The Cardinals have already had an extremely productive off-season so far! First, Mo bolstered the Redbird bullpen by signing southpaw reliever Brett Cecil. Then Mo gained much needed organizational depth by trading long time Cardinal Jaime Garcia. Then just this past week, Mo found the Cardinals new center fielder by inking Dexter Fowler to a lucrative five year $80 million dollar deal. While these acquisitions will definitely improve the team, they are probably still not enough for the Cardinals to be competitive with the reigning world champion Chicago Cubs in 2017. So what can the Cardinals do to elevate themselves to being a legitimate threat to the World Champs? Sign free agent slugger Edwin Encarnacion!
Edwin Encanarcion is coming off of a monster 2016 campaign for the Blue Jays where he hit a whopping 42 HR and a career high 127 RBI! The Cardinals have not had a player that hit 40 or more HR and 100 or more RBI since Albert Pujols did it way back in 2010! While the Cardinals have had good hitters since the departure of Pujols in 2012, they haven’t had a slugger that struck fear into opposition every time he stepped into the batters box, Encarnacion would definitely fill this role for the Cardinals! If the Cardinals signed Encarnacion, it would instantly make their lineup one of the best in the NL! A projected batting order for the Cardinals in 2017 would resemble something like this with the addition of Encarnacion:
CF Fowler
RF Piscotty
1B Encarnacion
3B Carpenter
LF Grichuk
C Molina
SS Diaz
2B Wong/Gyorko
Pitcher
This lineup looks pretty formidable, right? The Cardinals would have every quality needed to be a championship contender, having speed and average at the top of the order, power in the middle, and more speed at the bottom! As the Chicago Cubs displayed this year, a lineup with a mix of talents and strengths is vital in order to be successful.
Critics of Edwin Encarnacion will cite his age and defense as reasons why the Cardinals should avoid signing him. While Encarnacion played mostly DH in Toronto, Encarnacion could me at least an adequate first baseman for the Cardinals. For years, the Cardinals have shown that they are willing to sacrifice defense for offense, examples being Matt Holiday, Jhonny Peralta, Lance Berkman, etc. With Encarnacion playing first base for the Cardinals, his lack of defensive abilities will be minimized, unlike Jhonny Peralta and Matt Holliday who both played positions where defense is more critical. Concerning Encarnacion’s age, the Cardinals could offer him a higher annual salary per year for less years to protect themselves from paying a player who is past his prime. With most of the clubs that were expected to be suitors for Encarnacion already signing alternative options, the Cardinals can possibly take advantage of Encarnacion’s slow developing market.
The signing of Edwin Encarnacion would not only instantly make the Cardinals legitimate World Series contenders, it would show Cardinal Nation and the rest of the baseball community that the Cardinals are willing to spend money and take risks in order to be considered one of the elite teams in baseball entering the 2017 season. The signing of Encarnacion would also help the Cardinals come one step closer to challenging the arch rival Cubs for the NL Central title in the upcoming season!
