Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak and manager Mike Matheny conducted their end-of-season meeting with the media today, and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has several highlights from the talk. Here are some of the main items that are relevant to MLBTR readers, but interested parties should check out the full transcript for additional insight into the team…
- The Cardinals view Jon Jay as their starting center fielder heading into the 2015 season after the 29-year-old hit .302/.372/.378 in 140 games. Mozeliak revealed that Jay will have his wrist scoped this week to clear out some damage that has been lingering since July.
- Mozeliak expects Oscar Taveras and Randal Grichuk to compete for the starting right field job next season and echoed recent comments that he expects Taveras to be with the club in 2015. Taveras has received specific instructions to work on his conditioning and speed this winter.
- The entire coaching staff has been asked to return for the 2015 season. Bench coach Mike Aldrete is expected to be pursued by at least one other team, Goold reports, but Mozeliak said to this point no team has gone through the protocol of asking to interview Aldrete.
- The Cards will be on the hunt for power to add to their lineup and possibly a right-handed power bat to add to the bench or pair with Matt Adams at first base. Still, Mozeliak said that he and Matheny see Adams as a potential 600-plate-appearance player.
- St. Louis will shop Randy Choate this offseason, Goold writes, following comments from Mozeliak on the “specialized” nature of Choate’s current role. Said the GM: “I think we both feel that if we can upgrade there or have an additional arm to choose from, that makes sense. We’re certainly not ruling out [Kevin] Siegrist. I think in Choate’s case, for us, he’s fairly one-dimensional. That makes it difficult for us to use him, particularly during a long season.” Choate is owed $3MM next season and held southpaw hitters to a .093/.205/.147 batting line.
- Mozeliak expects to offer contracts to all of the team’s arbitration eligible players, including Peter Bourjos and Daniel Descalso. However, Goold writes that the team could gauge interest in both on the trade market. Bourjos strikes me as a particularly appealing candidate, given his elite glove in center field. I speculated that he’d be a good fit for the Twins as a starer in my recent Offseason Outlook, and he could make sense for a number of teams, in my mind. Goold’s colleague, Joe Strauss, tweets that he got a “strong sense” that at least one outfielder would be moved.
- Both Carlos Martinez and Marco Gonzales will come to Spring Training as starters, Mozeliak said, but the clearer openings for each are in the bullpen at this time. Elsewhere in the bullpen, Mozeliak noted that the team won’t rule out re-signing Pat Neshek or Jason Motte.
Randy Choate career: LHP, 601 games, 380.2 IP. That alone should tell you hes been loogy his entire career, St Louis knew what they were getting before signing him.
Signs of a career LOOGY: faced 251 more LHB than RHB, allowed 9 fewer hits to LHB.
I believe those comments were code for “Mike Matheny doesn’t know how to manage a bullpen, so I’ll try to trade a reliever who excelled in the exact role for which he was acquired.”
Well said. Mozeliak is one of the few GMs in baseball whose primary objective is to address the deficiencies of the incompetent manager, like with the Craig trade.
I’m with you, but at some point, the manager is on him. If Matheny is truly running the team against Mozeliak’s wishes, he needs to take action on it.
They knew. At the time of the signing the Cardinals had no reliable lefties out of the bullpen. Since then, Kevin Siegrist and Marco Gonzales have both emerged and they can face lefties and righties so there’s not really a need for a Loogy. Choate had 2 really good years in St. Louis and I imagine there will be plenty of suitors for him.
A reliever who turns 39 next year and is coming off a 82 ERA plus season? I don’t see all that much demand. He can still get the occasional lefty out, but these days I’m not sure the ability to face one batter every 2.5 games is worthy of a roster spot.
There are plenty of teams that need someone to get lefties out and Choate is still as good at that as anyone in baseball. He won’t cost much of anything prospect wise and I’m sure the Cardinals would eat some salary as well. I think many teams would be interested.
I can see the Angels showing interest at the right price, they were so desperate for lefty out of the pen Rich Hill and Wade LeBlanc got a shot at the role last year.
Well….the Cardinals sure like getting CF’s from the Angels, what about that guy that’s named after a fish?
Sure anytime you have the entire Cubs farm system to offer ;)
I didn’t realize that Kevin Bass was still playing.
Had Thatcher not sprained his ankle there wouldn’t have been that much desperation. Which is why I can see them giving him either a 1 year deal or minor league contract over acquiring Choate.
