The St. Louis Cardinals should strongly consider bringing Marcell Ozuna back

It looks like the Major League Baseball free agent freeze outs of recent years has finally thawed, the St. Louis Cardinals are still turning a cold shoulder on slugging outfielder Marcell Ozuna.

Last year, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado couldn’t get deals done until late in the offseason. But this year, players have been flying off the board at record prices. Still, the St. Louis front office is playing hard to get with Ozuna, daring him to find a deal someplace else while hanging out in the weeds.

Their tactic seems to be working.

One of the clubs that has been rumored to be sweet on Ozuna is the Chicago White Sox, but it looks now like they’ve turned their attention instead to right-handed power hitter with Edwin Encarnacion. Chicago was reportedly close to a one-year deal for $11-$12 million with Encarnacion.

Unless a mystery bidder jumps in, that would appear to make the bidding for Ozuna come down to the Cardinals and Cincinnati.

Rumors that Ozuna is going to command a $100 million contract are preposterous. He’ll be difficult for the Cardinals to replace from the current hot stove market. But he hasn’t shown that he is a mega star up to this point in his career to justify such a lucrative deal.

Still, it only takes one team willing to overpay for Ozuna. Stranger things have happened.

The enigmatic outfielder looked for a while like he was as good as gone. But if the Cardinals could bring back Ozuna on a short-term deal — one or two years — and a middle tier player price instead of superstar level pay day, he’d be a nice piece to have back in the fold.

The Cardinals may have a ton of outfielders in the system, but they don’t have an experienced cleanup hitter in the mix. It’s unfair to ask youngsters like Lane Thomas and Dylan Carlson to have to be the main man in the offense when they’re just trying to establish themselves in the big leagues.

But somebody has to support Paul Goldschmidt in the middle of the order. The big first baseman may not receive a pitch to hit all year if he’s got a couple of kids batting behind him in the lineup.

Veteran Yadier Molina is too slow for that role. The number of ground ball double plays he’d hit into would be an offense killer. Paul DeJong’s has been too prone to hot and cold streaks; he isn’t nearly consistent enough to be the fourth place.

Matt Carpenter is looking for a bounce back year, but he’d have to make a big-time rebound and show he can hit anywhere but leadoff.

The Cardinals are speculated to be near their self-imposed payroll cap with only about a million bucks left to spend before they equal their payroll from 2019. But if the Cardinals could bring Ozuna back for about $15 million a season, they’d have to find a way to make his payday fit.

Matt Carpenter for David Price?

Speaking of paydays, I heard a rumor on Christmas Day that the Boston Red Sox were exploring a swap of bad contracts to rid themselves of lefty starting pitcher David Price and at least part of his huge contract. Supposedly, they Red Sox would be interested in taking a chance on a Carpenter rebound in exchange for their ace hurler.

The Cardinals thought they had Price signed as a free agent a few years back before Boston swooped in and upped the ante at the last minute. Could interest remain? Price has had more than a few injury issues over the past few seasons and he’s owed $96 million over the next three seasons.

While I’d like St. Louis to be rid of Carpenter’s ill-advised two-year extension that will pay him $36 million over the next two years, the Cardinals are much stronger in pitching than offense. A deal for Price doesn’t make sense if it tied up payroll at the expense of the offense.

The Cardinals would have to find a way to add to the lineup but would have no cash left to do it. And then there’s Carpenter’s no-trade clause.

To make the deal work, it would have to be a much bigger trade that sent an offensive player back to St. Louis, too. Mookie Betts? Plus, a whole pile of cash would have to come back to Missouri. All of those things added up are probably too much to hope for.

This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 9:07 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.