Expect the St. Louis Cardinals to start letting even more players go to save money

While St. Louis Cardinals fans are still trying to get past the decision to let go Kolten Wong in a cost cutting move, it’s not going to be a surprise in the coming days and weeks when the team makes even further painful deletions as its supporters are hoping for reinforcements.

Or at least it shouldn’t be.

The Cardinals have two issues they need to address. First, there is the fact that their 40-man roster is overcrowded thanks to the the number of players they had to call up to the big leagues last season to fill in for players sick with COVID-19. That’s why second baseman Max Schrock was lost to an effort to sneak him back to the minor leagues. But they’ll also try to pare some payroll in the decision-making process. And that’s why I think some reliable pieces will soon join the ranks of former Cardinals through not being tendered contracts — even though in some cases they’re still capable of being kept under control.

One guy at the top of that list is likely useful reliever John Gant, who couldn’t be a free agent until 2023 if the Cardinals chose to keep paying him, would see his salary go up in 2021 as he works his way up the arbitration scale. Gant nearly tripled his salary last season to 1.3 million which made the front office consider setting him free even then, stands to get another decent raise after a season in which he posted a 2.40 earned run average and struck out 18 while allowing nine hits in 15 innings. With a wealth of young arms on the roster, the Cardinals will likely go with cheaper options.

Another pitcher who has been a steadying force over the past few seasons is bearded right-hander John Brebbia. He’s another guy who has worked his way up the salary scale. But his future in complicated by the fact that he had a season-ending injury at the beginning of 2020. Basically, his role was filled while he was unavailable, and he is probably now a luxury the St. Louis front office isn’t willing to splurge on.

In what looks like a rebuilding year, I wonder if Daniel Ponce de Leon will be sacrificed for a roster spot. He doesn’t make much money. But he isn’t one of the more high-ceiling starting pitching prospects on the roster. Yet he doesn’t really have a spot carved out in the bullpen, either.

While he’s a free agent, I don’t look for catcher Matt Wieters to make a return to the St. Louis roster in 2021. He’s not super pricy, but Wieters has lost his offensive touch and the Cardinals would probably look for a guy who is a bit more younger and durable to serve as the backup if Yadier Molina doesn’t return and Andrew Knizner graduates to become the starting backstop. If Yadi does come back, look for Knizner to be the clear number two guy. It’s sink or swim for the heir apparent to Molina behind the dish at Busch Stadium.

I’m sure the Cardinals would like to get rid of some veteran contracts via the trade route if they could. But it seems certain that they can’t.

Carlos Martinez, Matt Carpenter, Andrew Miller and Dexter Fowler all have big money deals that would be tough to trade in even the best of times. But these ain’t the best of times and teams are going to have plenty of free agent options to sort through because of players discarded to save money. Why give up talent to land an over-priced and potentially over the hill player when you can just sign someone out of the bargain bin on a one-year make-good contract and hope for better financial times in 2022?

It stinks to watch our favorite team sink into malaise. But professional sports teams count on fans in the stands to make their financial world turn. So, there is a realistic possibility that, with another year of no ticket sales could start to put some of the weaker teams out of business. The result is that this will be a Hot Stove League like no other and, unfortunately, a summer of 2021 that is uncomfortably like the summer of 2020.