Coronavirus could stick the St. Louis Cardinals with an extra year of Carpenter and Fowler
I mentioned a few days ago that playing a short season with few off days might be to the advantage of the St. Louis Cardinals because of their depth of pitching.
But I worry what will happen if the season isn’t played at all? That could spell disaster for the Cardinals.
We’re to the point where the questionable and burdensome contracts for Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter have two years left. Both players are well into their thirties and obviously slowing down as they reach the end of their career. So, what happens if the games aren’t played at all and it is decided that contracts will be extended another season? Will they have anything left coming back after a year off to resume their careers with Fowler and Carpenter as 35 and 36 year olds?
Does it sound far-fetched to believe that could happen? It shouldn’t. Every day that passes without a plan to resume baseball is an inch closer to canceling the season altogether. And if the games aren’t played, owners aren’t going to have any money coming in. If they don’t have any money coming in, it’s going to tough to pay players multi-million-dollar contracts to stay at home and get out of shape. So, the only solution to stay out of the courts and make sure the players get their money and the owners can afford to play them might be to wipe 2020 off the books and push everyone’s contract back a year.
That would be a double whammy for the Cardinals because MLB has already agreed with the players association that players will get a year of service time whether the 2020 season is played in full, truncated or not played at all. So, what we could see is a situation where St. Louis loses a year of control of Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson and Dylan Carlson and in return would get an extra year of expensive and aging veterans that were expected to be supplanted by younger players following the 2021 season — if not before.
I don’t see a lot of options for owners if the season is canceled, other than just to take the hit, which they’re likely unwilling to do. At least then they would get something for their investment. But it would really mess with the payroll and the team architecture for the Cardinals to be stuck with players a year beyond its plans for them. While Carpenter was retained on a two-year extension, it’s pretty safe to say the team reluctantly gave Fowler a fifth year on his contract when he was lured as a free agent from the Chicago Cubs. He reportedly had a four-year offer from the Toronto Blue Jays on the table, so St. Louis stepped up with the fifth year to seal the deal.
It worries me that money, not only the salaries of players but also complications of television contracts and the inability to have fans in the seats at games are going to conspire to scuttle the 2020 campaign before it begins. That would be a huge blow to baseball. Anyone in business knows you don’t want to fade from the public’s consciousness because people learn different routines and come up with other things to do. For the past few years, the commissioner seems to be obsessed with the opinions of casual fans over those of the die hards who have supported the game for years. So he has to realize that baseball doesn’t want to put people in the position of realizing that they can live without spending a couple hundred bucks a night to go to the ballpark.
Beyond the ramifications, I’m just ready to see some baseball again.
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Scott Wuerz is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. The Cheap Seats blog is written from his perspective as a fan and is designed to spark discussion among fans of the Cardinals and other MLB teams. Sources supporting his views and opinions are linked. If you’re looking for Cardinals news and features, check out the BND’s Cardinals section.
