photo: Yuki Matsui (Rakuten Eagles)
The Cardinals intensify their search for bullpen help as free agent Yuki Matsui visited St. Louis. Our history feature highlights prior trades and signings that occurred during the December 11-17 period.
News and Notes for the Cardinals offseason
This section features offseason news items each week that do not require extensive coverage.
- Japanese All-Star closer Yuki Matsui made a visit to St. Louis on Thursday, December 14, according to a tweet from MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand. No further details other than the visit occurred were available as of this writing. The visit was not picked up by any local reporters prior to the tweet by Feinsand.
Derrick Goold of the St. Post-Dispatch had previously reported of the Cardinals interest in Matsui.
- Goold reported that the Cardinals will approach first baseman Paul Goldschmidt at some point this offseason about a contract extension. The hope is to reach an agreement prior to the start of the season, but in-season negotiations are not precluded.
Goldschmidt’s current contract is up after the 2024 season. It is anticipated that an extension will cover the remainder of the 36-year-old’s career.
- The Cardinals have hired former St. Louis pitcher Dean Kiekhefer as an Assistant Pitching Coach for the major league team.
The left hander made 22 appearances as a reliever for the Cardinals in 2016 and pitched briefly for the Oakland Athletics in 2018. In between, Kiekhefer pitched in the minor league systems of the Seattle Mariners and the Cincinnati Reds.
Kiekhefer officially retired in 2019. The Cardinals hired Kiekhefer as a pitching coach in 2020 for the short season State College Spikes, but the season was not played. He was promoted to the Palm Beach Cardinals for 2021 and was assistant pitching coordinator in 2022 and 2023.
- The annual Cardinals Winter Warm-Up is scheduled for January 13- 15, 2024. Details can be found at com/WWU . Autograph tickets are now on sale and the schedule can be found here.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
- The Cardinals’ search for bullpen help continues. As stated above, Japanese reliever Yuki Matsui made a visit to St. Louis on December 14. The Cardinals have been linked to other free agent relievers, including Phil Maton and former Cardinal Jordan Hicks. Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch has also reported that there have been internal discussions concerning free agent RHP Hector Neris.
After failing to make a trade for a reliever during the Winter Meetings, POBO John Mozeliak told reporters their search for bullpen help will likely be made on the free agent market rather than by trade. Additional starting pitcher acquisitions have been labeled as unlikely.
Transactions
There are no transactions to report.
Injury Report
There are no new injuries to report.
Looking Ahead
The year of 2023 is winding down, with Christmas and then New Year on the horizon. While some transactions take place during this period, it is not a time of significant hot stove activity.
The first important date in 2024 is January 12, the deadline for teams and arbitration eligible players to submit salary figures. The Cardinals have four players who are arbitration eligible – Tommy Edman (2nd year), Dylan Carlson (1st year), Ryan Helsley (2nd year), and JoJo Romero (1st year).
Arbitration hearings as needed will run from January 29 through February 16.
The Cardinals annual Winter Warm-Up begins on January 13. Details can be found at Cardinals.com/WWU.
The 2024 international signing period begins on January 15.
The 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced on January 23 on MLB Network at 5 pm CT.
Blast from the Past
The Winter Meetings have come and gone but the Hot Stove season continues. As 2023 winds down there is generally not a lot of activity during the Christmas and New Year period. However, some key transactions in franchise history have been made during this time.
This week’s Blast from the Past looks at some notable trades and/or signings that occurred during the final weeks of December. The following is a list of key transactions by date, from the period December 11 through December 17.
December 12, 1980 – The Cardinals traded catcher Ted Simmons to the Milwaukee Brewers. Simmons was the first-round draft pick of the Cardinals in 1967. Simmons made his major league debut at the age of 19 on September 21, 1968.
Simmons, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020, played for 13 seasons in St. Louis. He had a Cardinals slash line of .298/.366/.459 with 172 home runs and 929 RBI.
The trade to the Brewers sent Simmons, along with Rollie Fingers and Pete Vukovich, to Milwaukee in exchange for David Green, Dave LaPoint, Sixto Lezcano and Lary Sorenson.
December 13, 2003 – The Cardinals traded J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero to the Atlanta Braves for Adam Wainwright, Ray King, and Jason Marquis.
The young Wainwright was the first round selection of the Braves in the 2000 draft. The story goes that Wainwright was in the process of proposing marriage to his then girlfriend, Jenny Curry, when the telephone call to advise him of the trade to the Cardinals interrupted him. Wainwright and Jenny married in 2004 and have five children together.
The rest is history. The trade brought Wainwright to St. Louis where he remained until he retired at the end of the 2023 season.
December 13, 2017 – The Cardinals acquired outfielder Marcell Ozuna from the Miami Marlins for Zac Gallen, Sandy Alcantara, Magneuris Sierra and Daniel Castano.
Alcantara went on to win the Cy Young Award in 2022. Gallen was a Cy Young third place finisher in 2023.
Ozuna spent two underwhelming seasons with the Cardinals. Some legal controversies have also plagued the outfielder, including a serious charge of assaulting his wife.
Many Cardinals fans would like to forget this trade happened.
December 14, 2007 – The Cardinals dealt outfielder Jim Edmonds to the San Diego Padres for third baseman David Freese.
While Edmonds was a very good player for the Cardinals, his career was in its final years. Freese, though not as talented overall, made the most impact. As is well known, Freese was the NLCS and World Series MVP in 2011. If not for Freese, the Cardinals would most likely not have won their 11th World Series Championship.
December 15, 1999 – The Cardinals signed catcher Mike Matheny as a free agent. Though a decent catcher for the Cardinals, he is more well known for his time as the manager of the Cardinals from 2012 through mid-season 2018.
Though notable indeed, it is debatable whether his tenure as manager was good or bad.
December 17, 2019 – The Cardinals signed Korean Kwang-Hyun Kim to a two-year contract. The left-hander pitched for the Cardinals during the shortened 2020 season and for all of 2021 and dealt with long periods of separation from his family. Combined, Kim posted a record of 10-7 with an ERA of 2.97. The signing was considered successful by most.
After his St. Louis contract expired, Kim returned to the KBO, where the 35-year-old has pitched the last two seasons.
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