As I saw it, I had very little work to do with the Cardinals going into the offseason. I had a rotation of Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, Lance Lynn, Carlos Martinez and Jaime Garcia and a lineup that was already poised to makes some noise and do some damage. The biggest piece I was losing would be Jayson Heyward and my biggest obstacle was going to be the limited $14.4 Million to replace him. I also wanted to upgrade Matt Adams at first base, so I started making moves.
Step 1: Tendering Contracts
- Jonathan Broxton – Buyout ($1 Mil)
- Brandon Moss (5.160) – $7.9MM – Non-Tendered
- Peter Bourjos (5.062) – $1.8MM – Tendered
- Steve Cishek (4.143) – $7.1MM – Non-Tendered
- Tony Cruz (4.105) – $1.0MM – Tendered
- Trevor Rosenthal (3.058) – $6.5MM – Tendered
- Matt Adams (3.033) – $1.5MM – Tendered
- Seth Maness (2.154) – $1.2MM – Tendered
Step 2: Trades
With only $14 Mil to acquire two players, trading was always necessary.
The St. Louis Cardinals trade Marco Gonzalez and Tommy Pham to the Texas Rangers for Nomar Mazara and Jurickson Profar
This trade immediately improved my farm system as Mazara is likely to wind up in the Top 10 Prospects for 2016 and would likely wind up joining the team mid-season. Profar fit my team needs better than Pham as I had a plethora of outfielders on my bench and only one infielder.
The St. Louis Cardinals trade Jaime Garcia and Nick Plumber to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Patrick Corbin
This trade was about money. The Diamondbacks got the better (debatable) pitcher and a solid prospect in return for $9 Million in savings. This money was going to be used to sign Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, Yoenis Cespedes or Alex Gordon. That was the plan, anyway.
The St. Louis Cardinals trade Peter Kozma and Jon Jay to the New York Yankees for Mark Teixeira and $17 Mil
Mark Teixeira might be getting older but his bat and defense are still epic. Adding this switch hitting slugger to the middle of the St. Louis lineup without spending a dime (I saved a couple dollars overall).
The St. Louis Cardinals trade Randal Grichuk and Tim Cooney to the Colorado Rockies for Carlos Gonzalez and Rex Brothers
With the Cardinals being outbid on Jason Heyward I decided that I would try for another trade before putting all of my money (literally) on Yoenis Cespedes. The trade got the team the powerful and dynamic outfielder to complete the team. Brothers comes in to provide a qualified setup arm to bolster Trevor Rosenthal at the end of games. The team once again needs a bench player and has added the need for a long reliever/spot starter, but this trade did too much to balk at.
Step 3: Free Agency
With all trades complete the team was left with only a little under $7 Mil. The only needs the Cardinals faced were to add a qualified bench player and stash a pitcher who would fit their needs for long relief and the occasional spot start.
Rajai Davis, OF – $.5 Mil – We picked up Davis to fill the need the team had for a 5th outfielder. Davis provides solid depth and a defensive replacement for later innings.
Cliff Pennington, IF – $.5 Mil – Pennington was a replacement infielder for Kozma. Picking him up also allows the team to send Profar to AAA to see if the Cardinals could re-sharpen the once top prospect into the future shortstop for the team.
Clay Buccholz, SP – $4 Mil – With no long-reliever/spot starter left on the team we had to spend some cash to bring in a starter. The Cardinals are hoping that Buccholz can reclaim some of his former success by switching into the bullpen.
John Axford, RP – $.5 Mil – The end of Free Agency had a plethora of relief pitchers available and the Cardinals decide to make a stab at a few of them to help round out the bullpen. This means that they can have an active Spring competition for the pen. Axford figures to be featured as a setup man.
Anthony Bass, RP – $.5 Mil – Bass slots into middle relief if he, in fact wins a spot on the opening day roster over some of the in-house options.
Andrew Bailey, RP – $.5 Mil – Bailey is brought onto the team on a minor league contract.
Alex Rios, OF – $.5 Mil – Looking to add some pop off the bench, the Cardinals signed Rios hoping he can become a premiere pinch hitter.
