photo: Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk (Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports)
As St. Louis Cardinals major league camp became fully operational this past weekend, it is time once again to focus on the promise of the new season. Before 2017 is officially forgotten, it seems appropriate to say goodbye one last time to a group of 28 players who have become ex-Cardinals since the close of the 2017 season. This is significantly lower than the 40 departees the winter before.
The largest group to leave the organization is typically free agents and this fall was no exception. St. Louis had 12 players become free agents following the 2017 season, down from 17 the year before. However, just four were off the major league roster with the other eight minor league free agents.
The Cardinals lost seven additional players via trade. One was claimed off waivers as the club removed him from the 40-man roster. Four others were released, one was lost in the Rule 5 draft and another three retired.
All 28 are outlined in the following.
Major league free agents (4)
Of the four major league free agents, all are pitchers.
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| MLB FA (4) | Lance Lynn | RH | StL | none | |||
| Zach Duke | LH | StL | |||||
| Seung-hwan Oh | RH | StL | |||||
| Juan Nicasio | RH | StL |
Two, Zach Duke (Minnesota) and Juan Nicasio (Seattle), have new homes for 2018. Texas nixed its tentative deal with Seung-hwan Oh due to concerns over his elbow. In this oddest of off-seasons for free agents, the best pitcher of the four, Lance Lynn, remains unsigned. The right-hander will cost a signing team an early draft pick.
Major league trades (5)
More than any time in recent memory, the Cardinals reworked the roster with trades this past off-season. Note the relative balance, in that the same quantity of hitters were traded away, four, as pitchers departed as free agents.
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| MLB trade (5) | Sandy Alcantara | RH | StL | Aledmys Diaz | SS | StL | |
| Magneuris Sierra | OF | StL | |||||
| Stephen Piscotty | OF | StL | |||||
| Randal Grichuk | OF | StL |
The traded group includes three of the eight starting position players from the beginning of last season – shortstop Aledmys Diaz plus outfielders Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty. The other two were top prospects who made their MLB debuts last season – Sandy Alcantara and Magneuris Sierra.
Other major league departures (2)
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| MLB release/ | Trevor Rosenthal | RH | StL | none | |||
| non-tender (1) | |||||||
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| MLB waivers (1) | Rowan Wick | RH | Mem | none |
Rather than give injured pitcher Trevor Rosenthal an arbitration-dictated salary increase for a season during which he will not pitch, the Cardinals did not offer the former closer a 2018 contract. Non-tendered, Rosenthal is a free agent.
To accommodate the 40-man roster addition of newly-signed Bud Norris last week, the Cardinals placed reliever Rowan Wick on outright waivers. From there, the prospect right-hander was claimed by San Diego.
Minor league Rule 5 draft (1)
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| Minors Rule 5 (1) | none | Jacob Wilson | 2B | Spr |
Though they were inactive in the major league phase, the Cardinals lost one player for good in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft in December – Jacob Wilson. The infielder’s career stalled the last few years as he bounced back and forth between Double-A and Triple-A.
Minor league free agents (8)
With the Cardinals having released a number of minor league free agents during the season, only eight declared free agency this past fall. That compares to 13 the year before.
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| Minors FA (8) | Miguel Socolovich | RH | Mem | Alberto Rosario | C | Mem | |
| Josh Zeid | RH | Mem | Gabriel Lino | C | Spr | ||
| Mark Montgomery | RH | Mem | Nick Martini | OF | Mem | ||
| Anthony Garcia | OF | Spr | |||||
| C.J. McElroy | OF | Spr DL |
Three of them were former 40-man roster players, including reliever Miguel Socolovich, who made St. Louis’ 2017 Opening Day roster. The others are outfielder Anthony Garcia and catcher Alberto Rosario, the latter who had returned to the Cardinals last time he was a free agent.
Outfielders Nick Martini and C.J. McElroy were homegrown Cardinals with the others being repeat free agents. The oft-injured McElroy was St. Louis’ third-round draft pick in 2011.
Other Minor League departures (8)
Eight other 2017 Cardinals left the organization in a manner other than free agency and Rule 5 during this past off-season. Specifically, three were released, two were dealt away and three hung up their spikes for good.
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| Minors release (3) | Jordan DeLorenzo | LH | SC | Steven Zavala | C | GCL | |
| Silas Bohannan | RH | JC | |||||
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| Minors trade (2) | Zac Gallen | RH | Mem | none | |||
| Daniel Castano | LH | SC | |||||
| Pitchers | Thr | Tm | Position Players | Pos | Tm | ||
| Minors retire (3) | Trey Nielsen | RH | Spr | Michael Brdar | 2B | GCL | |
| Robbie Coman | C | GCL |
The top prospect among this group is pitcher Zac Gallen, sent to the Miami Marlins in the Marcell Ozuna trade. The right-hander would have been The Cardinal Nation’s 11th-ranked prospect for 2018. Lefty Daniel Castano also was a part of that five-player trade.
Right-hander Trey Nielsen was in big-league camp last spring, but left the game late last season with frustrations over the economic hardships minor leaguers have to face due to low salaries.
In conclusion
28 players have left the Cardinals organization since the end of last season – 11 from the 40-man roster and 17 minor leaguers. 15 are pitchers, with the other 13 being position players.
In Part 2 of this annual series, I will take on a similar analysis of all the new Cardinals who have arrived for 2018.
For more
To track the status of the Cardinals’ 40-man roster as well as all players in the system by position and level, check out the Roster Matrix, always free and updated here at The Cardinal Nation. Also included is every player transaction across the full organization all year long.
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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian on Twitter.
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