- After nearly three years as the Cardinals’ primary closer, right-hander Trevor Rosenthal is vying for a spot in the team’s rotation, though it’s unlikely he’ll end up a starter, suggests Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Redbirds “don’t really know” what Rosenthal’s role will be in 2017, per manager Mike Matheny, but given that they’re stretching him out, odds are he’ll end up as something between a starter and a closer, writes Goold. The hard-throwing 26-year-old could give the Cardinals their own version of Cleveland’s Andrew Miller – someone capable of handling high-leverage situations and tossing multiple innings in an appearance.
Cardinals Rumors
Matt Adams Working To Make Changes In Camp
- Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams is looking to unify several offseason changes this spring, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. He lost weight, worked on building core strength, and re-worked his swing. Bringing these modifications together, and making it all work against MLB-caliber pitching, has been a challenge. But the organization is remaining patient with the lefty slugger, who’s entering a critical year for charting his future with the club.
Medical Updates On Weaver, Carpenter, Lyons
- MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch provides several medical updates on the Cardinals. While right-hander Luke Weaver checked out OK after exiting yesterday’s Grapefruit League game due to back spasms, Matt Carpenter was scratched from today’s game due to back issues of his own. Weaver isn’t expected to be sidelined too long, per Langosch, whereas Carpenter will be reevaluated tomorrow (the team isn’t especially concerned, she notes). Carpenter’s back could impact his availability for the World Baseball Classic, however. Langosch also notes that southpaw Tyler Lyons is ahead of schedule in his rehab from knee surgery to the point that he could push for a spot on the Opening Day roster.
Weaver Exits Grapefruit League Outing With Back Spasms
The Cardinals announced that right-hander Luke Weaver was removed from today’s Grapefruit League contest due to back spasms (Twitter link). Weaver faced two hitters in the eighth inning of today’s game and retired both before his back acted up. As MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes, manager Mike Matheny said he’s unaware of any previous back problems for Weaver, and the team will re-evaluate the top prospect tomorrow. Weaver is battling fellow righties Michael Wacha and Trevor Rosenthal for the final spot in the St. Louis rotation and is by far the least experienced of the group. So while there’s no indication that the injury is especially serious, any time lost this spring could have an adverse impact on Weaver’s chances of laying claim to that vacant starting job.
Latest On Cardinals, Yadier Molina
- The Cardinals and Yadier Molina face a more complicated negotiation process than the majority of extension scenarios, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports observes. Molina is a franchise icon in St. Louis, and the team hopes to have him spend the entirety of his career in a Cardinals uniform. However, he’ll also turn 35 this summer, and even an additional three years would carry Molina through the age of 38. For a catcher with his type of workload, that’s a potentially troubling commitment for the team to make, especially when it’s top position prospect is young catcher Carson Kelly. “Both sides are trying to work hard and see if we can make it happen,” agent Melvin Roman told Rosenthal. The three-year, $50MM sum suggested by Rosenthal feels quite steep for a 35-year-old catcher whose power has diminished in recent years, though. Molina also had some uncharacteristic struggles in slowing the running game last year, as he caught just 21 percent of attempted thieves. Then again, as Rosenthal suggests, Molina’s case is fairly unique, and he remained quite productive at the dish last season (.307/.360/.427).
Cardinals Reportedly Involved In jose Quintana Talks
Although left-hander Jose Quintana was the subject of trade rumors throughout the offseason, he remains with the White Sox as the 2017 campaign approaches. However, the 28-year-old is still in high demand around the majors, according to CBS Chicago’s Bruce Levine, who writes that the Astros, Yankees, Cardinals and Pirates are “dug into” the Quintana sweepstakes. With the exception of the Cardinals, Quintana has drawn frequent connections to each of those reported suitors in recent months. The Redbirds suffered a blow earlier this month when they lost standout prospect and rotation candidate Alex Reyes for the season because of a torn UCL, but they’re reportedly unlikely to make a significant splash in response. If true, that would rule out the acquisition of Quintana.
Camp Battles: St. Louis Cardinals
Before they attempt to bounce back from their first non-playoff season since 2010, the Cardinals have a few positions they’ll need to figure out leading up to April. Let’s take a look in the latest edition of MLBTR’s Camp Battles series…
Third Base
Jhonny Peralta
Age: 34
Bats: R
Contract Status: One year, $10MM
Options Remaining: Can’t be optioned without consent
Jedd Gyorko
Age: 28
Bats: R
Contract Status: Three years, $28MM (club option worth $13MM – or $1MM buyout – for 2020)
Options Remaining: 2
Judging by their disparate 2016 outputs, this shouldn’t be much of a competition. Peralta slashed .260/.307/.408 in 313 plate appearances, which paled in comparison to Gyorko’s .243/.306/.495 line buoyed by a team-high 30 home runs across 438 PAs. However, the Cardinals continue to value the normally steady Peralta, who dealt with a thumb injury last season and looks like the favorite to open the year at the hot corner for the Redbirds. If a healthy Peralta grabs the job, Gyorko would serve as a fallback option all over the infield, having accrued double-digit appearances at first, second, short and third last year.
Prediction: Peralta does indeed win the battle, leaving Gyorko to begin the season in a utility role.
