With the Cardinals content to sit on the sidelines, let’s hope the Brewers and Cubs tank

While it doesn’t seem that the Cardinals are interested in making a splash this winter, at least it appears that some of their division rivals are taking a step or two backwards over the offseason. Hopefully, that will be enough to allow St. Louis to make an encore appearance in the playoffs.

With the Milwaukee Brewers losing star catcher Yasmani Grandal to the Chicago White Sox this week and the Chicago Cubs telling other teams at the general managers meeting that they’re listening to offers on Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and others, it appears this could be an opportune time to make a power move to seize control of the National League Central Division in 2020.

Milwaukee was a disappointment last year with a team that seemed capable of putting up plenty of runs on a daily basis. When the club had Grandal fall into its lap last year after the free agent couldn’t come together on a four-year deal with the New York Mets, it seemed like he might be the piece that put the Brewers over the top. Instead, Milwaukee faded late and now Grandal has turned a 28-homer, 77-RBI performance into a $73 million contract safely out of sight in the American League.

It seems the Brewers are set to tank, giving away their veteran players in hopes of rebuilding their farm system. They’ve reportedly been shopping disgraced former Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun for at least two years without successfully finding a taker. But they might have better luck now with only one more guaranteed year left on Braun’s contract — and that at $17 million, $3 million less than he made two years ago in the peak value year of his contract.

We’ll see what Milwaukee’s plans are when we find out their plans for the team’s best player, Christian Yelich. The outfielder has three team-friendly years of control left on his contract. Do the Brewers think they’ll be competitive before that deal is up? If not, they could get a ton of talent back for an MVP in his prime with a $12 million season coming in 2020, a $14 million payday in 2021 and a $15 million option in 2022.

The Cubs are more likely to rebuild on the fly, choosing which of their young players are worthy of keeping with expensive extensions and which ones they will give away to finance the other contracts. Milwaukee could be down for years. But the Cubs could turn things around on a dime because of their deep pockets and willingness to take on big contracts.

On one hand, the potential retreats by Chicago and Milwaukee take the pressure off St. Louis, which seems content to replace cleanup hitter and left fielder Marcell Ozuna with a mix of young players including Dylan Carlson, Randy Arozarena, Lane Thomas and Tommy Edman. But on the other, it seems like a good time for the Cardinals to take advantage of the competition vacuum and grab the division by the throat with a couple of key acquisitions.

Cincinnati Reds have a sense of urgency

It will be interesting if the rumors that the Reds are interested in Ozuna turn out to be true because they could end up being the Cardinals’ biggest competition in the division next season. It would be quite the swing for Cincinnati to subtract a significant offensive piece from St. Louis and add it to their roster. According to one Reds blog, Cincinnati was making a play for Grandal before losing out on him to the White Sox. So, it is speculated that the loss could up the team’s sense of urgency to add a free agent.

In the past, I’d say that it might be a good year for the Cardinals to stand pat now — and then see if they could make a move for some veteran talent at the trade deadline. But it seems in the two wild card era that it’s almost impossible to make a good deadline deal because everybody seems to think they’re still in the race at the end of July. Getting rid of the waiver trade period only makes things tougher. So, if the Cardinals choose not to try to improve their inconsistent offense or pass on a chance to add a starting pitcher now, they might not have another shot later.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.