The Cardinals, like many other clubs throughout the league, have a fairly robust slate of guaranteed salaries on the books for 2021 and could face limited financial flexibility this winter as ownership tries to recover from the revenue losses that swept the sport in the shortened 2020 campaign. To that end, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cards “are expected” to talk to second baseman Kolten Wong about a contract extension that would lessen the immediate cost of keeping him on the roster.
Wong, who turned 30 over the weekend, has just one year of control remaining, but that comes in the form of a non-guaranteed $12.5MM club option for next season. The option comes with a $1MM buyout, meaning there’s a net $11.5MM decision to be made when it comes to keeping the 2019 Gold Glover or cutting him loose.
Wong hit .265/.350/.326 this season. The on-base skills displayed by Wong were roughly in line with his previous three seasons, but the second baseman’s already limited power went up in smoke, as Wong connected on just one home run, adding four doubles and a pair of triples. His .061 ISO (slugging minus batting average) was the lowest of his career by more than 50 points. Defensively, he remained elite; his six Defensive Runs Saved were the second-most among second baseman and ranked 19th in Major League Baseball at any position.
The Cards have just shy of $110MM committed to next year’s payroll — not including Wong’s would-be $12.5MM salary — and have a rather substantial arbitration class that will feature Jack Flaherty, John Gant, Alex Reyes, Harrison Bader, Jordan Hicks and John Brebbia. They’ll also be forced into decisions on franchise icons Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, both of whom are free agents but have interest in returning for another go-around in St. Louis. And, of course, none of that group would do much to address the team’s frequently anemic offense, which will be a focal point for president of baseball ops John Mozeliak, GM Mike Girsch and the rest of the front office this winter.
On the surface, there’d be good reason for Wong to hold some mutual interest in a reworked deal. Beyond staying with the only club he’s ever known, the offseason market is expected to be rather frigid for mid-tier free agents due to the aforementioned revenue losses. The second base market, in particular, would also hold plenty of competition, most notably in the form of Yankees star DJ LeMahieu. He’s far from the only starting-caliber second baseman who’ll hit free agency this winter, however. Cesar Hernandez, Jonathan Schoop and bounceback candidate Jonathan Villar will all be on the market alongside myriad utility types who could capably hold down a second base gig on at least a part-time basis. The expected deluge of non-tenders should only add to the competition.
There’s no telling to what extent Cards chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. is willing to spend in the wake of revenue losses, but it’ll presumably be at a lower level than the rough $168MM projection (pre-prorating) that Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez put on their 2020 roster. DeWitt is the same owner who famously claimed that the baseball industry simply “isn’t very profitable” earlier this year.
Why? Let him leave and let the next prospect play
They don’t have a “next prospect” to play. Edman would likely be the starting 2B, leaving Carp at 3B. Schrock and Sosa aren’t starting caliber players, just role players. Gorman is two years away after just getting satellite camp play. Montero is the same as Gorman.
Are you high schrock can hit and is above average on defense at 2nd base which is his natural position. So therefore you can leave edmans as your 3rd base give schrock a shot. Or move edmans to second and see what u got in Gorman. Or patch it together with schrock and resign miller and platoon him with shared time at 2nd or 3rd base.
He’s a gold glove second basemen and improving bat.
Except that improving bat was powerless this season and never has been all that great. Two or three years around $7M per seems reasonable.
Okay, but he’s 30. When can we finally say his bat just is what it is?
But this year was first full year of actually playing all yearlong as the starting 2nd baseman full time and not being pulled for every mistake he made.
Last year bud
2nd base is easy for them to fill, put Edman there and sign a 3B to replace Carpenter. they need offense desperately
Who’s the signee? Free agent market is weak this year
Yes, but he’s 30.
If the Cards can land a deal with him with a lower AAV than his current deal for next year (3 years, $27M to $30M total) then sure. If they need to come up with more cash than that, move on and swing Tommy into 2nd.
I think between Wainwright and Molina should be about 20M and should be Molinas retirement tour at this point. He is still a solid defensive catcher but his batting is starting to trend more and more down and you have a very capable backup from what i read in Knapp. Maybe 12 for Wain and 8 for Molina. Wain doubles his salary and then some and molina gets on the higher end of the median for catchers per year which he is about average and discount for the only team he has known and town he is famous in. Same with Wainwright. Or can split it 10 a.nd 10.
1st time arbitration should be around around 20 or so mil prob on the lesser side i think for all their cases.
If my math is right you have about 25 mil left if you match last years salary not including wong option. He is already being paid 2.5 so in the end you would pay him 10 and still have 15 mil and and you really only have to replace depth as most everyone is back except miller and you might even get him back for 5 and still have 10 for upgrades/depth and possible early sign long term deals.
Second baseman are a dime a dozen
I don’t know who Knapp is but I think you mean Knizner…Yadis bat isn’t really trending down besides maybe his power…he actually had one of his better offense years albeit it being 2020…Knizner proved he can hit a little but also proved he’s not ready defensively imo…Herrera is the better catching prospect but his ETA is 2022…I think Yadi could get another two year deal with Herrera in mind
sorry that was my mistake i dont follow the cards as close as a few of the other team but i remembered k in the name, It was probably knizner im thinking of.
Don’t think it’ll cost that much
Seems like Villar is always a bounce back candidate, then the next year he bounces down, then the next year he bounces back; it’s a never ending cycle
Villar… same story every single year. All he does is bounce back and bounce down, though, its fascinating the consistency he has at doing it
one of wongs detriments is hitting home runs. it makes him think he’s a power hitter.
He’s already moved on from that. He now has become kind of a slap hitter
Evidenced by his worst year-long SLG since his cup of water as a rookie
if cardinals trade for lindor, why move dejong to second? move him to third. dejong, lindor, wong and goldschmidt sounds good.
Who would the cardinals even trade to get Lindor? His price and salary would be too high for the cardinals to pay.
Wait what? I think you’re too high. Cardinals have and can spend the money the question is will Dewitt ante up. Probably not but oh well.