Some tidbits from the Cardinals as the team holds its Winter Warm-Up fan event this weekend…
- Marcell Ozuna continues to linger as a possibility to rejoin the team, though Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch hears from a source that the Cardinals will “have to up their offer for him to return.” Ozuna recently hinted that the Cards and Rangers were his two top suitors, and reports from earlier this month suggested that the Reds were also still in the mix. That said, there have also been rumblings that the Rangers’ top outfield (and first base) target might be Nicholas Castellanos rather than Ozuna, and it remains to be seen if Cincinnati will further add to its rather crowded outfield after signing Shogo Akiyama. The Cardinals themselves have quite a few outfield options to juggle, of course, and between that depth and potentially the lack of a strong bidding war for Ozuna’s services, the club may not see a reason yet to offer him a larger contract.
- Reports from last week indicated that Rangel Ravelo was receiving interest from a KBO League team, though Cardinals president John Mozeliak told Goold and other media members that a trade was apparently very close to fruition. Trading Ravelo to South Korea would have lessened the outfield surplus, though St. Louis instead addressed that issue by dealing Jose Martinez and Randy Arozarena to the Rays as part of a swap that involved four players and two draft picks. As Mozeliak put it, “that’s when I took the toothpaste and tried to jam it back in the tube” in terms of walking back the Ravelo trade with the unnamed KBO team. Since Ravelo is still somewhat buried on the Cardinals’ long list of outfield candidates, one wonders if those trade talks could be revisited (assuming the Korean team is still interested) should the Cards make another addition, such as perhaps an Ozuna signing.
- Mozeliak told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anne Rogers) that he is “hopeful” that Matt Wieters will return as the St. Louis backup catcher. As of last week, the Athletics were also known to have interest in Wieters’ services, though Mozeliak said that “I’m hoping we’ll get Wieters done, I really am. Still need to dot i’s and cross the t’s on that.” Wieters hit .214/.268/.435 with 11 home runs over 183 plate appearances for the Cards last season, with positive grades as a pitch-blocker from Baseball Prospectus even while ranking near the bottom of the league in framing. The fact that Mozeliak directly mentioned Wieters perhaps hints at a deal being close, Rogers noted, as the executive rarely names specific targets.
- “It feels great to be a starter again,” Carlos Martinez told reporters (including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Rick Hummel) at the Winter Warm-Up event. Martinez has pitched well as the Cardinals’ closer in each of the last two seasons, and the right-hander said he prefers to start, though he likes both starting and relieving — “Whatever situation they put me in, I’m going to help the team.” Shoulder problems necessitated Martinez’s shift to the bullpen, though he is now eager to get back to the rotation after claiming “100 percent” health following a minor shoulder surgery and a PRP injection in October. The St. Louis rotation already features Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, and newly-signed Kwang-Hyun Kim, though needless to say, Martinez won’t have any trouble regaining a slot if he returns to his 2015-17 form.
- Alex Reyes is another Cardinals pitcher that sees himself eventually as a starter, though for now, the young righty is just happy to finally be healthy. “Mentally, I think what helped the most is just not being around rehab, rehab, rehab. It’s been three years of strictly rehab for me…I thought it was huge for me to be able to be with my family,” Reyes told Rogers and other reporters. Once considered one of the sport’s top prospects, Reyes has been limited to just seven MLB innings over the last three seasons due to Tommy John surgery, lat muscle surgery, a broken finger on his non-throwing hand, and a pec injury. If Reyes can finally stay on the field, he will likely be pitching out of the Cards’ bullpen as the team gets him re-acclimated to a regular pitching schedule.
Ozunas best chance to get paid is if reds move senzel for lindor and sign him. Reds aren’t afraid to pay or give up a pick. Outside of that he’s going to regret not taking the QO. Bet he signs w Texas on a 1 year deal for less than 15 million.
I don’t think the rumored Lindor trade is going to happen and the Reds will go with what they have. I don’t think Ozuna makes them significantly better and I wouldn’t give him a huge contract.
Reds could sign him for something like 3/45. Ozuna would jump all over that. I agree w all u say though.
Reds acquire lindor and Ozuna and their payroll will go up roughly 30 million. I think that’s too much for them
Braves would beat that plus we got a draft pick to lose by JD signing with Twins
I wouldn’t get your hopes up on ATL signing Ozuna… If the rumors are true that they aren’t very interested in Bryant due to his defense (which isn’t exactly even bad, it’s just not Donaldson good), I don’t see them giving a guy like Ozuna multiple years.
