Pair of longtime veterans will no longer don the St. Louis Cardinals uniform in 2022
Two career-long St. Louis Cardinals with a combined 20 seasons in the big leagues officially cut ties with the team on Thursday morning, as the club officially declined its contract options on infielder Matt Carpenter and pitcher Carlos Martínez.
Carpenter’s buyout will cost the club $2,000,000; Martínez’s will cost $500,000.
Carpenter, who turns 36 later this month, finished out a disastrous contract extension signed early in the 2019 season with a .169 batting average and three home runs in 2021. His playing time was severely curtailed in the season’s second half, as he started only 11 times after the all-star break and received just 85 plate appearances over that stretch despite remaining on the active roster for the duration.
Martínez, 30, tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb during his start in Colorado on July 4 and did not pitch again in 2021. He finished with a 4-9 record and a 6.23 earned run average in 16 starts, reaching 100 pitches only once.
Both players were key contributors to the 2013 National League Champion Cardinals, and Carpenter received a World Series ring after making his Major League debut in 2011. Martínez made the all-star team as a Cardinal in 2015 and 2017, and Carpenter did so in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Carpenter also won the National League’s Silver Slugger award at second base in 2013 and twice (2013, 2018) finished in the top ten in voting for Most Valuable Player.
The decline of those two options comes in the wake of seven other players, all pitchers, officially reaching free agency at the conclusion of the World Series. Five of those pitchers — Luis García, J.A. Happ, Wade LeBlanc, Jon Lester and T.J. McFarland — were acquired during the 2020 season. The other two, Kwang Hyun Kim and Andrew Miller, were previous free agent signings.
Of that group, the Cardinals maintain interest in return engagements for García and McFarland and would likely be open to reunions with Happ, LeBlanc and Lester with varying degrees of commitment. Lester, who would pitch in 2022 at age 38, has yet to announce whether he intends to continue his career; Happ, 39, has said he plans to do so.
The speed at which the free agent market moves will be determined in part by baseball’s looming labor unrest. The current collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight on Dec. 1, and it’s unlikely that either teams or players will make significant contractual commitments before developing a more clear understanding of how the game’s financial landscape will be laid out.
Before that date arrives, teams must add players to their 40-man roster to guarantee their protection from the annual Rule 5 draft. Those additions must be made by Nov. 17, and the Cardinals have several candidates who they will likely protect.
More roster information
Infielders Brendan Donovan and Kramer Robertson and outfielder Nick Plummer all joined the team in Los Angeles as part of the taxi squad for the Wild Card game, and all will require roster protection. Slugger Juan Yepez was added to the 40-man roster in order to be active for the game against the Dodgers, though he didn’t make an appearance.
Other candidates to be added to the roster include infielders Luken Baker and Delvin Pérez, catcher Julio Rodríguez, and pitchers Freddy Pacheco and Jake Walsh.
Multiple positions up for grabs
From the roster deadline, the Cardinals head into a winter with at least one and almost certainly two everyday positions up for grabs. Whether Paul DeJong or Edmundo Sosa is the starting shortstop on opening day will likely depend on whether the Cardinals have a serious interest in any of the top available shortstops on the free agent market, including Corey Seager, Trevor Story and Carlos Correa.
The labor negotiations are also widely expected to include universal adoption of the designated hitter, leaving St. Louis to decide whether an all-bat free agent like Kyle Schwarber fits in their plans or whether they’ll instead use that spot as a partial rest opportunity for their lineup mainstays.
Payroll flexibility, winnable division
Despite raises due to players in salary arbitration (for now, assuming the system isn’t upended), the Cardinals have sufficient payroll flexibility this winter to supplement a roster with three consecutive playoff appearances but a first year manager and two franchise stalwarts coming back for one more bite at the apple.
Whether the talent acquisition market in January or February resembles that in which the game finds itself in November is an open question, but the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates are in the midst of rebuilding. The Cincinnati Reds are already nodding in the direction of cutting payroll, and the Milwaukee Brewers might seek to move on from all-world closer Josh Hader.
The Central can be won, and with it, a chance to pursue a deep run into the postseason. The Cardinals need only commit to that goal, because their competition seems to be running the opposite direction.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 3:37 PM.
