Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said: “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” The future is now for the St. Louis Cardinals with the average age of the 40-man roster coming in at 27.5 years of age; with a whopping 47 percent of the roster at the age of 26 or below. Many of these young players are developing into the core by which we rely on throughout the marathon that is the 162-game season. Surprisingly enough, the Cardinals come in at 22 out of 30 in terms of age. It’s obvious that no player—or any person for that matter— can ever get younger. Moreover, the Cardinals make their talent count and utilize their youth as their core. So what is meant by the future is now? This means that the players will age with the Cardinals from season to season. This eliminates the need to be Yankee-esque and bring in aging big name free agent after big name free agent. The prospect-turned-pro nucleus that has been built in St. Louis is the ideal situation for any team. That’s not to say that free agents aren’t brought in. Free agents coming to St. Louis are used how they are supposed to be used— to fill holes. Have a problem child left fielder position that is lacking both in run production and average? Enter a Matt Holliday-type player.
Recent and future events have put the major leagues—and ultimately staying in St. Louis— in question for some players. A great deal of the top-tier players in the Redbirds’ system the past couple of years have been called up and are making instant impacts. One player in particular being the man drafted before Mike Trout: Randal Grichuk. The recent addition of Jason Heyward makes Grichuk more of a luxury than a necessity at this point. Numerous dreamers out there think that he’d make a great centerpiece of a David Price or Cole Hamels trade. So let’s analyze somewhat about what it would take to make said trade.
It’s encouraging to think about what it takes to get two years of David Price for the Detroit Tigers though. It took three teams, but here’s the somewhat disappointing “haul” the Tampa Bay Rays brought in:
- Drew Smyly, a potential middle of the rotation lefty starter who has a great track record for being able to come in via a relief role or a starter. Another bonus is that he is only 25 and absolutely decimated lefty batters to the tune of a .192 average.
- Nick Franklin, a switch-hitting shortstop that is a plus defender and has a little over a year of major league experience, but whiffs over 25% of the time. Granted, he’s only 23 and the Rays are starting to profile him as more of a second baseman than a shortstop. The fact still remains that the broad side of a barn is still a hard thing for him to hit at 23 with his .213 batting average. There’s still plenty of time to make a turn around but his MLB time has been discouraging so far.
- Willy Adames, a SS/3B prospect who is now the top player in the Rays’ farm system. He has a pretty sure-handed bat that can hit for average. The strikeouts are similar to Franklin’s, but he’s only 19 years old.
Detroit did have to send Austin Jackson—the best player in the entire trade—to the Seattle Mariners. The package put together for Price could hurt much less than anything for Cole Hamels, which might make him the more attractive trade. St Louis might be able to part with two to three players in a Price trade.
Speaking of the guy, Hamels is another story altogether. The package that would be put together for 4 years with an option for a 5th of the Phillies pitcher would require a sizable amount of prospects. At just a glance the trade could look like this: SP Marco Gonzales, OF Randal Grichuk, OF Tommy Pham, and SP Tim Cooney for SP Cole Hamels and maybe a minor league relief pitcher. On top of that, paying Hamels will cost a pretty penny at 23.5 million dollars per year.
Trading Grichuk might be a huge mistake for several reasons. The most substantial of them being the immediate future of Jason Heyward as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. Many insiders get the feeling that Jason’s time in St. Louis is merely temporary. The second reason is because of some recent prospect rankings. It is assumed that Stephen Piscotty is the better of the two prospects which makes him untouchable and the likely candidate to inherit Matt Holliday’s left field position. The two outfielders will be compared for years to come much like Mike Trout and Randal Grichuk before the David Freese trade. Grichuk, a career .279 hitter in the minors, showed numerous times he can make an instant impact sending balls screaming over the fence with 86 homers in his six seasons (65 at the same age and years as Piscotty.) The edge in the run producing category is definitely with the former Angel. Piscotty profiles as a line drive hitter and while he has a better average, only has 28 homers in his minor league career. The fielding numbers heavily favor Randal at a .985 fielding percentage as well with Piscotty coming in at a .954. Furthermore, Grichuk is quite proficient at all three outfield positions making him the perfect backup plan if someone goes down. Not to mention that if the Cardinals would like to save money on Jon Jay next year, they have a skilled power hitter waiting in the wings that can play center. With that said, Grichuk could be a force in the offense for years to come and only a fool would trade him before seeing what he could do with a full year of major league experience. Only problem, as mentioned before, is the Heyward trade and logjam in the St. Louis outfield.
Outfield isn’t the only position that will need decisions made in the near future. John Lackey will be gone after the ’15 season and the possible acquisition of David Price, Cole Hamels, or Max Scherzer will force decisions at the end of this season. The Cardinals’ pitching would be the next order of business. Much like the outfield, the starting rotation will be in a logjam situation. Will Carlos Martinez get his control in line or will Marco Gonzales supplant him as 5th starter this spring? This will all determine whether Martinez has the 8th inning going forward in his career or whether the battle becomes an Alexander Reyes/Gonzales/Martinez battle for the 4th or 5th rotation spot. Or if none of these guys pan out; the Cardinals may skip it all together and sign Price long-term. In the long-term, Gonzales is my favorite of the prospects just based on the fact that the Cardinals need to break up the plethora of right-handed starters they have in the rotation. Gonzales struggled with righties, but mowed down lefties at a .143 BA clip last year. Pressure doesn’t really get to him either, a perfect example is taking down one of the best Dodgers’ hitters in the NLDS, Adrian Gonzales.
The last and perhaps most important player to the Cardinals young core and their future is Kolten Wong. During last year’s playoffs, Wong showed that he can be a force in the offense and bring a team out of a slump. While his Dodgers series was less than impressive, his San Francisco series went really well in which he batted .278 and hit 2 homers. The consistency was an issue from week to week for him, but it’s not anything to worry about. Three years of consistent hitting for the St. Louis farm system should make up for anything that is worrying for Cardinal Nation. A full season of a more comfortable Kolten Wong will make for some fun baseball at Busch Stadium. Plus, a stolen base or two would be great to see apart from the norm.
Overall, the Cardinals are advancing with a youth movement that has plenty of longevity to it. Plenty of their former prospects are in the majors and the veterans sprinkled in give the team experienced mentorship to follow. These three guys mentioned are a great group that will keep the important foundation rolling for years to come. They most definitely aren’t the only ones—Martinez, Adams, Wacha—it’s exciting waiting to see who’s next.
Thank you all for reading!
