The St. Louis Cardinals should sign Josh Donaldson, not Marcell Ozuna, this offseason

If it’s going to cost the St. Louis Cardinals a five-year contract in the realm of $100 million to bring back left fielder Marcell Ozuna, I would much prefer the team focus its attention on third baseman Josh Donaldson.

It’s not the defensive position that’s important here, it’s finding someone to be a cleanup hitter. Donaldson is at least as capable of doing that job as Ozuna. But, being four years older, Donaldson is probably available on a much shorter deal. For two years at the same annual price, I would MUCH prefer Donaldson over Ozuna. For three years, I would probably feel the same way. One would be a no-brainer. But I don’t see Donaldson settling for a single season again.

So, if the bats are roughly equal and the contract terms are the same annual value, that leaves defense. Donaldson is an excellent defender and Matt Carpenter, in a word, is terrible. That’s major benefit for the Cardinals. The spot that gets opened up for the Cardinals is an outfield position, and outfielders are one thing the team has plenty of. You can afford to put a guy like Randy Arozarena or Dylan Carlson in left field knowing he can catch the ball and that he doesn’t have to bat second, third or fourth. You can hit them seventh or eighth and let them develop their game as opposed to unrealistically counting on them to hit 30 home runs.

If the Cardinals sign Donaldson, what do they do with Carpenter? Well, assuming that there is no team that would be willing to trade for him, I have thought since the first time I saw him play in spring training that Carpenter’s future was in left field. He didn’t have much range on ground balls, he didn’t have great hands and he has a weak throwing arm, which isn’t a great recipe for a major league third baseman.

But if Kyle Schwarber and Ryan Braun can get by in left field, Carpenter ought to also. Catch the ones you can catch, keep the ball from getting behind you and toss it to the cutoff man. Then do your thing at the plate. If the Cardinals have a small lead late, get one of the kids out there to cover some more ground.

A two-year Donaldson deal doesn’t block Nolan Gorman. In fact, a three-year deal probably isn’t a problem, either. The top prospect is only 19 years old and he was 3.3 years younger than the average player last season in Advanced Class A Palm Beach. If he plays a year in Class AA Springfield and a year in Class AAA Memphis, it’s going to take a minimum of three years for him to knock on the door of the major league clubhouse, so the Cardinals don’t need to hamstring themselves at a key position to hold the door open for the kid.

If you could have either Ozuna or Donaldson for $50 million over two years, I would take Donaldson because of his defense and because he plays a more valuable position to the Cardinals. But, since Donaldson is probably going to sign for half the length of time Ozuna will get or less, there is no question that Donaldson makes much more sense for St. Louis.

Tough market for Donaldson, Rendon

The former American League MVP was with the Braves last year. But Atlanta seems to have gone in a different direction this year signing closer Will Smith to a lucrative deal and then inking catcher Travis d’Arnaud to a contract over the weekend. Yes, Atlanta could afford to spend more. But the Braves are now within $1 million of their $115 million payroll last year — and they’ve never spent more than $122 million in a season. So, it looks like they’re about maxed out — certainly as if they’re not in a position to offer a contract for $25 million or so a year.

The biggest threat for Donaldson seems to be the Los Angeles Dodgers who have been linked this winter to Washington Nationals third sacker Anthony Rendon. The latter, one of the 10 best players in baseball, would require a mega contract in the vicinity of the $300 million that went to Manny Machado last winter. So, if the Dodgers decide to be thrifty, it would make sense for them to go after Donaldson.

If that happens, Rendon is going to have to hope that either the Los Angeles Angels have re-opened the vault or that the Philadelphia Phillies have some money left after signing Bryce Harper a year ago. The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, two other notorious big spenders, don’t have an opening a third base. Besides, they’re supposed to be in cost cutting mode. The New York Yankees also have a logjam at third base, so that’s not a fit.

What’s really going to hurt St. Louis fans if the Dodgers sign Donaldson is watching Rendon linger on the market when he could have been the franchise player St. Louis has missed since Albert Pujols left town. If only the team hadn’t thrown away so much money on bad contracts to Carpenter, Brett Cecil and Dexter Fowler, this might be an entirely different conversation.

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.