photo: Jared Young (Benny Sieu/USA TODAY Sports)
MLB’s GM Meetings brought more information, but only two minor moves have yet been made by the St. Louis Cardinals early in this important off-season. Our history feature covers the club’s lone playoff appearance in the decade of the 1990’s, in 1996.
News and Notes for the Cardinals offseason
This section features offseason St. Louis Cardinals news items each week that do not require extensive coverage.
- Four Cardinals are on the ballot for MLB’s annual All-MLB team. They are Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman, and Willson Contreras. This will be the fifth annual All-MLB team.
Winners are selected in part by online fan vote until November 19. Fans may vote once every 24 hours. Fifty percent of the final vote is by fan vote and 50% is by a panel of experts. Winners will be announced on December 16.
- The annual Silver Slugger Award winners were announced on November 9. Nolan Arenado was the only Cardinals finalist and he did not win.
- Retired Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright wrote a letter to St. Louis fans in the Player’s Tribune. That letter is available to read here.
The letter gave fans a history of his career, how it started and how the trade to St. Louis came to be. He talks about significant moments in his career with the Cardinals and how he grew and changed in St. Louis. The letter is a must read for all Cardinals fans.
- President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak told the media at the annual GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona that the offseason plans include acquiring two starters, plus a “swing man”. These acquisitions will come from either free agency or trade. Some additional relief arms are also in the plans.
Mozeliak also stated that after the required pitching is obtained, they will “see what we look like”. Earlier, Mozeliak said that the Cardinals would acquire three starters.
- Former Cardinals manager Mike Shildt appears to be under consideration by the Milwaukee Brewers to replace Craig Counsell as manager. Counsell left the Brewers to become the manager of the NL Central rival Cubs. Shildt is also under consideration for the open manager job with his current employer, the San Diego Padres.
- The annual Cardinals Winter Warm-Up is scheduled for January 13- 15, 2024. Caravans traveling across the Midwest will occur during that weekend as well. Details can be found at com/WWU .
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
In the realm of trade rumors “in reverse”, two teams are reported to have interest in current Cardinals as subjects of a trade. The Toronto Blue Jays have expressed interest in St. Louis outfielder Dylan Carlson. Derrick Goold of the Post Dispatch writes that the Cardinals have received inquiries about Carlson, and the Blue Jays were specifically named as one team making such inquiries.
The Yankees as well are on the hunt for outfielders, specifically the left-handed variety. According to Goold, “multiple sources” have said the Yankees are eyeing either Brendan Donovan or Alec Burleson.
The Cardinals have plenty of depth at the outfield position, and John Mozeliak has stated in the past that the organization is open to trading from that depth.
Transactions
The Cardinals added two depth pieces to the back end of their 40-man roster, which is now full. However, with Rule 5 protection decisions just ahead, further moves will be coming soon.
- 11/5 The Cardinals acquired RHP Riley O’Brien from the Seattle Mariners for cash considerations.
- 11/6 The Cardinals obtained 2B Jared Young off waivers from the Chicago Cubs.
Injury Report
There are no new injuries to report.
Looking Ahead
The exclusive negotiating window for teams to negotiate with their free agents has passed. Free agents may now negotiate and sign with any team.
The deadline for teams to offer the Qualifying Offer to their free agents has also passed. The Cardinals did not make the QO to any free agent.
The QO will affect the Cardinals in other ways. Should the Cardinals sign any player who has been offered the QO, they will forfeit an early draft pick. Though the Cardinals have been hesitant to sign those players, they have done it the past. Cardinal catcher Willson Contreras was the recipient of a QO.
Some potential pitching targets of the Cardinals were offered the QO. They include Aaron Nola and Sonny Gray.
Two important dates coming up are November 14 and November 17. November 14 is the deadline for teams to add eligible minor league players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.
November 17 is the non-tender deadline. Players on the 40-man roster with less than six years of major league service must be tendered a contract by this date. Should a player not be tendered a contract, he immediately becomes a free agent. The Cardinals have not indicated whether any players will be non-tendered.
Award season continues this month. Gold Gloves and Silver Slugger Awards have already been given out. Finalists for the Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player and the Cy Young Award were announced on November 6. No Cardinals are finalists for these awards, so the team will have no winners of major awards in 2023. The remaining award winners will be announced on November 13-16.
The 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot will be released on November 20.
Blast from the Past
The Cardinals did not make the postseason in 2023. The reasons for that have already been hashed over and the historically bad season analyzed in every quarter. Now that the off-season is underway, the Blast from the Past will make a U-turn, and rather than bemoan the lost season, will celebrate those seasons in which the Cardinals did play in October.
This series will look at the Cardinals in the postseason by decade. The period from 1900-1920 was a tough two decades for the St. Louis franchise. It wasn’t until Sam Breadon purchased the Cardinals in 1917 that they began the ascent into the successful franchise it is today.
From 1920 until the present, the Cardinals made the postseason 32 times. In only two decades since then they did not made a single postseason appearance, the 1950s and the 1970s. In all other decades but one they have gone to the postseason multiple times.
The sixth installment in this series looks at the decade of the 1990s. Beginning in 1967, MLB added the Championship Series to the postseason.
When the two leagues were reorganized in 1969, the AL and the NL were each divided into two divisions each. Four teams were added, two in the AL (Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots), and two in the NL (Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres). The Cardinals went into the NL East Division following the reorganization.
MLB underwent another reorganization in 1993. The Division Series was added as the league expanded again, adding two more teams to the National League, the Colorado Rockies and the Miami Marlins (originally the Florida Marlins). MLB went from four divisions to six divisions, three in each league.
The NL Central was set in 1994, but due to a late season strike in August 1994, the postseason was cancelled. The Division consisted of the Cardinals, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 1998, the Milwaukee Brewers were added to the NL Central. The Houston Astros moved to the American League in 2013 and the NL Central became what it is today.
This history of the reorganizations of the 1990s is necessary to set the stage for this installment which remembers the Cardinals lone trip to the postseason in that decade.
The Cardinals made the postseason in 1996, their first appearance in nine years. In 1995, the Busch family (Gussie Busch died in 1989), had sold the Cardinals to Bill DeWitt Jr and Stephen F. Brauer, plus others in their ownership group. DeWitt Jr and his family have controlling interest in the team.
1996 was the first full year of the DeWitt’s group’s ownership. The GM of the team was Walt Jocketty. The manager was Tony La Russa, in his first of 16 seasons as the Cardinals manager.
The Cardinals finished in first place in the NL Central, with a record of 88-74, six games ahead of the Astros.
Future Hall of Famers on the team were Ozzie Smith and Dennis Eckersley, plus La Russa. 1996 was Ozzie Smith’s final season as a Cardinal and as a major league player as he and La Russa clashed over playing time.
The Cardinals played the San Diego Padres in the NL Division Series and swept them in three games.
The 1996 Cardinals advanced to the Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves. The Cardinals lost to the Braves 4-3. The Cardinals won Games 2, 3, and 4, but fell after leading the series three games to one. Two wins were at Busch Stadium.
Future Hall of Famer and future Cardinal John Smoltz beat St. Louis twice, in Games 1 and 5. St. Louis pitching had a collective 6.60 ERA in the series versus 1.92 for the Braves. Cardinals Gary Gaetti and Ron Gant had four RBI each and Willie McGee batted .333.
The Braves went on to lose the 1996 World Series to the New York Yankees.
The next installment covers the 2000 through 2004 seasons. From 2000-to the present, the Cardinals have gone to the postseason 16 times. That is half of the total trips to the postseason in franchise history. Thus, this period will be covered in four installments.
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