Cards need to somehow upgrade the offense, and the only opportunity spots for next season are probably 3B and left field.
Why are CF and RF not spots for improvement also? Our incumbent RF has OPS+ of 59, 100 and 92 the last three years. He’s also a bad defender out there. I also think that Carlson will hit better than Bader in CF, but how much better than a .779 OPS can we realistically expect? I think you’re also going to be disappointed over a full season in Carlson’s defense if he’s expected to be a CF. He was thought of as a slightly above average corner guy and the difference between he and Bader will be stark and reflected in the run totals of balls that will be in the gap that were once caught on the fly by Harrison. Finally, I agree that LF is a place to improve. I still think O’Neill will hit, and unfortunately it may end up being elsewhere thanks to impatient fans who want to throw away a potential 95 win team in 2022-23 to upgrade an 85 win team to 86 wins in 2021.
Turner seems like the ideal fit, doesn’t he?
I’m just not seeing it yet. If Carp was still hitting reasonably (~100 OPS+), I could see a useful (but expensive) platoon being an option. Turner’s age is scary and given what we now know about Carlos Beltran, I wouldn’t be surprised if his late career renaissance wasn’t assisted by something outside of his work ethic. Lance Berkman is only one of the best hitters of the last 20 years. I don’t consider Turner to be in the same league as those two.