Plotting or plodding? St. Louis Cardinals were spectators at active Winter Meetings
During an active Winter Meetings which saw the three most prominent free agents sign contracts totaling in excess of $800 million, the Cardinals remained the calm center of the baseball storm.
They leave San Diego having not added any players to a Major League roster which, at present, seems to lack the offensive punch necessary to improve a club which was already one of the most hitting deficient in the National League.
Cardinals executives pledged patience throughout the week and insisted on multiple occasions that the team did not view the end of the Winter Meetings as any sort of deadline. That view was fortified throughout the week as they found the trade market for left-handed bats to be less appealing than anticipated and instead pivoted to trying their luck with starting pitchers.
MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reported on Thursday morning that the Cardinals made inquiries into the contract desires of free agent pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, though a source downplayed the seriousness of the contact between the sides.
Ryu, who will pitch next season at age 33, was the runner up for the National League Cy Young Award in 2019. He exceeded 160 innings pitched for only the second time in his career — and the first time since his rookie year of 2013 — raising questions about his durability while highlighting his ability to fortify the team’s rotation.
MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that the Cardinals are one of five teams linked to Boston lefty David Price, who they sought intensely in free agency in the winter of 2015. Price, 34, carries some of the same health concerns as Ryu without having replicated his recent success.
Price is also owed $96 million over the three years remaining on his contract.
Payroll flexibility?
Though the Cardinals could attempt to return some salary to Boston to offset that deal — such as that of Matt Carpenter — the Red Sox are primarily motivated to move Price by a desire to clear the maximum amount of salary possible.
It’s unclear whether they would accept a reciprocal exchange of money in such a move, even if it would greatly reduce both their overall outstanding salary liability and their payroll number which counts against baseball’s competitive balance tax.
Acquiring either Price or Ryu would also require the Cardinals to supplement their 2020 payroll commitments.
Though President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak indicated this week that the Cardinals have internal flexibility which would allow them to make some internal additions, Chairman Bill DeWitt, Jr. told the media at the club’s end-of-the-year press conference that he expects payroll to remain relatively static heading in to 2020. That would be a difficult goal to achieve with the addition of either high profile lefty.
Instead, the Cardinals may pivot toward a pitcher seeking a shorter deal at a lower cost in an attempt to re-establish their market value. Former Cardinal Michael Wacha signed a one-year deal with the New York Mets on Wednesday which included $3 million in guarantees and $7 million in incentives. A similar deal with a left-handed pitcher such as Wade Miley would intrigue the budget-conscious Cardinals.
Pitchers such as Madison Bumgarner and Dallas Keuchel are believed to be seeking more significant guarantees in terms of both dollars and years, but either could pivot to a short-term arrangement if they feel as though this winter’s market is less likely to be fruitful than that which may await a year from now.
Rule Five Draft
The Cardinals were ineligible to participate in the Major League portion of the Rule 5 draft on Thursday morning due to having no open slots on the 40-man roster. They were, however, active in the minor league portion, selecting three players while losing two.
The most significant of the three additions was right-hander Jordan Brink, who was selected from Milwaukee’s organization. Brink, 26, pitched primarily for the Southern Illinois Miners in the independent Frontier League in 2019. Cardinals Director of Baseball Administration John Vuch said that the Cardinals view Brink as a “Brebbia-type.” Righty reliever John Brebbia was selected from Arizona in the same segment of the Rule 5 in 2015.
Brink has a fastball which was clocked via both radar and Trackman technology in the upper 90s, which he compliments with a slider. He recorded a 2.04 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 35 ⅓ innings for the Miners and did not allow a run in 5 ⅓ innings pitched for Milwaukee’s rookie level team.
The other additions for St. Louis were righties Enrique Saldana, 20, and Jacob Bosiokovic, 25, both from the Colorado Rockies organization.
The players who were lost were catcher Brian O’Keefe, who spent 2019 at double-A Springfield, and 1B Dariel Gomez, most recently at single-A State College. Both were taken by the Seattle Mariners.
Shortly before the Rule 5 draft, the Cardinals reached a minor-league deal with LHP Rob Kaminsky, a former first-round pick of the club who was traded to Cleveland in exchange for Brandon Moss and who has seen his career derailed by injury in recent years.
This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 10:21 AM with the headline "Plotting or plodding? St. Louis Cardinals were spectators at active Winter Meetings."
