Losing Heyward to Cubs hurts, but Cards still have options

It's been in the back my mind since the season ended that the Cardinals didn't have to sign Jason Heyward to remain a contender in the National League.

This isn't to say that he's not a good ball player or that the Cardinals shouldn't have made a bid. It's just that potential remains a big part of Heyward's free agent allure even though he's already been in the big leagues for six seasons.

The market can still support the Cardinals' needs and general manager John Mozeliak won’t have to invest super-star money ia player whose potential remains unrealized and uncertain.

What hurts most about losing Heyward is that he landed with the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals’ biggest and most hated rival.

These are the same God-forsaken Cubs who surged toward the top of the NL last season, dethroned the Redbirds in the divisional series, and have moved aggressively to make themselves even better for 2016.

With their off-season bounty, they may have become the favorite to win the National League Central Division, a perch the Cardinals have maintained the last three years in a row and 10 of the last 20?

What the Cubs gain in Heyward hurts more than what the Cadinals lose.

Remember, Chicago GM Theo Epstein mined another gem from this year's free-agent field when he signed the super-versatile and consummate professional Ben Zobrist. He'll replace the once-hyped, but ultimately disappointing second baseman Starlin Castro, who was dispatched to the Yankees for bullpen depth.

And let's not forget how the Cubs swooped in on starting pitcher John Lackey, who emerged as the Cardinals' ace late in their 100-win season when young guns Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez ran out of gas.

The Cubs got Lackey for two years and $32 million, which seemed like a lot at the time, but is falling well within a new free agent market established during this crazy off-season. St. Louis, apparently, made no real effort to resign Lackey, a bad decision amplified when the Cardinals learned innings-eater Lance Lynn would be lost to Tommy John surgery for 2016.

All of this gets added to a wealth of young talent that includes Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant, Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, and MVP contender Anthony Rizzo.

But let’s not write off the Cardinals just yet. There are solutions, maybe even better ones.

St. Louis won 100 games last season, even though they ranked 11th out of 15 National League teams in both home runs and runs scored. The Cardinals could use more pop than Heyward and his 13 home runs didn't provide.

Free agent outfielder Justin Upton doesn't have as high a ceiling or the advanced metrics, but he averages 26 home runs and 84 RBIs over 162 games, both as good as any single season Heyward has ever had in his six season in the big leagues. Upton is still just 28 years old and as of Friday night was still on the market.

Don't like Upton? There are other sluggers available —Yoenis Cespedes, Kris Davis, Alex Gordon. All will be pricey but cheaper than Heyward. If the savings are sufficient enough that Mozeliak would use them to add a pitcher to replace Lynn's innings, then the Cardinals are arguably better.

You also have to believe that the return of Adam Wainwright, who missed almost all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon, will account sufficiently for Lackey's 13 wins last season.

The trade of fan favorite Jon Jay to San Diego for Jedd Gyorko was a good move, too, equivalent in my book to the Cubs' acquisition of Zobrist, at least in terms of what they'll get for the money.

Don't underestimate this move, by the way. Manager Mike Matheny didn't have many options to back up third base, second base or shortstop last year and it showed in the starters as the season wore on. Gyorko can play all three, and will give the Cardinals some right-handed pop off the bench.

The Cardinals have been a model organization during the Dewitt era because the consistently contend with a mid-tier payroll. Two World Championships, four pennants, and 10 divisional championship affords Mo and Co. some benefit of the doubt.

Remember the last time the Cardinals went “cheap” on one of their own free agents? Albert Pujols went to Anaheim and the Cardinals made it to within a game of the World Series.

There’s no question the Cardinals can recover and compete without Heyward.

The question is whether they can keep pace with those God-forsaken Cubs.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 12:32 AM with the headline "Losing Heyward to Cubs hurts, but Cards still have options."