Saturday, March 28, 2020
Hot Stove League Review: Cardinals
We move on from the NL West to the NL Central in our Hot Stove Reviews. The Cardinals have a cohort of aging players but are coming off a 91 win season, so chose to mainly stand pat in the Hot Stove League. Here are the moves:
Free Agents Lost: Marcell Ozuna(OF), Michael Wacha(RHP), Tony Cingrani(LHP), Williams Perez(RHP).
Free Agents Signed: Adam Wainwright(re-signed), Matt Wieters(re-signed), Kwang Kim(LHP), Brad Miller(IF).
Trades: Acquired Austin Dean(OF) from Marlins for Diowill Burgos(OF), Acquired Matthew Liberatore(LHP), Edgardo Rodriguez(C) and Future Considerations from the Rays for Jose Martinez(1B) and Randy Arozarena(OF) and Future Considerations.
Avoided Arbitration: John Gant(RHP).
DFA/Release: Dominic Leone(RHP).
Minor League Free Agent: Oscar Hernandez(C).
Summary: As mentioned, the Cardinals have a lot of age on this team and a shaky OF situation, particularly with the loss of Ozuna. The addition of Kim bolsters the rotation and could be very good. A scouting report from spring training games is on Rotographs. Seems Kim has pretty good command of multiple pitches which help his low 90's FB play up. Cards also seem to be counting on highly ranked prospect, Dylan Carlson, being ready to step up in OF. They seem to be confident enough in their depth to trade away Martinez and Arozarena for highly rated pitching prospect, Liberatore which was a nice move for the future. Cardinals have a long history of mid-level prospects stepping up. Can they keep doing that as the core of Yadier Molina, Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Carpenter and Waino(plus Dexter Fowler) move into the twilight of their careers?
Grade: Grade C+.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
For those that subscribe to The Athletic, Andrew Baggerly wrote a fabulous article (I think it first appeared on Friday (3/27) that covers how the cancellation of games, and possibly the entire season, impacts the Giants. It is a fantastic article, covering issues I had not considered. His take seems to be, if the game cancellations have to happen, the Giants end up in better shape than most. He points out several specific areas where the cancellation of games is not favorable to the Dodgers, with the big hit they take with Mookie Betts on the roster and unable to play.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, it is a great article.
Great stuff, Doc!
ReplyDeleteCardinals tie Giants with C+ which might compete in the NL Central for them but it won't help StL against the juggernaut colossus from LA any more than for SF!