The Royals will be reluctant to invest significant money in an outfielder who’s on the wrong side of 30 over the winter, which makes a potential Lorenzo Cain exit seem more likely, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes. For his part, the 31-year-old Cain (32 next April) realizes his terrific tenure with the Royals could be on the verge of ending. “They all know where I stand as far as coming back to KC,” the impending free agent said. “They know I would love to come back here. I said it in the spring, and I’ll say it again now. But at the same time, everyone has to do what’s best for themselves. No one knows what’s going to happen.” Cain has been outstanding since debuting in earnest with the Royals in 2011, including this year (.301/.364/.442, 15 home runs, 26 stolen bases across 643 plate appearances), and was a key component of an AL pennant winner in 2014 and a World Series champion the next season.
More from the Central divisions:
- Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway will be a popular managerial candidate in the coming weeks, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweets. “He’s on everybody’s list,” one executive said of the 42-year-old Callaway, who has been the Tribe’s pitching coach since 2013 and is now in charge of arguably one of the best staffs in baseball history. If Callaway does become a manager in the offseason, it’ll be with the Phillies, Tigers or Mets, barring an unexpected firing elsewhere.
- Jose Martinez will have an opportunity to win the Cardinals’ first base job in 2018, manager Mike Matheny suggested to reporters, including Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on Saturday. “He’s going to fight for it. I don’t know why he couldn’t (be the regular first baseman),” said Matheny, who also named Luke Voit as a candidate for the role. The majority of the work at first this year has gone to franchise linchpin Matt Carpenter, but he could shift back to second/third base next season. Like Carpenter, Martinez has been one of the Cards’ top offensive players in 2017. In his first extensive action in the majors, the 29-year-old rookie has batted an excellent .306/.377/.517 with 14 home runs in 306 PAs. Voit, a 26-year-old rookie, has hit .252/.308/.441 in 120 PAs.
- Royals left-hander Danny Duffy will undergo surgery Tuesday to remove “loose bodies” from his elbow, per Dodd (Twitter link). Duffy landed on the disabled list Aug. 27 with an elbow impingement, though he did return in mid-September to make three more starts. In the first season of a five-year, $65MM contract extension, Duffy logged a 3.81 ERA over 146 1/3 innings, to go with 8.0 K/9 against 2.52 BB/9.
- The Tigers announced some additions to their scouting staff and analytics department on Friday, as Jason Beck of MLB.com details. Most notably, the Tigers promoted former utilityman Don Kelly to a full-time scouting role. An eighth-round pick of he Tigers in 2001, Kelly played in Detroit from 2009-14 and, upon his retirement last winter, joined its baseball department on a trial basis.
The Cardinals portion of the article is the epitome of what ailes this organization!
Is this what it’s come down to? A competition between an average fielding (at best) first baseman who though gets on base exceptionally well via the walk, is a below average fielder, horrible base runner, and who’s contract will not reflect the productivity for that position moving forward?
Couple that with a player who wasn’t even on the 40man roster in Voit at the beginning of the season & another career minor leaguer with a bad history of knee injuries!
Is this where it’s at?
Seriously…
I think is a indication that they plan to package Carpenter in a trade for Josh Donaldson.
Cardinals need to add a player like Donaldson to what they already have…not trade possibly their best hitter for him.
Best walker, far and away not our best hitter. That would be Tommy Pham.
Donny Kelly baby!
No sir. Pham is on the block and the first in a package for a return.
I suspect, with the possible exceptions of C. Mart and Yadi, every other player is available for trade. Those with “no-trade” clauses are just more difficult to trade, not impossible.
Yeah, except for the fact that the Blue Jays have made it clear that they aren’t going to trade Donaldson. Keep dreaming.
Things change buddy.. sorry for the slap of truth but either he gets traded in the off season or the break next year.
Ha, yeah, that’s not happening. Enjoy more third place finishes.
Ill enjoy the Cardinals 11 WS rings.
Didn’t the Jays finish in last?