The Results:
The Lineup:
- Kolten Wong, 2B
- Stephen Piscotty, RF
- Carlos Gonzalez, CF
- Matt Holliday, LF
- Matt Carpenter, 3B
- Mark Teixeira, 1B
- Johnny Peralta, SS
- Yadier Molina, C
- Pitcher
The Bench:
- Tony Cruz, C
- Matt Adams, 1B
- Cliff Pennington, IF
- Alex Rios, OF
- Peter Bourjos, OF
- Rajai Davis, OF
The Rotation:
- Adam Wainwright
- Michael Wacha
- Lance Lynn
- Carlos Martinez
- Patrick Corbin
The Bullpen:
- Trevor Rosenthal, CL
- John Axford, SU
- Rex Brothers, SU
- Jordan Walden, MR
- Anthony Bass, MR
- Clay Buccholz, LR (Spot Starter)
The Minors:
- Jurickson Profar
- Seth Maness
- Andrew Bailey
- Kevin Siegrist
- Michael Socolovich
Top Prospects:
- Nomar Mazara, OF
- Alex Reyes, SP
- Jack Flaherty, SP
- Magneuris Sierra, OF
- Edmundo Sosa, SS
- Charlie Tilson, OF
- Luke Weaver, RHP
- Sam Tuivailala, RHP
- Luis Perdomo, RHP
- Patrick Wisdom, 3B
Thoughts:
Clearly, Free Agency was not my preferred method of getting things done. With a hefty number of trades I’ve added a more potent first baseman, replaced Jason Heyward’s bat and improved the front-end of the minor leagues. The clear weakness of the David Groveman Cardinals is speed but with a potent lineup, terrific rotation and deep bullpen the speed will hopefully not be a major hindrance. With the moves made, I am confident that the St. Louis Cardinals would likely repeat as the winningest team in baseball.
One of your best moves was keeping Matt Adams. Given Teixeira’s track record, Adams might wind up getting the bulk of the time at 1B.
If Teixeira gets hurt I have Adams and Piscotty to back him up and Rios to take the starting right fielder job if Piscotty is on first. With Mazara in the wings, Piscotty is likely to be the first baseman of this team’s future. Though… Adams could return to what he briefly was.
Dave, I agree. Print the playoff tickets. Don’t know what the rules are, but signing Davis and Rios for minimum wage seems a stretch, but you do have money left over. While I liked all your trades, the trades with Texas and Colorado were heists, in my opinion. I like the upside of Corbin over the upside of Garcia, just a preference.
My grade: A+
Basically, the principal was, that if the player had value… I was going to throw out a minimum offer. It drove Brian a little batty as I offered $510 K for just about everyone.
While other teams were focused on “Their Targets” I looked at Free Agency as “Get Talent Cheaply”
This was because I had such success in the trade market.
Yes, I’d say that I won my trades but I think the lesson here is that you need to value all of your players. I contacted Texas about Mazara (admittedly as an emergency outfielder in my back pocket) and they asked for Piscotty and Grichuk but I held firm.
The trades that didn’t happen were deals with the Dodgers and Mets. The first was a deal that would have sent Grichuk for Puig. I floated the idea but balked at trading the prospects Los Angeles wanted. The second was a deal for Jonathon Niese, whom I would have left as my Long Reliver/Spot Starter. I would only offer to take on $5 Mil of Niese and the Mets wanted my to take on $7… which was money I didn’t have. Getting Buchholz for $4 Mil made that moot anyway.
I was skeptical at first, but after consideration, I like your ideas. Not sure how long Texiera would hold up at 1B & I don’t like Adams as the backup, but Piscotty could do it as well. Thanks for being creative. Maybe, just maybe, Mo will see this & give it consideration. Pham definitely played himself onto somebody’s MLB team next year.
If the Cardinals want to hire me… they can afford me.
Sorry, as a 50 year fan, I get the gig first! 🙂
I liked the Texas deal.
I actually think both teams made out alright on that deal.
This is dumb. This goes against everything the Cardinals would do. The defense would be terrible. Texas would never trade 2 top guys for a pitcher who barely pitched last year and a 28 yr old injury prone OF. Teixeira and money for 2 worthless players? The Yankees would laugh at that. Siegrist is better than Brothers. Axford and, well all the free agent signings…no. The Cardinals are really high on Grichuk too and he is viewed as the CF of the future. Piscotty is more than likely making a full time switch to 1B with the Cardinals not having a 1B prospect and have some OF prospects. The Cardinals also carry 5 bench and 7 relievers.
Howdy Tender,
Always happy to participate in the propagation of dumb things on the internet. 😉
The defense would be poor, but not terrible.
Texas would not trade 2 top guys… but they did.
The Yankees would not trade Teixeira for free… but they did.
Siegrist may be better, and he’s still on the team to be the primary setup man
Grichuk was traded for Carlos Gonzalez in a deal that was still probably a net win without Brothers.
Piscotty is the future of first base and will slide there once Teixeira is off the team. In the meantime he plays the outfield. Under this false future Nomar Mazara becomes the starting right fielder in 2017.
Thanks for reading!
Isn’t Lance Lynn out for all of next season recovering from Tommy John surgery?
Back when his was done, he wasn’t.