St. Louis Cardinals MLB Notebook – Week of November 15-21

photo: Brendan Donovan (Memphis Redbirds)

The St. Louis Cardinals added three players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. Though the team had contenders, no Cardinals won in NL Rookie, Manager, Cy Young and MVP voting. Our history feature looks back at prior Cardinals Managers of the Year.



Cardinals add three players to roster

The deadline for finalizing rosters in anticipation of the Rule 5 draft came and went on November 19. The Cardinals have added three players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the draft, scheduled to take place on December 9.

The three players added are infielder Brendan Donovan, and pitchers Freddy Pacheco and Jake Walsh. The addition of these players brings the total on the roster to 36.

Donovan, 24, was drafted by the Cardinals in the seventh round of the 2018 draft. He spent parts of the 2021 season with Peoria, Springfield, and Memphis. Donovan also played in the 2021 Arizona Fall League. He hit a combined .304/.399/.455 in all three levels. He also slashed .308/.422/.519 in the AFL.

Brendan Donovan

Pacheco was signed as an International Amateur Free Agent in 2018 out of Venezuela. The RHP also played parts of 2021 at each of Peoria, Springfield, and Memphis as a reliever. He ended the season with a combined ERA of 3.67 with 11 saves.

Freddy Pacheco

Right hander Walsh was drafted in the 16th round of the 2017 draft out of Florida Southern College. The 26-year-old pitched for both Springfield and Memphis in 2021 and had a combined record of 2-2 with an ERA of 2.86 in 22 innings pitched. Walsh pitched in the 2021 Arizona Fall League as well, pitching 10 innings in relief and had an ERA of 8.10.

Jake Walsh

Among those left unprotected are shortstop Delvin Perez and first baseman Luken Baker.

More details here:

Cardinals Add Trio to 40-Man Roster

Cardinals miss out on other awards

Outfielder Dylan Carlson and former manager Mike Shildt each placed third in voting for the National League Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year, respectively.

Adam Wainwright finished seventh in the NL Cy Young Award voting and Paul Goldschmidt (sixth) and Tyler O’Neill (eighth) finished in the top 10 of the NL Most Valuable Player polling.

Trade and Acquisition Rumors

There are no trade or acquisition rumors to report.

Transactions

  • 11/18 The Cardinals sent RHP Ljay Newsome outright to the Memphis Redbirds.
  • 11/19 The Cardinals selected the contract of 3B Brendan Donovan from the Memphis Redbirds
  • 11/19 The Cardinals selected the contract of RHP Freddy Pacheco from the Memphis Redbirds
  • 11/19 The Cardinals selected the contract of RHP Jake Walsh from the Memphis Redbirds.

Injury Report

There are no new injuries to report.

Looking Ahead

As November nears its end, December in the MLB offseason calendar brings the non-tender deadline and the Winter Meetings, including the Rule 5 draft.

December 1 is the non-tender deadline. On that date teams decide whether to tender contracts to their pre-arbitration and arbitration eligible players on their major league roster. For the majority of MLB players the tender day is routine. However, some players will not be offered contracts and will therefore become free agents, available to sign with another team.

The Cardinals are not expected to non-tender any players. Several possible candidates have already been taken off the roster by other available means.

The annual Winter Meetings are scheduled to take place December 6-9 in Orlando Florida. The Rule 5 draft will take place on December 9. The roster has been finalized for that purpose. The Cardinals added three players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the draft. They are Brendan Donovan, Freddy Pacheco, and Jake Walsh.

The offseason activities could be altered/delayed by the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement on December 1. There is a high probability that a failure to come to an agreement between the two parties by December 1 will result in a lockout. A lockout would cause all offseason activity to cease until an agreement is reached. The length of any such delay is indeterminate.

Blast from the Past

In the second installment of the series on Cardinals past MLB award recipients, the Manager of the Year is this week’s focus. We begin with a short history of the award and then a summary of the three Cardinal managers who have won the award in past seasons.

The Manager of the Year award was first given out in 1983. One manager from each league is chosen by a vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Thirty members of the BBWAA submit a ballot for three managers, ranked by first, second, and third place. Some time prior to the actual award being presented, the three “finalists” are announced publicly.

Three Cardinals managers have received the award since 1983. One of the three has won the award multiple times and with different teams in both leagues.

Tony La Russa

Tony La Russa won the Manager of the Year award four times since 1983. He won it in the inaugural year of 1983 when he was the manager of the Chicago White Sox. La Russa’s White Sox finished first in the AL West Division that year with a record of 99-63.

La Russa won the award again in 1988 as the manager of the Oakland Athletics and again with the Athletics in 1992. Both times the Athletics finished first in their Division. In 1988 Oakland won the AL pennant but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

La Russa moved on to the National League St. Louis Cardinals in 1996. He won the Manager of the Year award for the fourth time with the Cardinals in 2002. The Cardinals finished first in the NL Central with a record of 97-65. St. Louis advanced to the National League Championship Series but lost to the San Francisco Giants.

Whitey Herzog

The second Cardinal manager to win the award was Whitey Herzog. Herzog managed four MLB teams, beginning with the Texas Rangers in 1973. He was the interim manager with the Angels in 1974, then took over the reins for the Kansas City Royals from 1975 to 1979. After leaving the Royals he became the skipper of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1980, where he remained until 1990. Herzog won one World Series as manager of the Cardinals in 1982 and took the team to two more in 1985 and 1987. It was in the 1985 season that Herzog was voted Manager of the Year. Herzog managed the Cardinals to a Division title in 1985 (then the NL East). The Cardinals advanced to the World Series but lost to Herzog’s former team the Kansas City Royals in seven games.

Mike Shildt (Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports)

The third recipient of the Manager of the Year award from the Cardinals was Mike Shildt. Shildt was named the manager of the Cardinals in the middle of the 2018 season following the termination of Mike Matheny. Shildt worked for the Cardinals in various capacities within the minor league system for many years prior to his ascension to major league manager. He was promoted to Matheny’s coaching staff in 2017 as the quality control coach.

Shildt won the award in 2019, his first full season as the Cardinal skipper. He took the Cardinals to an NL Central title that season with a record of 91-71. Shildt took the Cardinals to the National League Division Series, where they defeated the Atlanta Braves in five games. The Cardinals lost in four games to the Washington Nationals in the National League Championship Series.

Shildt was unexpectedly dismissed as Cardinals manager in the 2021 offseason and was replaced by bench coach Oliver Marmol.

Of the three Cardinals Manager of the Year award recipients, one is still currently managing a major league team. Tony La Russa returned to managing after a 10-year hiatus to manage the Chicago White Sox, where he first started his managerial career. Mike Shildt was a finalist for the 2021 Manager of the Year award but lost to Gabe Kapler of the Giants. The 90-year-old Herzog now resides in St. Louis.


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