Let’s hope rumors about Hyun-Jin Ryu, David Price and the St. Louis Cardinals are wrong

The offseason used to be a lot of fun, with trade rumors flying about, it was interesting to read about all the rumors about who the St. Louis Cardinals might trade for or sign as a free agent.

But this winter has just been ridiculous. The rumor mill is so random and nonsensical that most of the things that pop up aren’t even fun to talk about. Fake news has seeped into the baseball world with people who just seem to make things up for their own entertainment starting rumors that make their way into more mainstream media outlets.

During the last couple of days word has surfaced that the Cardinals are “interested” in pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu. On its face, that’s promising. The lefty had the best season of his career, notching a 14-5 record with a 2.32 and just a hair more than one runner allowed per inning pitched. But the problem is that 2019 was the first time in five years that he’s pitched as many as 150 innings in a season. He’s hurt more often than he’s not. Still, the southpaw reportedly wants a four-year contract.

The Cardinals are still paying Mike Leake not to pitch for them. Do they really want to sign on the dotted line to pay Ryu to marinate on the disabled list? If he can’t stay healthy in his late twenties, why are we supposed to believe he can do that in his age 33-36 seasons?

I don’t know if there are many opportunities that could arise that would convince the Cardinals to make a big ticket acquisition. But let’s hope they don’t pay Ryu $60-$70 million bucks and cross their fingers.

Another report floating around out there is that St. Louis is interested in trading for David Price, another lefty the team used to fancy.

This smacks of someone connecting some dusty old dots: St. Louis tried to sign Price a few years ago and he left the Cardinals at the altar to instead accept a last minute bid from Boston for a little bit more money. Because the Cardinals wanted Price then, wouldn’t it make sense that they’d be the team to rescue the Red Sox from that contract? I don’t think so.

Price is another player who shows a lot of signs that his best days are behind him. Since logging 230 innings in his first season in Beantown, 2016, he’s struggled to stay healthy. He pitched 74 2/3 innings in 2017, a decent 176 in 2018 and then plummeted to 107 1/3 frames last year. Baseball-reference.com isn’t kind to Price in its 2020 predictions. The site sees only 130 innings for Price next season with an earned run average of 4.15. Weigh that against the fact that Price has three years and $96 million remaining in the contract Boston gave him.

The Red Sox want to pull the trick where they sign a player to a mega contract, keep him for his prime years and then dump him on a sucker to be over-paid in his twilight years. It wouldn’t be a good idea for the Cardinals to be Boston’s huckleberry. I’d imagine the Red Sox would have to eat at least half of that deal and take virtually nothing in return to attract the interest of the St. Louis front office.

Nolan Arenado would look good in St. Louis

It’s also been rumored that the Cardinals could trade for Nolan Arenado. That’s the one rumor from the past few days that does excite. But this is probably another case where the Cardinals are tied to a player because of their previous known interest in him.

Arenado is a premium player in his prime. If I was the St. Louis general manager, I’d listen if my Colorado counterpart called. The Rockies probably want a ton of talent for its best player. But if St. Louis is willing to make the financial commitment, they shouldn’t be afraid of parting with the prospects it would take. If St. Louis commits to several years of Arenado at third, it can afford to part with top prospect Nolan Gorman who would have no place to play. Powerful outfielder Tyler O’Neill is a guy the Rockies ought to be interested in. He has the speed to cover the spacious outfield at Coors Field and the pop to hit tons of balls out of the yard there.

The knock on Arenado is that he’s a product of hitter-friendly Coors field. But I don’t buy it. A great hitter is a great hitter. Let’s not forget the schedule he faces when we talk about his home and away splits. The Rockies are in the same division as the Dodgers, the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants, three of the toughest places to hit in baseball — especially for home run hitters. I’m confident that Arenado would do just fine in neutral Busch Stadium. And he would help the Cardinals tremendously with his glove in the place of Matt Carpenter.

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.