Within a two week span, the St. Louis Cardinals lost veteran pitcher John Lackey and star outfielder Jason Heyward. And what makes the losses even bigger, with the stakes higher?
They both signed with the Cubs.
For Lackey, the Cubs signed the 37-year old to a two-year, $32 million dollar deal. He will now be a part of a much improved rotation spearheaded by NL Cy Young winner Jake Arietta and Lackey’s former Boston Red Sox teammate Jon Lester. Lackey gets a $7 million signing bonus, of which $2 million is payable on Dec. 22 and the rest of it Jan. 16, 2017. He also receives salaries of $12.5 million a season.
Cardinals fans were disappointed to see the veteran go, especially to a team he dominated against in the first game of the National League Divisional Series. The fourth game of that series, however, did not remotely go as planned for Lackey.
He finished the 2014 season for the Cardinals with a record of 13-10 and an ERA of 2.77 in 33 starts.
While losing Lackey did upset some fans, the biggest backlash came on Friday when it was announced the Cubs signed Heyward to an eight-year, $184 million dollar deal. It was reported both the Washington Nationals as well as the Cardinals had offered deals around $200 million dollars, but Heyward accepted less money to sign with the Cubs.
Reports also state that in Heyward’s contract, there are two opt-out clauses.
The 26-year old Heyward is a lifetime .268 hitter, but has only hit above 20 home runs once in his career, in 2012 with the Atlanta Braves. He also hit 18 home runs in his rookie season. Last season with the Cardinals, he hit .293 with 13 home runs to go with 60 RBI’s.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals had offered Heyward a franchise-record contract ranging in around $200 million (the Washington Nationals offered around the same deal). But as it turned out, he declined both offers. Heyward has a lifetime .353 on-base percentage and has a career .280 batting average and .354 on-base percentage from the leadoff spot in the lineup.
Fans were outraged when the announcement was made, and ever since, Heyward has been one of the top trending topics on social media, with over 131,000 tweets mentioning him.
But the real question is: can the Cardinals actually be the bigger beneficiary from the move?
The answer: yes.
Currently, with Heyward off the market, some of the top outfielders/hitters still free agents are Yoenis Cespedes, Justin Upton, and Alex Gordon. While all talented, none of them are worth a $184 million dollar contract (and in all honesty, neither was Heyward). With the Cubs making such a lucrative deal, and knowing the remaining top free agents are worth less, the Cardinals have a better chance of being able to save money on two positions they need to fill: pitcher and outfielder.
They lost out on another previously overpaid player in David Price, who signed with the Boston Red Sox for seven-years and $217 million dollars, which is the largest contract to an MLB pitcher in history.
Now, to make things clear: just because a player is overpaid does NOT mean a player is bad. Price, Heyward, and even Zach Greinke, who signed a six-year, $206.5 million dollar contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, are all very talented players at their position(s). But an organization that is properly run knows when not to invest all of their money on one player when they can spread out the money on multiple players for the purpose of all-around balance.
This is where the Cardinals made the right move.
Despite offering Heyward a lucrative contract, the fact it got declined gives them a golden opportunity to pursue multiple free agents to fill empty spots left on the roster.
Who will be called upon to fill those spots is another story.
Only time will tell…
2 comments
Gee, how much did they pay you to write this bull? Mo tried to sign these guys and not being able to do so may not be his fault but it is not ‘a good thing’ as you espoused. I do get the impression that Heyward bought into Chicago’s sale pitch and that could explain Mo’s shortcoming. He’s a good gm but he has the personality of unbuttered toast.
Going to have to bet you have never met him in person. He is a very nice guy with a great and funny personality. The only reason Heyward took the Chicago deal was because of the opt out clause…. and he got TWO of them. He will cash out in 3-4 years and will probably hit 3-5 more homeruns at Wrigley to help boost his value.
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