Those rumors for sure aren’t true. In case u missed the Donaldson comments yesterday- braves were not even in on him. So no way they’ll even consider Ozuna or Bryant bc they are prospect rich cheap skates who are content going 500 vs spending money and assets to win another WS. And they lie to their fans through the process.
Go Braves lolz
Braves didn’t go 500 last year and they should only get better.
Not arguing at all, just don’t know. Do teams get a comp draft pick for a 1 year deal like JD signed?
If they offered a QO and he declined, the team gets a compensation pick.
Ozuna isn’t going to sign with the Reds – no one wants to go to the Reds unless they don’t have a choice because they were traded there.
Not sure about ur point on Reds, players enjoy being in Cincy, fans are great, owners are good and they might b pretty good this year, spoken comments prob a Cubs fan
Winner of the moronic comment of the day. Congrats, Payne.
In a heap the highest (or lowest) priority element is always stored at the root, hence the name “heap”. A heap is not a sorted structure and can be regarded as partially ordered. … Since a heap is a complete binary tree, it has a smallest possible height – a heap with N nodes always has O(log N) height.
Depends on the hemisphere in which one is.
That’s true
Used to drive a Beetle, and that heap WAS a sorted structure.
Lmao
Ozuna is poised to be left without a chair when the music stops this winter. Always at least 1 who over plays his hand and IMO it’s him. Castellanos has the bat by a decent chunk, not to mention age on his side. AL teams pretty certain he’s a better fit for bit of difference Ozuna makes with his better glove. Think he’s getting some poor advice.
Better glove …..Maybe. But a Rag Arm detracts from his defensive value.
He’s been hurt lately….and has never come close to duplicating his monster year (hitting behind Stanton and his 59 HR’s)
I fully agree that he has “overvalued himself” and will probably have to settle for a pillow contract.
If it’s an NL team, then it’s Ozuna every day of the week over Castellanos. Not even close.
I’d disagree with that statement. Castellanos’ range is poor but if you’re looking for a RF you’re looking for a guy with an arm. Castellanos has an arm. If you’re looking for a LF, Ozuna is the better fit defensively. Neither is good but I don’t believe it’s a blowout. Depends on which corner you want to fill.
Atlanta might get in on Ozuna that might be his best bet. The Cards may wait till the trade deadline to do anything see what they have with the young OF.
Greed is good- signed G. Gecko
Ozuna won’t be back, Mo wants that draft pick! We finally have a couple of legit prospects in Carlson and Lib so I wouldn’t put them in Arenado deal but anybody else in the system should be available. That includes Gorman, he is 2-3 yrs away Fans want to win a WS now Mo! Arenado will get us over the hump that is the Cards offense.
No more World Series for the cardinals
They got plenty
We are moving on
Yeah, that’s not how it works.
Nolan is another coors creation
MLB not going to test guys for weed any more. So Reyes no longer has anything to lose by staying on the field.
Cubs fans trolling again, you should be looking at your pitching staff ouch!
“MLB not going to test guys for weed any more.”
Didn’t know that. Too late for Manny. Setting the roids aside, dude was a lovable character. And probably still is. “Manny being Manny.”
The more I read about Ozuna the more it feels like the Braves can get him on a deal like Donaldson got last year. Overpay for 1 year and this way he can go back into FA next year without the QO compensation attached to him.
I feel like he is the Braves best option at this point maybe even overpay for a 2 year deal he is young enough he can go back to free agency. It also gives him motivation to produce.
It gives the Braves time for Pache & Waters to develop for the OF and Riley to develop into the cleanup hitter.
I doubt it, would be super risky for Ozuna to bet on himself surpassing his ’19 offensive numbers.. for Donaldson, for the most part all he had to do was stay healthy.
Don’t believe it’d be very risky for Ozuna to beat his ‘19 offensive numbers. They weren’t very good and the statcast data would suggest they could rebound.
His ’18 offensive numbers weren’t very good, possibly worse than ’19. Two down seasons in a row suggests he might be this way the next few years. Keyword: might.
With a draft pick attached to Ozuna I see Castellanos signing first. Put Castellanos in front of Freeman and watch Freddy rack up the RBI’s. So his defense sucks they say? As a cards fan I can tell you Ozuna was a defensive liability for 2 long years.
I would like Castellanos but I can’t see him looking for a contract in the amount of years the Braves are looking to offer. With Pache & Waters on their way I don’t wanna see them sign anybody that is going to block them.
