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Grichuk, Bader, or Duvall make sense for the Cardinals.
If the Cardinals were actually trying to compete in the Central, they would need Bader in CF, plus one of the other two as a platoon for Walker (of course, they would probably platoon Noot instead, because he is left-handed).
Bader is often injured. He had 402 PA’s last season. Maybe you remember his PA’s from the list above. It wouldn’t be a problem for me, but MLBTR expects an 8mil salary.
PA’s doesn’t always mean injured. The first few years he was here, he wasn’t injured a lot, he just kept getting demoted to AAA (even though his slash line was nearly identical to Tommy Edman’s, who was placed at the top of the order). But the narrative was that he was injured a lot, because people look at PA’s.
Last year, I think his benching was performance-related late in the year.
Besides, the Cardinals want to play the young guys, it’s okay to have injuries to your veterans in that scenario.
My reasoning of adding Bader is that he mashes lefties (as do Grichuk and Duvall), and if you have two of them, you have a lineup that can absolutely crush lefties. It’s also about fixing the two issues of last year’s club – the outfield and the bench guys.
Siani would still be the 4th or 5th OF, and he can play against righties even though Bader still outhits him against righties.
None of Bader, Grichuk or Duvall would be blocking anybody. They’d be here on one year deals to hopefully win the NL central, otherwise trade bait at the deadline.
I don’t think he is getting $8 million this year, probably down in the $5-6 million range. We shall see. Either way, that’s out of the Cardinals budget unless they trade almost all of Arenado’s contract.
I think the title of this article is certainly appropriate.
The Cardinals Are Amidst A Half-Measure Offseason https://t.co/raEd7SEwKd pic.twitter.com/nigVrd3EzP
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) January 14, 2025
If a guy is not playing, and its not due to injury, why is he a CF candidate to start for 8mil? Pass.
If a guy is not playing, and its not due to injury, why is he a CF candidate to start for 8mil? Pass.
I don’t think he’s getting $8 million.
He just had his worst offensive season ever (but still out OPSed Siani by almost 90 pts).
In the MLBTR chat today, they said they thought DeJong would be in the $3-4 million range. That might be applicable to Bader as well.
And I checked, Bader did not hit the IL in 2024, but he did spend significant time on the IL in 2022 & 2023.
Trending down, got it. Maybe Mo will add more veteran presence again this season at low hanging fruit prices. Sounds familiar, but so does the “youth” thing. Decisions, decisions!
Just saw a hypothetical trade that sounded interesting to me and wanted feedback. Arenado, Liberatore and $5 million cash to the Mariners for Bryan Woo. I like the idea. Thoughts?
Doesn’t work.
Woo is a premium talent, Arenado & Liberatore are not.
Seattle only had $10-15 million worth of budget to work with, they recently added a utility player that costs about $3 million.
Seattle says no.
The payroll side of it I could see being a problem. I didn’t think Woo was that big of a talent considering he was never a top 100 prospect. However, after reading the scouting report from a couple of years ago, I can see the talent. If only….
That trade proposal looks better last offseason, but the $ are still a stretch for SEA, they shouldn’t.
Decisions, decisions!
Yes, the Cardinals need to decide on a strategy and stick to it.
They can either try to win the division at a reduced payroll, in which case they need more than “a rh bat and a reliever”, or they can embrace the “reset” and the “need” to reduce payroll that they have publicly announced, and they can trade Arenado, Fedde & Helsley, using the latter two to shed salary and bring back prospects that will allow us to compete in 2026 & beyond.
But if Mo thinks a single rh bat makes the team competitive, he is going down the same path he has been on for the past 10 years.
I didn’t think Woo was that big of a talent considering he was never a top 100 prospect.
Woo pitched to a 2.89 ERA last year in 121 innings.
The only arm the Mariners are willing to deal is Luis Castillo, who makes $24 million. And then they want a major-league corner infield back plus pitching depth.
“a youthful rhb” may have been better for Mo. Fans will have Alonso at 1B given wiggle room in Mo’s generalization.
Lol, shoulda, woulda, coulda!
Poor Bill may have his sights set on a righty version of Siani. Waiver claims seem to have caught Bills eye.Well jj, you may get your wish.
Samad Taylor was just DFA’d from the Mariners.
Maybe this will get the two sides talking about an Arenado trade…
Wait, what?!? Lol, this is Mo’s arena. CF has already crashed! I “wish” to be no part of it!
Grichuk fits best, but that’s not a wish!NYM: Their FO expects Alonso to sign elsewhere–MLBTR
Vientos to 1B. Roster Resource shows Bret Baty at 3B, for now. If Boras and Bergman wait for too much, for too long, could the nym pivot to Arenado?
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NYY: Oswaldo Cabrera is at 3B, with Chisham going back to 2B, Volpe, Goldy.
If they don’t land Bergman….
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My dark horse is the Angels. Heard anything else?New York Mets – haven’t really heard anything indicating they are interested
New York Yankees – want the Cardinals to eat a significant portion of Arenado’s salary or take Stroman back (which is probably the best move for the Cardinals at this point)
Los Angeles Angels – while they are ready to replace Rendon at 3B, I don’t see them tying up $65 million at 3B for two aging veterans
Not surprised stl passed on Stroman, there’s minimal salary to be dumped.
As a baseball trade, straight up, stl shouldn’t. I like Arenado better going forward and trust him more to stay healthy.
Resetting the financials is done by next offseason. No need to take on a 1.468 whip and his big salary for 2026, IMO.
There are 3 years/$64 million remaining on Arenado’s contract.
There is one year/$18.5 remaining on Stroman’s contract, which can turn into two years/$37 million if he pitches more than 140 innings this year.
Q1. Is it easier to get out of 3 years/$64 million or 2 years $37 million?
Q2. What is the difference in maximum contract values between the two? Is that significant?As for salary. Arenado makes $27 million this year. And let’s say BikeMike is correct that Arenado is deferring $6 million. So, the cash outlay is $21 million.
Stroman makes $18.5 million this year.
In absolute dollars, that is a savings 0f $8.5 million. From a cash flow perspective for 2025, that is a savings of a paltry $2.5 million.
However, now you have seven starters for five rotation spots.
And one of the things you are supposed to do in a rebuild is acquire prospects that can improve your next window of contention.
So, with the pitching surplus, they could now trade Erick Fedde and his $7.5 million and acquire prospects that help us in 2026 & beyond (which they should be seeking to do anyway).
Alternatively, the could pay down Stromany’s contract and seek to flip him for salary relief. They are willing to pay down $15-20 million to get rid of Arenado, but not finding any teams interested.
Q3. Why wouldn’t they also be willing to pay down $10-20 million of Stroman’s contract to move him off the books, if it gets them to the same place?
Q4. Do you think nobody is going to take Stroman is the Cardinals pay down $10 million in the first year and a (contingent) $5 million in the second year?As for trading straight up, when the Yankees initially proposed the swap, I would have immediately asked for Spencer Jones or George Lombard, Jr as part of the deal. The Yankees would have likely said absolutely not, but they probably would have been willing to give up other prospects as part of the deal.
Instead, the Cardinals went public with how preposterous they thought the deal was, and now that deal is probably gone for good.
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