- This topic has 1,408 replies, 45 voices, and was last updated 9 hours, 32 minutes ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Arizona is in need of OF help and LHRP help. I could see teaming up with them again sending Nootbaar and Romero their way. I think Nootbaar’s surgery has teams wanting him to prove he’s healthy before they trade for him though. I really like Ryan Waldschmidt in AZ, I don’t expect those 2 to be able to bring him back to STL, but hes never played above AA and they are considering him breaking camp with the team because they are in need of OF’s. Nootbaar may not be a perfect match there though either because they are already LH heavy. I do really like Tommy Troy and a package around him could happen. He could be a RH Donovan type with the ability to play CF on top of it and be a fall back option if Scott isn’t the answer in CF or could shift Wetherholt to 3B, if Gorman isn’t the answer, and Troy could play 2B.
Posting this because this is when I consider the contention window opening.
Potential free agents after 2027 season
First Base: Freddie Freeman, Christian Walker, Yandy Díaz^, Munetaka Murakami, Willson Contreras (club option), Ryan O’Hearn
Second Base: Ozzie Albies^, Jeff McNeil^, Jorge Polanco, Luis García Jr., Bryson Stott, Brendan Donovan, Hyeseong Kim (two-year club option), Willi Castro
Third Base: Bo Bichette (opt-out)^, Max Muncy (club option), Isaac Paredes, Nolan Arenado, Ryan McMahon, Zach McKinstry, Kiké Hernández
Shortstop: Jeremy Peña, Trevor Story (club option), Javier Báez, Taylor Walls
Outfield: Ronald Acuña Jr. (club option)^, Kyle Tucker (opt-out), Cody Bellinger (opt-out), Steven Kwan, Teoscar Hernández (vesting option), Anthony Santander (opt-out), Luis Robert Jr.^, Jo Adell, Harrison Bader, Jurickson Profar, Tyler O’Neill, Masataka Yoshida, Brandon Marsh, Jung Hoo Lee (opt-out), Lars Nootbaar, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Mike Yastrzemski (club option), Miguel Andujar (mutual option), Trevor Larnach, Jesús Sánchez, Andrew Benintendi, Victor Robles^, Jake Meyers
Designated Hitter: Giancarlo Stanton (club option)
Starting Pitcher: Logan Gilbert, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom (conditional club/player options), Chris Sale (club option), Framber Valdez (opt-out), Joe Ryan, Michael King (opt-out)^, Tyler Glasnow (club option), Pablo López, Sonny Gray^, Nathan Eovaldi, Luis Castillo (vesting option), Nick Pivetta (opt-out)^, MacKenzie Gore, Tatsuya Imai (opt-out)^, Drew Rasmussen^, Justin Steele, Sandy Alcantara^, Merrill Kelly (vesting option), Seth Lugo (vesting option), Joe Musgrove, Nick Lodolo, Reynaldo López, Kodai Senga (club option), Michael Wacha (club option), Sean Manaea, Luis Severino^, Clay Holmes^, Eduardo Rodriguez (vesting option), Tanner Houck, Bailey Ober, Cristian Javier, Jeffrey Springs^, Adrian Houser (club option), Dustin May (mutual option), Anthony Kay (mutual option), Kyle Hart, Drew Anderson, Ryan Weiss, Michael Soroka, Michael Lorenzen^
Relief Pitcher: Andrés Muñoz (club option), Jhoan Duran, Ryan Helsley, Kenley Jansen^, Trevor Megill, Carlos Estévez^, Luke Weaver, Griffin Jax, Camilo Doval, Jeff Hoffman, Kyle Finnegan (mutual option), Will Vest, Félix Bautista, Brad Keller, Steven Matz, Emilio Pagán^, Garrett Whitlock (club option)^, Phil Maton (club option), Seranthony Domínguez, Shelby Miller (club option)
Coulumbe and Giolito should be in Jupiter….. 98M payroll is beyond pathetic, even for BDW. If they end up pitching well, good talent acquisition pieces. I don’t understand how they aren’t signed somewhere.
Cardinalfan in Chitown:
There’s a not a snowball’s chance in Hades that the Cardinals will be contending in 2027 for anything except maybe fourth place. 2030 is a good target for contention.
At the end of the 27 season, if we have developed a middle of the order and top of rotation, I can see BDW buying some complimentary pieces to fill in around the edges. On the other hand, if we have developed some complementary pieces and some back of rotation types, we will just have to keep trying because he is not going to be buying the headliners any more. As to prospective FAs, there is no telling what guys will be doing two years from now, who will be good and who won’t. Might as well just wait and see what happens.
I want Giolito and Coulumbe for one simple reason, possibility of adding more young talent at the trade deadline.
BDW already proved he was willing to spend extra to get Clarke, Fajardo, Fitts, Dobbins, etc.
I,for one, am happy about what Bloom has been able to accomplish so far. Jojo and Pallante should not be Cardinals on opening day though. Noot they are stuck with until he proves himself healthy or they will be getting pennies on the dollar.