Fourth lol
I don’t think Toronto is trading Donaldson this offseason. St. Louis really needs Carpenter to bounce back a bit.
And Martinez and Voit sound like sorry 1B options. I guess it’s a good thing Matheny doesn’t make the big decisions!
If Donaldson becomes available its going to be a bidding war for his services. There are a few teams that need a good fielding 3B with power. Cards would need to offer one of their top starters to get him not another OF.
Martinez has shown he is more than capable as an MLB player
Being a MLB player isn’t the question! What is in question is having a career minor leaguer start at a premium position on a team/organization who up until now, has been a model of trying to win it all!
That’s the point…
Carpenter isnt an OF. I would bet a trade for Carpenter and Flaherty would get it done. IF they wanted to trade Carp. Hell Toronto would probably move him for Flaherty, Gyrko, and a Siera
Um, no. Maybe if you throw in Luke Weaver.
Martinez is a good offensive weapon. His 134 wRC+ was 7th best among 1B this year with 300 pa. High line drive rate, good walk rate, low strike out rate.
His age makes you wonder his sustainability. But his profile looks promising. He is probably a 125 wRC+, 30 HR 1B if he played every day.
That’s nothing to sneeze at or be disappointed with. He’s a good player who deserves the shot.
And cards fans shouldn’t be so inpatient. The team hasn’t had to have the full rebuilds because they are disciplined with their moves.
@RedFeather that’s a funny joke.
Martinez has done a great deal of his damage against lefties and he’s a poor defensive player. He’d be a terrific part of a DH platoon but he’s not scaring any opposing pitchers.
If it becomes a bidding war for Donaldson, you can count on Mozeliak to come in second on him. That way Mo can use his usual line on star players; “We came up a little short, but at least we tried!” (Oh… so tired of hearing that!)
Why would the Jays do that when they have Smoak at first?
Carp can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and OF
Carp can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and OF.
Badly.
carpenter is penciled in at those positions, in which he plays all of them below average, by a manager that needs replacing.
Slide, agree on the manager aspect.
Matheny is the worst Cardinals manager since I’ve been following them. That was 1962.
He was pretty solid at 3rd and 2nd
Trading for donaldson, based on what the rumor mill suggests the jays want for him, would be monumentally stupid. He is 32..how many guys that age do the cards have to add that break down and turn into bad contracts before the fan base learns? If you want a bat like donaldson then its simple sign JD Martinez. Then you don’t have to send top prospects, and can just spend cash. That would allow the cards to use some of their surplus of outfielders to trade for a younger first or third baseman that might come a little cheaper than Donaldson. Even if they do cost about the same at least they’ll get a guy younger that shouldn’t decline as fast as Donaldson will. Just my two cents.
unless his birthday was today, he’s 31
I’m not a Cardinals expert, but I can’t think of any thirty something players that have broken down on them recently except for maybe Jhonny Peralta.
Matt Carpenter has averaged 3.9 WAR over the past 5 season and has never finished with less than 2.9 WAR. He was a 3 WAR player this season WITH nagging shoulder problems, which will hopefully improve over the offseason. He was also pretty unlucky with BABIP this season, so he’s due for some positive regression in 2018.
So you’ve got a 3 WAR player who looks likely to maintain or even improve upon his numbers next season. That would make him UNDERPAID, if you assume 1 WAR is worth around 8 million dollars in the current market. Why are you convinced Matt Carpenter is the problem? If you want to trade him for a 6-WAR player, that’s fine, but stop acting like he’s this huge albatross for the Cardinals. He isn’t.
Because his contract only grows massively over the duration for a position that demands a higher return if infact you’re a championship quality team!
He can only leadoff which when you consider he’s literally the worst base runner in recent memory and clogs up the running game right from the get go which causes problems in perpetuity, that’s another major flaw.
He’s a below average defender who looks like he shotputs the ball which isn’t new and this has gone on longer than the current health issue so let’s not BS around there!
And considering he’s the son of a coach, his fundamentals suck!
