break up the all righty rotation and he’ll cost at least slightly less than Scherzer. But i get the feeling this is more of a ploy to drive Lester’s price up so if the Cubs get him, it’ll cost more than planned.
I’m more optimistic about re-signing/extending Heyward than you seem to be. Mo gave up quite a few years of control on Miller & Jenkins to just let Heyward walk without a fight.
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