He’s worthy of a roster spot but I really don’t think you can get anything of any value or potential value for him at this point. May be package him with Bourjos or something like that.
it’s basically does anyone want him before we DFA him. When Choate was signed to a 3 year deal it was said that the cards viewed it as a 2 year deal and were paying for the first two years, and that they just viewed the third year as a bonus. So if anyone want to pick up all or most of his 3 mill salary, he’s all yours.
I was 100% on the Peter Bourjos bandwagon to start the year. But no matter how many times they’ve tried to replace Jay, he comes out ahead. I’m perfectly fine with Jay in CF.
I’m fine with a Grichuk-Taveras competition in Spring Training, as long as it’s a fair competition. Grichuk definitely can be of use to this team, I just hope Matheny can use him right.
It should be an interesting off-season in St. Louis, even with no major moves likely. It seems like the thing to watch will be who is on the way out, more than who is on the way in.
I was really rooting for Peter to start the season, I always like him during his time with the Angels, but at this point I can safely say 2011 was simply a lucky year for Peter. He’s still got one heck of a glove though.
I think he’s still a capable starter. He was barely below league average hitter in the 2nd half (admittedly SSS). But I think someone just needs to hand him the job and see what he can do for a full season. Honestly, if he can be slightly below – average with the bat, he’s a 3+ Win player. I like the suggestion of the Twins, just give him the job and see where he ends up.
I wouldn’t really call it luck since he only hit .271, and has stolen many runs with his speed. And if I remember the stats, the bulk of his 5+ WAR in 2011 was hid dWAR. That’s why I’d still give him a shot because he can provide wins in several other ways than just with his bat. Even if he’s just a late inning weapon off the bench as a pinch runner/back up CF for defense.
Cuddyer might be a good RH power bat to pursue.
He will be expensive for the Cardinals and likely looking for a full time spot. The Mets can at least offer him playing time in RF when he’s not starting at 1B.
Cards can offer him the same thing, but the cards can also offer him more money and a chance to play on a world series contending team. Unless the cards go big and trade Taveras for a middle of the order bat, Cuddyer makes a lot of sense for the cards, and makes sense for Cuddyer as well.
All the Cardinals need is a platoon mate for Adams. I can’t see Cuddyer being interested in a straight platoon which is the only thing the Cardinals could offer.
Holliday needs days off, carpenter could use some days off, on some days you could even put Carpenter at second and put Cuddyer at 3rd plus pinch hitting. But most importantly you don’t know what we’ll get out of RF, cuddyer would represent a lot of insurance there, where it seems like we could easily get him 400 at bats, and given Cuddyer’s injury history the decreased work load may be best for him.
How about throwing some money at Mike Morse? Can platoon at 1B, give Holliday a day off here and there, and serve as insurance in RF. He’s basically what Allen Craig should have been with more pop.
Morse is atrocious with the glove. He looks awkward and uncomfortable at first base. I see Mike Morse returning to the AL so he can DH.
I would imagine that he would win more games with his bat than he would lose with his glove.
That he has actually played shortstop at the Major League level is insane.
Hey Cards, sounds like your all set in the OF, interested in moving Piscotty?
They better not! He has the markings of a good all around ball player. He’s also a RF and Taveras and Grichuk are big IFs!! Oscar needs a lot of improvement to be an everyday player and Randall Grichuk strikes far too often to justify his occasional bursts of power.
One last thing, what do you think happened to Craig this year? You think he can bounce back? Always liked him, real good Clutch hitter.
His foot injury was of the type that can require extended extended healing time. Trying to run on it in the 2013 world series likely did him no favors – and it was painful trying to watch him run in those games. If it has healed properly and he trains hard 2015 may be a bounceback year. Almost anything will be better than hitting ~190ish.
Allen Craig’s biggest problem was Matheny riding him in to the ground, long after it was clear he just didn’t have it this year. Not only was it damaging to the Cardinals trying to win ballgames, it was damaging to the confidence of Allen Craig. He was receiving starts right up to the trade. Many have speculated that Craig was moved in part because Mozeliak wanted to take him away from Matheny. To paraphrase Moneyball “You can’t start Craig tonight, he plays for Boston now”.
If Cardinals don’t add another big bat or two then the offense will be like this years offense… Cardinals need 2 good bench players better arms in the bullpen… Mo has a lot of work to do but don’t seem like he;s going to do anything about it.