Need me to go on?
I can…
But I’m giving you evidence that he is, in fact, underpaid. He’s making 13 million in 2018, and a 3 WAR season is worth around 25 million on today’s market. That’s 12 million in surplus value, if he produces as he has consistently produced in the past.
He is only slightly below average as a fielder, at the least important defensive position on the field. He’s put up positive baserunning value according to fangraphs, though I agree he’s made some terrible baserunning decisions this season. But REGARDLESS of his defense and baserunning, he’s managed to valuable enough at the plate that it doesn’t matter.
He’s a well above average MLB player on a team friendly contract.
Matt Carpenter has been on the best players in baseball since coming to the big leagues.
He is what he is. A 3-4 win corner infielder who hits at the top of the lineup and is under team control through his prime.
He was our second best hitter this year to the surprising Pham.
He is absolutely not the problem for the organization. He’s the stability that we lack elsewhere.
I’d beg to differ. Dejong has been the second best hitter without a doubt. Heck Fowler has been injured a lot, but his numbers are almost as good as carps. He had a lot of clutch hits down the stretch so you could argue that he has been our third best hitter. Plus, unlike carp he can actually run. Molina would give carp his moneys worth in a foot race…carp is the indisputed worst base runner on the team I will give you that one. How many bad baserunning mistakes did he make that led to him being thrown out? The answer is way too many.
Pham – 146 wRC+
Carpenter – 124
DeJong – 123
Fowler – 121
Though, Martinez in half a season had a 134
Also, carp had a 0.3 bsr this year. Overall, he’s not a bad base runner, but is prone to stupid decisions.
Also.
Carpenter has 9 outs on the bases this year.
So did Piscotty
Fowler and DeJong each had 8
Wong 6
Considering he was on base by far the most among these guys. Not that bad.
5 of those were at home.
That said. He took the extra base 18 times. Second most was Fowler at 16, Molina at 15, Pham at 14
Your perception isn’t backed by stats.
Extra bases taken percent though was only 29%. Compared to Fowler at 61. DeJong at 26. League average is 40%
It’s not bad. He could be better. He was better last year on the bases.
Plenty of guys are worse on the bases in baseball. At least he actually gets on base.
Orioles!!!!!!!!
Nobody is taking Mickey Callaway. I’m not going to allow it.
Seems like yesterday Sandy Alomar Jr. was headed out as a manager as well. Mickey’sbeen great as a pitching coach, not sure he’d be a great manager though. I believe Sandy would be though.
Is the shine off sandy? Callaway is the pitcher whisperer, just like Leo mazzone was for the braves. Look at what he has done with Bauer, a waiver claim and a pitcher that New York threw away.
He would be like bud black, a very good manager.
Worry not, Cardinal fans…better days are coming!! We didn’t get in this year, but winter is coming, and with it will be a reconstructed roster come spring.
I believe the chatter is real about a deal between StL and Miami. The glut of outfielders that St. Louis has is attractive to Miami. I don’t know which outfielder StLouis is pursuing. If I were a betting man I’d Yelich. He seems to fit the Cards philosophy.
Mozeliak has blown smoke for the past 5 seasons and nothing significant has been done. I wont hold my breath anything gets done. If MM is saying Martinez has a shot a winning the job at first then the Cardinals are in a lot of trouble.
Cardinals need to trade piscotty and voit for Donaldson and sign JD Martinez
Surely they can get Osuna and Stroman in that deal. And take the rest of Mike Leake’s contract off St. Louis’s hands.
Osuna, Stroman, and Donaldson would cost Alex Reyes, Luke Weaver, Jack Flaherty, Sandy Alcantara, and probably others. Not worth it.
I’m being facetious.
Not sure what kind of drugs Corey is on but if his employer sees this they will drug test him come tomorrow!!!
I would love to see Cain with the Cubs but there probably isn’t a spot for him. Unless they trade Schwarber but I don’t see that happening.
Cain and Staton are going to be Rangers durning the offseason