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Well there is our veteran signing for the pen. Mo has now picked up a veteran utility guy (Helman) and a veteran bullpen guy (Anderson). The offseason is now done except for a possible Nado trade.
Cardinals Sign Nick Anderson To Minor League Deal https://t.co/WXfwL2jEvT pic.twitter.com/u1jPU11UwY
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) February 7, 2025
The offseason is now done except for a possible Nado trade.
I agree. I think they need to trade Arenado, but I don’t know that they can. To get any return at all they are going to have to include money, and the Cardinals are more set on shedding money, moving Gorman to 3B, Donovan to 2B, Nootbaar in LF, CF to Siani/Scott. I think the bench will be Saggese, Helman, Siani, and Pages. Barrero and Vilade will get a chance to earn a roster spot and Helman has options, though the 40 man is now full too. Anderson will have a legit shot at a pen spot, but his health is going to be the major hang up as its been most of his career.
Would that bench give Saggese enough playing time? I’d think he’d spell Gorman, Winn, and Arenado, but that’s not so many starts. I’d think they’d let him develop more at AAA with Siani and Helman getting a lot of CF starts with Donovan then backing up IF when not starting in LF. I could see Baker as the 4th bench guy instead of Saggese. His main role would be as a righty PH when the other side puts a southpaw in against Siani, Gorman, or Burly. If there’s an injury to a non-catcher, then Saggese, Koperniak, or Scott would get the call.
Saggese would start every game vs LHP for me for sure and sitting Burleson. But vs RHP I think he would have to earn more time. Even if Arenado is gone he’s still going to be fighting for time. But I don’t think he has anything more to prove in AAA. He finished his time there strong last year and then lit up the AFL. He deserves a legit shot at earning big league time and its probably going to start with starting vs LHP and a utility IF vs RHP. Helman (or Barrero or Vilade) is the guy that will play very little. I don’t see Baker having a role. He’s limited to DH and maybe some 1B. Burleson is going to play every day vs. RHP at DH and maybe some at 1B or RF. Vs LHP Saggese replaces Burleson, but playing 2B and probably Gorman going to DH. And is keeping Baker around worth the very limited time and defensive versatility? I don’t think it is.
I’m not sure Saggese has proved everything at AAA. He’s still working on swing decisions. The AFL likely helped, but would AAA time focused on that help more? I see Herrera as DH against lefties with Pages at C against them. Not sure Saggese gets bats there. Saggese could get starts at 2B against lefties, but I think they need to let Gorman start against lefties to see what he can do. That’s why I’d think Saggese’s only starts would be when Gorman, Winn, or Arenado would need to rest. If Arenado goes and Donovan is at 2nd then I’d think Saggese could not only back up the IF, but he could back up the OF by playing 2B and having Donovan then move to the OF. That would give him a lot of playing time.
I agree that Helman is likely to not see a ton of time, but with the DH, you can really specialize with the bench. If Helman is the “keep on the bench in case of emergencies” guy, and if Pages and Siani get enough starts to rest the main 9 (with Siani freeing Donovan to backup IF and Pages freeing Herrera to back up DH), then seems like the last bench spot could go to a specialist. Having someone who can crush a lefty pitcher late seems like it could be helpful.
How do you make a bunch of sore arm pitchers look better? Hire a sore everything pitcher. Mo is a genius.
I know the Cards will not do this but – they had Arenado traded to Houston and he nixed it.
Just sit his ass on the end of the bench and dont use him at all – not even to PH. Give 3B to Gorman as is the plan.
He’s already wealthy beyond 99.9999% of people’s dreams. If he has a certain place or two he wants to go then HE can eat the money not the Cardinals – how about that? Why is the player taking the hair cut never considered?
Oh the horror of making ‘only’ $13-15M per season to go play for a contender.
They should just tell him he’s not getting cut but he’s not going to play right now but nobody over there has the sack to do it.
ZTR, that would be a great way to make him have absolutely no value and make him untradeable this deadline or the following years. He still has 3 years left on his deal. It also isn’t like Arenado is completely useless. He is still a good defender and I do expect a bit of a bounceback offensively from him. I could see his value actually increasing by summer as his contract gets paid down a little and he potentially bounces back.
