The Paul DeJong Saga and Mo’s Meddlesome Ways

[Brian Walton]

I believe Randy’s one great post-season (while Liberatore was still in the minors) set in stone how many Cardinals fans view the trade – then, now and probably, forever. Any time he has a good game, a segment of Cardinals Twitter go nuts trying to figure out new ways to say, “I told you so.”.

Let’s put some numbers into the outfield comparison.

Arozarena came up to the majors ahead of Carlson but over the last two seasons (full ones for both), Randy leads in fWAR, 6.5 to 5.0, but also had 150 more plate appearances than Carlson. In 2022, the difference between the two was just 2.7 to 2.4, with all 150 more plate appearances for Randy having come last season. Yet Carlson and his 2.4 fWAR seems on the verge of losing his job. That gap between the two is almost certainly much closer than many seem to think.

I highly doubt Shildt was reprimanded for making a fire and brimstone speech to his team behind closed doors. If every coach who did that took a hit, there would he thousands of open jobs across the country at every level and in every sport. Randy was clearly in the wrong for recording it and doubled down on dumbness by posting it on social media. I hope his judgement has improved since.

Over time, I have asked several Cards people in the know about the trade circumstances. All I could unearth about the video was this: “It certainly didn’t help.” That’s very reasonable to me…

[1toughdominican]

I was never at all too disconsolate over the departure of Arozarena. I’d say he’s a decent player, but not a loss to dwell on. I think it was magnified because he ripped it up in the flu-event post-season. Mickey Hatcher also got hot during a post-season…

[stlcard25]

I liked Arozarena a lot, but felt like the gamble on a mid rotation or better lefty for a spare OF was worth it. Hopefully Libby can level out the trade a bit.

[bicyclemike]

Good discussion. I am always reluctant to give up athletic guys. But then with our outfield candidates the last few years, they are all athletic so giving up any one of them is a risk. But in the normal course of things, you have to give up value to get value.

[BlackHillsCard]

The argument was never Carlson vs Arozarena. It was Arozarena vs O’Neill and I’d still take Randy over Tyler.

[Thegreyghost]

Winn is about to end Paul Dejong’s time with the cardinals sooner rather than later

[bicyclemike]

The VEB article said it was more an Arozarena-Carlson comp, BHC. Could be that Tampa wanted one of those two, although the sense is they really wanted Randy.

And yes, Winn is looking like the shortstop of 2024, and might be a part of the ‘23 club later in the summer.

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