Cardinals utility player Tommy Edman underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right wrist in October, the club’s president of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells John Denton of MLB.com. The Cards are hoping that Edman will be ready for Spring Training.
Edman, 29 in May, spent some time on the injured list last year due to inflammation in that wrist, missing almost a month from early July until early August. Per Denton’s report, the issue continued to bother him even after he returned from the IL.
Perhaps that explains why Edman’s production at the plate fell off relative to the previous season. He hit .265/.324/.400 in 2022 for a wRC+ of 106 but that line dipped a bit to .248/.307/.399 last year, with the wRC+ dropping to 92.
Edman is going to be a key contributor for the club in 2024, though his exact role is to be determined. He currently projects to be the club’s center fielder, with prospect Masyn Winn set to take over as the everyday shortstop. However, Winn hit just .172/.230/.238 in his first 137 major league plate appearances and isn’t a lock to hold down the job all year long. That could perhaps lead to Edman moving to shortstop and someone like Dylan Carlson or Lars Nootbaar taking over in center.
In addition to those two positions, Edman has played second base, third base and the outfield corners, generally getting excellent grades for his glovework regardless of where he’s lined up. That will give the club plenty of opportunity to slot him into the lineup, even as the season rolls along and circumstances change due to injuries, prospect promotions or transactions. The club will therefore be hoping that his rehab proceeds as planned and he doesn’t experience any setbacks between now and the start of the season.
Tommy Edman is a delight to watch play….very underrated!
I don’t know if he’s underrated anymore though. He’s an awesome player and I think most recognize it now.
Not every player is cut out to change positions every 2 hours and based off what I’ve seen on the field and heard from Cardinal fans, Tommy Edman just may be one of those ill suited players.
“Hoping” is a key word.
Wish the Giants would offer a great package for this dude
It’s probably more a case of “I wish the Cardinals would make this guy available”
Balk: I think most fans feel this way regarding a potential Edmond acquisition for their respective team; but I also think Foppert is 100% on point. I don’t believe the Cards would be willing to trade him for what would be considered a fair return. I believe this past season they specifically said he wasn’t available for trade.
He would be a perfect fit for the Giants-type players though. Super useful utility guy. Kind of reminds me of a….Ben Zobrist type (I think that’s the right guy, if I recall).
Yankee Clipper…I agree, it would be hard to let that caliber of player go. Buttttt….if it’s young controllable arms they’re looking for, they might get a good return from said team like the Giants.
Balk, that is true as well. Arms are at a premium and the Giants have some great trade personnel if they chose to move them. I guess the Cards would need to determine which is more important for them.
I don’t think Edman is going anywhere until the team is sure Winn and/or Scott are thriving.
The Cardinals need to stop putting guys in center that don’t belong there. This all started when Bader was traded. Yes that was an excellent trade getting Montgomery back but the outfield defense has been a mess since. Carlson is not a true center fielder he could play there in small ballparks but not regularly. ONeill never belonged in center. Edman never belonged in center. All 3 have been hurt playing there since Bader was dealt.
Trading Bader and then promoting Walker when he didn’t earn it hurt the team in more ways than most fans understand.
Please enlighten us, your knowledge is simply amazing!
I watch the games dude. Watched 95% of the games in the last 5 years. Defense matters. Putting guys in random positions they don’t belong leads to problems and that’s what’s happened to the Cardinals recently. Walker can’t play defense at all he’s awful. Edman is a 2b or shortstop.
RE JP
“I watch the games dude.”
Oh. As opposed to basically everyone here
Does everyone here watch 95% of the Cardinal games????
No. They sure dont.
RE deeds
“Please enlighten us, your knowledge is simply amazing!”
[LucyCWAA.gif]
“IF” Scott II is as fast and good with a glove as advertised —- defensively he’d fit nicely in center. Edman could move back to his Gold Glove position at second base. Both solidifying a Gold Glove infield, and up the middle defense.
Gorman—- Designated hitter—-
Gorman is better than just a hitter. If the Cardinals are out of it come July we can trade Arenado to the Dodgers and put Gorman at 3b with Donovan and Saggese also getting some time there.
Yeah Scott is a true center fielder. He’s similar to Winn in that the big question is will he hit and hit for power. If he can provide a 700 OPS at least he will be a good player the speed and defense are legit.
Even if the Cardinals fall out of the race again, they aren’t trading Arenado.
Thankfully, Gorman actually plays a decent 2B if Walker needs to DH more often, and Edman is a pretty good defensive CF with an even better one in Carlson backing him up.
Yes, Scott would probably be the best defensive CF of all, but he probably won’t be ready for regular MLB playing time until next year.
Arenado to the Dodgers in July right around the same time Marmol is fired. You heard it here first.
Scott and Saggese also ready to play by July. Probably trade Edman at that point.
You’re high on your own farts Joel.
First Arenado isn’t being traded, and Marmol isn’t being going to be fired. Marmol should be gone already hence Mo likes him as manager.
Wait and see fella. Wait and see…..