Ozuna’s defense was above average in pretty much every metric there is in 2019. It doesn’t matter what you look like doing it, the eye test fails if this is your conclusion.
That just shows how unreliable defensive based analytics are at this point. Don’t believe me? Just look at the various results from outlet to outlet like fangraphs & baseball reference and how they differ depending on said players output. Far from a settled science at this point.
And Ozuna is a liability in the field make no mistake about it & if you think differently, put down the red koolaid for that $h!+ will kill ya!
Just ask Jim Jones…
Cyg, just look at Ozuna versus Castellanos. Castellanos is a DH.
The Big Bear plays the OF just like his nickname. Moreover, he is a poor baserunner.
Eye test or not, Ozuna does not make plays he is supposed to make. He is not to be trusted in crunch time with the glove. Defensive metrics do not line up. We can use defensive metrics to argue for average defenders being better than perennial gold glovers 30 years ago. Mostly because legitimate errors are no longer scored errors and metrics have hypothetical data in it’s formula.
Castellanos is the Butcher of Bakersfield
Jd got one over on the Twins. 4yrs? He won’t stay healthy for 2! Braves fans shouldn’t feel bad at all they got Jd’s best last year. He won’t touch those numbers again.
JD is historically extremely healthy and durable.
Ozuna situation very different from Donaldson last year. They didn’t have to give up a pick to get Donaldson, and they got a pick for him leaving. With Ozuna they’d lose a pick signing him and wouldn’t get a pick if he left. Also, Donaldson is good enough that he has upside even in the $20m range; Ozuna has virtually no upside at that price, you just hope he comes close to earning his paycheck.
WHY did this article NOT appear in the Reds NEWS ?????? lol
How ever did the Reds survive McCarthyism?
they put blue in their jersey for a few years.
No one wants Azuna
This was one guy that should have taken the qo
Who is Azuna?
IDK but nobody wants him apparently
Reyes’s 2018 stat line is si visually appealing – 5 starts, all scoreless, and all coming at a seperate level.
Wieters seemed to thrive in a part-time role last year with Cardinals, probably should go back for another season.
Pretty sure the only Korean team that still has room for a foreign player is the LG Twins.
Can the Cardinals actually make a trade with a South Korean team? Or is it a cash transaction? If they get back a foreign player could they trade with any team?
Typically its selling the contract rights of the player to the team. Cash back, no other players involved.
Cardinals re-sign Wieters already. Let’s go Mozeliak.
Done
I like the re-signing of Matt Wieters. It was a good move.
Ravelo plays first base, not outfield. if he went to korean league it would in no way effect cardinals outfield options.. i mean maybe it’s one of his secondary positions but not what he’s listed as (even via your own link) professionally. cmon now
He plays in the outfield and at third base too, he’s played all over. He’s also been sited as taking over Martinez role, which includes right and maybe left field depending on who goes into OD as the starting left fielder. Cmon now.
3B means nothing. That’s Edman’s after Mo finds a way to work around Carpenter. (Hint: Package him in a trade.)
he only has 43 innings of MLB service but all @ 1st base. i was thinking major league OF surplus meant dudes playing in the outfield on the major league team. maybe OF was the true plan idk but… GOTEEEEEEEM @stanlybobanly
Cut bait on Ozuna. .241 batting average and a lazy outfielder. There’s nothing there that warrants a 50% or more pay increase.
dont forget fat
After seeing that the Braves truly weren’t competitive with the Donaldson bidding shows me they probably wouldn’t be in on Ozuna or Castellanos. I don’t see anything past a 2/30-3/40 deal coming from Atlanta. I don’t think either will accept that unless it’s after spring training starts.
He’s going to get close to $20,000,000 a year on a 3-4 year deal. My guess is 4-75 million. Reds should trade for Lindor if Senziel does it. Reds bp looks great but I’d do Senziel and Iglesious for Lindor, Mercado and a lower level high upside pitcher and outfielder.
LOL
Ozuna ain’t getting 4/75. 4/60 is probably about like it.
Ozuna was in a bad position. Judging by how the FA market has played out he should have taken the qualifying offer. The problem is 2021 looks to be a more robust free agent market, led by Mookie Betts. He may have to wait for Betts to sign and more before being considered.
Betts/Sox have agreed on non-arb terms for next yeare.
The one up side of the Arenado talks breaking down is that we get to keep Dakota Hudson. I’d still like to see us re-sign Ozuna. If the Rockies’ season start heading down the sewer, Would we be in position to make a deadline deal?