It’s not a surprise, but the ‘opportunistic’ St. Louis Cardinals missed their opportunity

If the St. Louis Cardinals are to be taken at their word, this has been a pretty disappointing offseason.

Their word is “opportunistic.”

Team President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak uses it all the time. It’s not that the Cardinals are uninterested in improving their team, no matter how much it seems that way. They’re just waiting for the perfect intersection of need and price tag. According to every article I’ve read so far, St. Louis is looking for starting pitching, preferably a southpaw, and a lefty hitting outfielder. So we’ll just sit here and wait, in the most overheated free agent market in the past four years, for a bargain priced impact player to fall into their laps.

Or not.

Over the weekend, the best starting pitcher left on the market, well-decorated lefty Madison Bumgarner signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Well, the Cardinals weren’t going to pay $120 million or more, which is what Bumgarner logically could command when Zach Wheeler, a much less accomplished player scored $118 million from the Philadelphia Phillies, right? Well, Bumgarner didn’t get Wheeler money. He got $85 million over five years, otherwise known as Mike Leake money, but Bumgarner’s deal is actually even more friendly than that because, reportedly, $15 million of it is deferred. A potential ace for the price of a number four starter. And they passed?

Okay. I understand. Bumgarner’s only 30. But he’s got a lot of miles on his pitching arm. So I can see why team owner Bill DeWitt Jr. would be reluctant to commit to five long years.

But this weekend the Cleveland Indians traded Corey Kluber to the Texas Rangers over the weekend for an extremely modest return. Kluber, whose season was cut short last year by a broken forearm, is under contract for 2020 with an option for 2021. So, presumably, the Cardinals could have jumped in on a guy who allowed a stingy .974 base runners per inning pitched from 2016-18 with a 56-20 record and a 714 strikeouts in 633 2/3 innings of work. How much more opportunistic can you get than that?

The Diamondbacks, tight enough with their purse strings that the team refused to entertain the idea of signing franchise icon Paul Goldschmidt to a contract extension, instead trading him to the Cardinals a year ago, weren’t even mentioned as a possible destination for the hurler. But when he fell into their lap of the Arizona front office, they knew a good deal when they saw it.

I’m afraid when the Cardinals say they’re being opportunistic, patient or whatever the buzzword of the day is today, what it really means is that they’re waiting to see what’s left to pick through after all the desirable players are gone and then they’ll wade into the dumpster to add some “depth.” It’s almost funny that, with all the patting themselves on the back the Cardinals do about their player evaluation skills, really the statistics and reputation of the players don’t enter into it near as much as the dollars and cents. That’s all fine and dandy until you pass on David Price and hand Leake a five-year contract for $85 million because he’s the last man standing.

This story was originally published December 16, 2019 at 9:01 AM.

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.