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Career 3.33 ERA for the Cardinals. I just could see them keeping him.
They don’t have anything in the LH reliever pipeline and I really don’t think he will get a raise either. He performed poorly and was injured.
I think we can find an upgrade on King. I wish Raquetwas given a try out. To me the last month was wasted on trotting out the same unimproved players. Besides, King is not a strikeout type. Raquet had a very good minor league year. I’d drop King, Koperniak, Roycroft, Munoz, and Alcala.
I’d keep Koperniak and trade Nootbaar. Koperniak had a rough start to the year but was pretty much normal in July and August.
I think management liked Nootbaar. Not sure what Bloom thinks of him. I thinks he’s overrated. He is a good fielder who gets on base a lot. But yet another mediocre left handed bat.
I think the Cards should add Baez, Bernal, Mautz, Hjerpe, and Love. You can get there by DFAing Munoz, Alcala, King, Siani, Koperniak, and Thompson. Church and Scott make Siani redundant. Love may not be taken, but I think he may have found his niche as a reliever
I think Lovr should be protected m, as he could be stashed in the back of a teams bullpen. His health is the only thing scaring teams. I think you have to protect Baez, Bernal, Nautz and Love.
Also against Love’s case is the fact he has never thrown an inning at Triple-A. The additional fact that he will play next season at the age of 27 won’t help his case, either. Not impossible he could be protected, but it’s not likely, either.
If Siani is left unprotected, I could see another team picking him up and I could see Siani winning the starting CF job at their spring training. Scott is going to get better and better defensively. But for the time being I think Sinai is better defensively.
Siani is already on the 40-man roster so he’s already protected. Unless the Cardinals cut him which is a definite possibility.
Bloom has indicated that the goal is to get back to contention. The guys on the 40 man need to be guys that conceivably could help with that goal. Is a guy like Siani a useful piece to a contending club? I don’t think that his tiny upgrade over Scott defensively (if at all) is worth the downgrade that we know comes with his bat. Austin Love is another guy…is a 27 year old middle reliever going to help you win the division, a series or the World Series? Sadly, same with one of my favorite prospects of the last 10 years, Matt Koperniak. The British invasion is unlikely to occur here in St Louis, unfortunately. These guys simply aren’t likely to be pieces of a contending St Louis Cardinal team in the coming years. So if they go, I won’t be super sad (although I will still contend that Koperniak could be as good as Nootbaar if they traded Lars away).
I am still where I was a few weeks ago. Bernal, Baez, Mautz, and Hjerpe will be added. I think Jordan gets added too. Then depending on his health, Rincon may be added. I believe that’s it. Rajcic/Hansen/Love/Winquest/Taylor probably all fall below the line of someone needing to be protected.
That’s 5 or 6 spots that need to be cleared. Plus maybe 2 more for free agents or Rule 5 draft. Munoz and Pozo are sure drops. No options left for Munoz and he wasn’t good. Too many catchers on the 40-man to keep Pozo. Thompson, Siani, Alcala, and King are probable drops. Robberse, Veneziano, Roycroft, Raquet, Prieto, Koperniak, Fernandez, and Fermin are all possible drops. Lots of options to upgrade. I don’t think we would regret losing any of the above too much although I’d like to keep Fernandez and Fermin.
Bloom has indicated that the goal is to get back to contention.
But he hasn’t laid out a clear timeline and probably won’t. Contention in 2026? I doubt it.
It wouldn’t be surprising if guys like Siani and Koperniak are removed from the 40 man but that doesn’t mean that their replacements will help us contend anytime soon.
I think I count 11 40 man rosters could be at risk. I doubt they cut that many, but Siani, Roycroft, Munoz, Pozo, Koperniak, King, Robberse, Thompson, Raquet, Alcala,Veneziono are possible non tenders or Dfas. It’s interesting to note that Leahy and Fermin don’t have any options left. But as Brian stated the actual roster cuts are less than than what you’d think.
A large change might be Blooms way of putting his stamp on the roster. You also might need spots for free agents.
Brian – I’m curious if you think that Darlin Saladin has entered the conversation for Rule 5 protection given his successful new pitch at the AFL?
Nick Raquet and Joh. King live…for now.
Perhaps we should consider Torres a prospect now. Perhaps we should consider what 2nd base, corner outfielder might keave.jnevel asked:
Brian – I’m curious if you think that Darlin Saladin has entered the conversation for Rule 5 protection given his successful new pitch at the AFL?
No. He has never pitched in Double-A, let alone Triple-A. He is not MLB-ready. But he is having a very good AFL so far.
Decisions relating to which slow movers to protect this year is unlikely to move the contention needle very much. Somebody might get a little use out of one of our slow movers, we might get a little use out of somebody else’s.
Guys to protect are those who can’t move up because they are blocked, and any 4A types you want to hold on to as AAA ready reserves. You don’t use 40 man slots all winter for guys who ran out of runway due to too much wheel spinning or too much time missed on IL. You can take your chances with them, and if necessary, pick up somebody else’s unprotected slow mover next spring. You can always find 4A types in the spring also. And a cheap mop up guy.
Thanks Brian. That’s what I was thinking too, but his success was starting to make me consider him a little bit when I had never considered him before and I wondered what other experts might think.
My final picks for protection from the rule 5 draft are Bernal, Josh Baez, Hjerpe, Mautz, and Jordan. That exposes Hansen, Love, Saladin, and Winquest as probably the best eligible players to take from us.
As to cuts, I think the Cardinals make 3 more cuts right now to leave the roster at 39 players. That will involve trying to pass Robberse through waivers, along with non-tender cuts to John King and Jorge Alcala. I think Pozo may survive for now until we are sure what the situation looks like at catcher depending on if a catcher gets traded or if Herrera looks like he will seriously be a catcher again.
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