I ran across a Henry Bolte, an outfield prospect for the As. He is a young outfielder who hits right handed with burgeoning power and speed. He would be a perfect fit for the Cards. Not sure who the As have at catcher, but maybe Crooks could be a fair trade for Bolte. Bolte got promoted to AAA, and the As have 3 young, solid outfielders,
I ran across a Henry Bolte, an outfield prospect for the As.
As a NRI he is raking in ST. 40 PAs, .378/.425/.703/1.128. 3 HR
2022 2nd round, high schooler. Made AAA halfway through last season and hit .300. Looks like he has enough arm for RF and can cover CF. Strikes out a lot. 29% last year between AA and AAA, but his OBP was .385 and he stole 44 bases with only 2 CS. The As site lists him their #5 prospect. Our site has Cijntje as our #5, Bernal #6, Mathews #7. Maybe they would do one of them.
The A’s already have their long term catcher in Shea Langeliers so I don’t know if they would want to trade for Crooks or Bernal.
The Cardinals appear to have their short term RH OF bat in Velazquez. We shall see if Baez turns into a long term option.
Well if they don’t want a catcher, we better hope they like pitchers with injury issues because, other than Doyle, all of them in our top 20 are coming off injury to some extent. If catcher and pitcher is out, we have to drop down to Ryan Mitchel or Yairo Padilla. No way that works for the As. I think we would be SOL. I’m not sure what they would want off our ML roster that we don’t need worse.
We may not be a good matchup with the A’s. We need to find a team who needs a cost controlled catcher for the next several years. Maybe we even throw in Gorman and Walker so they can take a flier on them as well.
Maybe we even throw in Gorman and Walker so they can take a flier on them as well.
Walker needs to be DFA’d and go the indy ball route.
That .398 OPS in spring training isn’t going to entice anyone into believing they can “fix” him.
The Yankees are “on the hunt” for SP help and a LHRP. They also have to many OFers after Bellinger came back. Different article, but they want a utility IF as well. It’s a heck of a good fit…..
Cardinals get Jason Dominguez or Spencer Jones (#6), I’d prefer Jones for the power.
Yankees get: Jojo, Fermin and Pallante to fill in until their big money guys get healthy.
And we get Packy!!
In my post above, that was assuming Walker spending time in March- May at “the lab”. Also starting JJW in Memphis to gain an extra year of control. I know the Ol’ regime “didn’t play those games” , BUT the new one seems like they might have some common sense…..
2B – Bryan Torres OBP .360 after .441 in ‘25
SS – Winn
1B – Burly
DH – Herrera
3B – Gorman
LF – Nelly
RF – Jones
C – Pages/Pozo
CF – Church (Vic traded to Philly)That lineup along with our championship caliber bullpen and revamped starters could easily be in the playoff hunt.
If Wetherholt is worth having the extra year of control on, he’s worth signing to an extension before he gets to that point. There’s not a good reason to hold him back at this point, and the upside is getting an extra pick for his ROY/future MVP finish. Torres has already been sent down, so any idea of him being the opening day 2B/leadoff man is just wishful thinking.
If Wetherholt is worth having the extra year of control on, he’s worth signing to an extension before he gets to that point.
I disagree because the decision point on the two things is far apart. The time to decide on the extra year of control is now, based upon what is known now and current circumstances. A decision on an extension is some time in the future and will be based on what is known then and circumstances then.
Hopefully we have learned our lesson about injecting a ROY pick into the decision.
While the decisions may be far apart, the rationale behind the decision will happen at about the same time, in either case. If Wetherholt becomes Gorman or Walker, having an extra year of control is meaningless. If he becomes Donovan or Nootbaar, it may prove useful, but he’s likely going to be a salary casualty anyway. If he becomes a legit star, then I suppose the decision to trade a year of control for a draft pick becomes more muddled. At the same time, the Cardinals have no money on the books so I don’t see why they couldn’t sign an extension with him if he’s very good in 2026, 2027 and into 2028. Many of those deals turn out just fine for the teams signing them.
ST25, so you’d rather have him for April of a lost season over having him for a whole year while they are in contention? Just making sure you are way off or don’t understand.
Takes two to Tango….. aka what if he doesn’t want an extension?
A year of JJ in 2032 is much much more valuable than POSSIBLY getting a pick in the 30’s.
If we want JJ in 2032, we can have him in 2032 (Just pay up). He won’t benefit one iota from playing in Memphis to start the year and it’s blatant service time manipulation to even go there. I don’t care about Dewitt’s wallet at this point. Just play your best players and go from there.
I also disagree that the cheaper year for JJ in 2032 is more valuable than the pick. There is plenty of potential that a pick in the 30s could turn into another MLB player. The Cards turn their top 10 prospects into MLB players about 90% of the time and top 20 about 75%. They turn into useful regulars at a 60% and 45% clip. That 30s pick turns into a top 10 or 20 prospect most of the time. JJ plus a player>JJ alone.
A year of JJ in 2032 is much much more valuable than . . .
A year of anybody 6 years from now may be worth nothing.
From the organization’s perspective, the idea is that sometime before 6 years from now another good looking middle infielder will pop out of the pipe and we can off JJ, hopefully for something good depending on how good he is by that point, and let somebody else pay him the big bucks.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.