You are correct about Mozeliak is the only one keeping Marmol around.
Personally—- I think the Cardinals would be much better off without both Marmol and Mozeliak!!!
Joel P,,,,,,, I’d like to see the Dodgers acquire Arenado NOW! But, he could cost less by July 30th!
No, Gorman is pretty one dimensionable.
I’m not sure Mo “likes” Marmol as much as he will do whatever Mo tells him to do and Marmol is cheap labor.
Walker definitely earned his roster spot. I would take a year of Walker in RF over a season of ~300 ABs and at least one IL stint from Bader in CF.
How did Walker earn this roster spot?
Be specific. I would love to hear this.
Walker’s bat still provides more value than he loses with his glove. He was also demoted for a while last year so that he could improve both offensively and defensively.
Going into his second year, that will be even more true as he continues to develop, plus the Cardinals will probably be more willing to play him at DH at times this year.
Walker provided two tenths of a win in 2023. And he had a decent OPS last year. Palacios provided more value than Walker did in 2023 and that was in very limited playing time.
He never should have started the year in the bigs. He was sent to AAA and had a 742 OPS there. How on earth did he earn the call up?
If the Cardinals didn’t play him at DH last year why would they this year?
Walker is overrated. Hopefully he’s been practicing this offseason.
As I said, that’s still positive value.
In hindsight, putting Walker on the Opening Day roster was a mistake, but he had torn it up in Spring Training and in the minors the year before. He then got demoted pretty early on. Meanwhile, his defense did improve as they year went on, and once he was called up again his bat was good enough to make up for his defensive shortcomings. Walker is a tremendously talented bat who with another offseason of both offensive and defensive work should easily provide multiple WAR this season even if he doesn’t play a game at DH. Offensively, he’s not overrated at all.
The Cardinals were less willing to play Walker at DH last year because:
(A) It was more important that he get at least a decent amount of game experience at a position he was still learning.
(B) The Cardinals had a huge position player logjam that has since been mostly cleared up by trading O’Neill, non-tendering Yepez, and determining that Burleson is a bench player and Carlson is a platoon player. (Winn pretty much replaces DeJong on a roster spot basis.)
(C) It was usually the better defensive OFers in O’Neill, Carlson, Nootbaar, and Edman who kept getting hurt last year.
(D) Once the Cardinals fell out of the race last year, there was no issue with letting Walker continue to gain defensive experience in the OF.
Two tenths of a win is almost nothing. He was barely above replacement level in 2023.
Yes he improved a little as the year went on. Could have promoted him in July and then he wouldn’t qualify as a super 2 down the road.
Having Walker on the team messed up the entire outfield defensive rotation. It led to numerous problems.
Barely above still proves he was worthy of a roster spot, at least once he was called up the second time. I already agreed the first time was too soon in hindsight.
The outfield rotation was also messed for other big reasons beyond just Walker’s terrible defense. There was a huge logjam, and Marmol and the coaches had to figure just what they had with some of those guys without being able to play most of them regularly. Numerous injuries out there messed it up even further..
Barely above replacement level is not roster spot worthy unless we are talking bench guy. And he was treated like an everyday guy all year.
Exactly. He injured it diving for a ball. Has zero reason to be in center. Just one of many bad Marmol goifs
Yep him ONeill and Carlson all hurt themselves playing center since Bader was dealt. Again hard to complain about the Bader trade because Montgomery was awesome and we got back good prospects last July for him but the team missed Bader.
You do recall that Bader got hurt again last year, don’t you? Sometimes, you just have bad luck with injuries at certain positions, and somebody needs to play CF each game.
What are you talking about?! Yes, the O’Neill in CF experiment was a mistake (thankfully a short-lived one), but Carlson and Edman have both been very good defensive CFers, and Nootbaar isn’t bad out there, either.
Edman has been OK in center but he got hurt playing center. That’s what I am talking about.
Carlson again decent in center but doesn’t belong there long term and again got hurt playing there.
Nootbaar got hurt playing there too lol. Luckily it wasn’t a serious injury. He avoided a couple serious injuries last year he had a couple close calls.
Scott can’t get to st Louis soon enough.
So? Edman or anyone else is almost as likely to get hurt at a different position, and someone needs to play CF, so they might as use one of their better options. Once Scott does come up, he could just as easily get hurt out there.
Carlson is great in center, not just merely decent. He’s the best defensive CF they have right now.
Carlson is not great in center that’s nonsense. He’s ok. He might be the best defensive center fielder available but that’s not a compliment.
No, it’s nonsense to say he’s only OK out there. They aren’t Gold Glove worthy, but both Carlson and Edman are very good defensive CFers. In fact, it was how Carlson filled in so well defensively in CF while Bader was hurt in 2022 that helped the Cardinals decide to trade Bader for Montgomery.
“OK” would much more accurately describe Nootbaar’s CF defense.
Both are OK not good center fielders.
Trading Bader was a mistake. Montgomery was great but the team should have replaced Bader instead of playing guys out of position.
PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING.
if cards front office needs a clear clue, here it is.
PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING.
1.Gray. 2.Empty. 3. Empty.
No 2 or 3 pitcher is 26 games out of first place in the weakest division in all of mlb.
Mo learned this when he was the club house janitor in Colorado Rockies organization.
HAVEN’T LEARNED a thing yet mo.
PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING
Maybe trade this dude for some Giants young arms?
I agree with you about the lack of #2 starter (unless Lynn has a great rebound), but Mikolas is a decent #3 starter.
The Cardinals did so poorly because all they really had was Montgomery, Mikolas, and a somewhat OK showing from Flaherty and then needed to trade away two of them while Mikolas faded over the last two months, while the bullpen was also mostly a dumpster fire.
Although the bullpen is still an issue *hint* *hint*, the Cardinals have done at least a decent job of rebuilding the starting rotation this offseason.
KC Royal have done a much better job filling their PITCHING needs.
Royals will have a better season than the Cards.
Unless mo mo stops reading HIS 3 million papers of stats on his great way of doing things.
Remember Mo’s stats said give Jason Hayward $205 million and Carlos Martinez is a great ACE.
PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING and PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING
I’ll still take Gray, Gibson, and Lynn over Wacha, Lugo, and the couple other minor bullpen signings. Heck, Sonny Gray alone might outclass all the pitchers the Royals have signed so far.
Carlos Martinez was indeed an ace before his injury problems.
I think Colorado Rockies had,
2 players to hit over 50 HRs.
3 players to hit over 30+ HRs.
all in the same lineup. Powerful lineup. Look it up.
But finished in last place 28 games out of first place.
WHY? Mo why? PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING.
Tony’s not here for mo to hide behind anymore. Can’t ride his coat tail anymore mo mo.
JRW
“I think”
“Look it up.”
YOU look it up
Also look up their wRC+ that year
Also look up the relative relative pitching and hitting of all teams who have win championships.
The idea that pitching wins championships is just not true
“the issue has already been studied many times and the conclusion is always the same; run scoring and run prevention are roughly of equal importance. There’s some evidence that teams who specialize in run prevention might do slightly better than teams who specialize in run scoring, but the furthest you can push the split is in the 52/48 range in favor of run prevention. By and large, a run is a run is a run.”
blogs.fangraphs.com/pitching-and-defense-wins-as-l…
You seem to be bad at thinking.
Rockies have NEVER had a player hit 50 HR in a season. Walker and Helton each got to 49 once.
As for last season, the Rockies pitching was horrible (lots of injuries) but their hitting was not good either.
Never, wow
OK, 47
Hopefully Spring Training won’t be deferred for him.
He’s not even that good he’s ok but not good. And it was all so we could put DeJong back in there and then trade him for whatever the heck we got for him I can’t even remember.
I would put Edman right up there with Arenado and Goldschmit in importance to the Cards roster. He is talented in ways that aren’t appreciated. Return him to SS, move Gorman, Winn, and Walker. Plus a couple of pitchers from AAA, bring up Scott to handle centerfield, and trade with the White Sox for Cease and Robert.
P
sounds like a lingering problem in 2024
I hope he survived.
The point here is, really makes no difference that marmol runs his defense and his offense like a recreational softball team. Moving players all over the place, daily. Mo is not going to fix our pitching staff.
Mo doesn’t understand or care about top of the rotation pitching. Until the pitching is delt with. Cards will not win.
Tony is not here to force his hand on pitching.
Mo thought Hayward was worth $205. Million. thought Martinez was an ace.
MONEY BALL DOES NOT WORK.
how many times has Oakland A’s been in the world series in the Las 20 years.
Mo hasn’t been without,
TONY LARUSSA
Carlos Martinez was not an ace.
Never had mental ability to stay focused over 1 inning.
You say lynn is better than Wacha. I think you might need to rethink that.
Wacha era is Lynn’s era over last two years, production,
Your reading mo’s notes.
So your saying that with Lynn, Gibson, Mikolas and Matts the cards are much much better now than last year.
You are saying mo’s pitching staff is in the top 15 staffs in mlb.
No —JR White Rat—-
Mozeliak’s choices for pitching is never correct. I do believe … as each season has past….. John Mozeliak has the Cardinals coaching staff and the entire team in a worse position than they were the year before.
It’s almost as if he’s doing it on purpose!!
But then again—- No one could possibly be that dumb!!
Fans need to hope Cardinals offense self-corrects and advanced this year because the current pitching staff is not enough to get to the playoffs. The starting staff seems merely a reshuffle of names with not much better quality than last year. 2023/2024 – same, same.
My fear now is the bullpen acquisitions may be done. I don’t necessarily want Hicks back but I don’t want to count on the new Death pitch by Pallante either. The new bullpen guys are untested. There are arms out there but money needs to talk. I am worried about this team.
I hope I’m wrong because last year was painful.
More pitching please, spend the money.
Can anybody name 10 players out of the last 250 Cardinals draft picks that are HOF’ers or returning stars