In regards to Anderson, it is another low risk high reward move. I wasn’t expecting the vet to be someone like Anderson, but it makes sense in hindsight as the risk level is so low with him being on a minors deal. I would fully expect him to make the team though out of Spring Training if he is healthy. I like that it is a minors deal though as the team isn’t out of any money if his arm blows out this Spring.
“one and done” needs a good 1st half. Being a good deadline trade chip benefits the team, himself, fans….. TBD
ZTR In that case, if I were Arenado I would just sit on the end of the bench for the next three years sipping Coca Cola, reading novels and collecting $24 million a year. Who needs all the aggro?
Sitting Arenado, or anyone that has an agreement and is not violating it simply for not agreeing to management’s preferences would burn the club for years. No one would want to sign with the Cardinals as they would not trust management to live up to their end of the bargain.
Now they should have sat DeJong, and did for awhile when Sosa outplayed him. But that was due to poor production, a totally valid reason.
Signing Anderson is along the same track as drafting two pre injured pitchers and the Wetherholt slide. Buying lottery tickets hoping to hit a jackpot. But in this case its like finding a lottery ticket in the pocket of something from the second hand store. Its not a bad strategy if you are poor and lack talent evaluation skills. It is similar to waiting until the deadline to get your ace. You sidestep a half season of injury risk and know if you will even be needing an ace. Of course a productive system and healthy budget would be better than risk play shenanigans, but that is not the present reality..
Bling, even the best teams in MLB that are churning out home grown stars sign guys like this to minors deals. The Braves just signed Chad Kuhl to a minor league FA deal. I’m unsure why it is such a bad thing in your view to sign a RP to a minors FA deal so no real risk here.
I also see your statements in regards to Wetherholt like he was a bad pick. Wetherholt matches what skills I believe you typically like as he has amazing plate discipline, doesn’t strike out, and puts the bat on the ball to all parts of the field with a lot of line drives. Was there someone else you really were high on available at #7 that you think the Cards should have taken instead?
Pro athletes aren’t built that way. He’d be dying on the inside if we sat him.
Sure, if he’s hot that would increase his value but what if it’s just more of last year or worse?
He can’t get injured if he’s not playing and he has plenty of track record.
I think sitting him would motivate him to be more flexible in working a deal and get back on the field. He doesn’t have that many good years left and he’s never won a thing in the post season. He’s hardly even been in the post season…
It’s a moot point though because the Cardinals won’t sit him – they will let the tail wag then dog and pay the price. Meanwhile it jacks up the reset and blocks a younger player for a team that likely won’t make the playoffs.
I guess the best thing for the organization is that he plays well and brings a better haul at the deadline. Maybe it’ll work out that way …
I also see your statements in regards to Wetherholt like he was a bad pick.
Not a bad pick, a risk play. He slid past the first six teams to choose for a reason. That reason was durability risk, which caused him to slide from potential #1-2 at one time.
You still dodged the question of who would you have drafted instead? You are great at critique, but you never offer up your own proposal to even open up the possibility of someone critiquing your opinion.
I’ll state that I think most of the teams that passed on Wetherholt will regret the decision. On prospect lists like BA, he has already passed up the guys drafted higher than him and only Bazzana is ranked higher than him.
And to clarify, every single draft pick and prospect is a risk. The only sure things in life are death and taxes. Wetherholt is actually ranked as being one of the highest floor picks (but not low ceiling). There are varying levels of risk for each player with varying ceilings to weight, but even guys that have been sure fire #1 MLB prospects flame out.
Sitting Arenado at the end of the bench would be side show from day one. Since he didn’t get the trade he wanted, it wouldn’t surprise me if he isn’t pouting all season long.
You still dodged the question of who would you have drafted instead?
No, I didn’t dodge the question, but you did miss the point again. I wouldn’t have drafted someone else instead. That is an assumption you made for whatever reason. I did not say it was a bad pick. I said it was a risk play, which it was. I think it was the right pick for the Cardinals because they need to take chances.
If the question instead had been who could they have picked that wouldn’t be as risky, I would say someone who hadn’t sat out the previous season due to injury. One of the next few guys taken I guess. But again, I don’t think the greater risk, potential greater reward was a bad move. They did the same when they drafted the two injured pitchers I mentioned.
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