Starting Rotation (one spot)
Michael Wacha
Age: 25
Throws: R
Contract Status: One year, $2.775MM (first of three arbitration-eligible seasons)
Options Remaining: 2
Trevor Rosenthal
Age: 26
Throws: R
Contract Status: One year, $6.4MM (second of three arbitration-eligible seasons)
Options Remaining: 2
Luke Weaver
Age: 23
Throws: R
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; cannot become a free agent until at least the 2022-23 offseason
Options Remaining: 3
Star prospect Alex Reyes might have been the front-runner for this role before tearing his ulnar collateral ligament, which could be a yearslong blow to the Cardinals organization if he’s unable to regain form after Tommy John surgery. While the Cardinals hope for a smooth recovery for Reyes, they’ll choose among three intriguing candidates to fill the No. 5 spot in their rotation this year.
Wacha is easily the most experienced starter of the trio, having totaled 82 appearances from the rotation since debuting in 2013. Wacha looked like a front-end starter in the making in his first three years, during which he combined for a 3.21 ERA (3.48 FIP), 7.95 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 44.3 percent ground-ball rate over 353 innings. Unfortunately, shoulder injuries have undermined Wacha lately, especially during a 138-inning 2016 in which he spent some time in the bullpen. Wacha posted a bloated ERA (5.09) and a career-low swinging-strike percentage (8.1, down from a lifetime 9.5), though that did come with a 3.91 FIP and normal strikeout (7.43 K/9), walk (2.93 BB/9) and grounder rates (45 percent). He also maintained his typical velocity.
Like Wacha, Rosenthal went from an eminently valuable contributor during his first few big league seasons to a player who endured a shoulder injury-plagued year to forget in 2016. While Rosenthal has worked exclusively out of the bullpen to this point, he was once a well-regarded starting prospect. The 26-year-old became a top-level setup man/closer from 2013-15, but Rosenthal surrendered the ninth-inning job to Seung-hwan Oh during the summer as he lost his control (his career 3.99 BB/9 climbed to 6.47), saw his home run-to-fly ball ratio more than double (from 6.1 percent to 12.5 percent) and posted a sky-high BABIP (.425, up from .338). However, after returning from a multiple-month absence in mid-September, the hard-throwing Rosenthal closed the season on a high note. In his final five appearances (seven innings), he yielded just one earned run and two walks while striking out eight. Regardless of whether Rosenthal starts or relieves this year, the Cardinals will obviously hope his late-2016 surge proves to be a sign of things to come.
Weaver, meanwhile, has been great in the minors since 2015, which helped lead to a nine-appearance, eight-start audition in the bigs last year. Despite notching 11.15 strikeouts per nine against 2.97 walks, Weaver had home run issues en route to a 5.70 ERA in 36 1/3 innings. All told, Weaver gave up seven long balls and induced grounders at a meager 30.7 percent clip. But Weaver’s troubles last season haven’t turned off MLB.com or Baseball America, two outlets that rank him as a top 70 prospect. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote in January that Weaver “projects as a solid, league-average starter.”
Prediction: Wacha joins Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn and Mike Leake in the St. Louis rotation. Rosenthal stays in the the bullpen. Weaver heads back to Triple-A Memphis.
Bullpen (one spot)
Tyler Lyons
Age: 29
Throws: L
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; cannot become a free agent until the 2020-21 offseason
Options Remaining: Out of options
Miguel Socolovich
Age: 30
Throws: R
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; cannot become a free agent until the 2022-23 offseason
Options Remaining: Out of options
John Gant
Age: 24
Throws: R
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; cannot become a free agent until the 2022-23 offseason
Options Remaining: 2
Sam Tuivailala
Age: 24
Throws: R
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; cannot become a free agent until the 2022-23 offseason
Options Remaining: 1
Jordan Schafer
Age: 30
Throws: L
Contract Status: Minor league contract (terms unreported)
Options Remaining: Can’t be optioned without consent
Considering he’s on the mend from a right knee injury suffered last summer, Lyons technically isn’t battling for a role right now. He could be ready in time for Opening Day, though, according to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Lyons came up as a starter, but he worked solely from the bullpen last season and recorded a 3.38 ERA, 8.63 K/9 and 2.63 BB/9 in 40 innings. He was especially tough on left-handed hitters, who batted a paltry .152/.214/.250 against him.
Socolovich, like Lyons, is out of options on the heels of a productive 2016. His 2.00 ERA and 53.5 percent grounder rate came over a mere 18 innings, though it was the latest encouraging performance from a reliever who has held his own through 64 career frames (2.95 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 7.73 K/9, 3.38 BB/9).
Gant spent the previous two seasons with the Braves, who sent him to the Cardinals in the teams’ Jaime Garcia trade in December. The former Mets farmhand debuted in the majors last year in Atlanta, where he made 20 appearances and seven starts. Along the way, he registered fairly even numbers as a starter compared to a reliever (4.80 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 in 30 innings from the rotation; 4.95 ERA, 9.0 K/9, 3.15 BB/9 in 20 frames out of the bullpen).
The bat-missing Tuivailala brings a fastball which averages 96 mph to the table, but he has had difficulty controlling it. Tuivailala, whose first action with the Cards came in 2014, has handed out 16 free passes in 24 2/3 major league innings and recorded a 4.6 BB/9 in 93 Triple-A frames. He seems like a strong bet to get further seasoning in Memphis to begin 2017.
Schafer, too, could have trouble cracking the 25-man. The longtime outfielder and non-roster invitee’s versatility intrigues the Cardinals, however, and his best chance to make their roster is if he shows the ability to work as a competent hybrid player.
Prediction: Either of the two out-of-options relievers will land the last spot in the Cardinals’ bullpen. If it’s a healthy Lyons, he’ll take it. Otherwise it’ll go to Solovich. Regardless, the Cardinals are loaded in the bullpen, where they figure to prominently feature Oh, Rosenthal, Kevin Siegrist, Brett Cecil, Jonathan Broxton and Matthew Bowman. They also have depth with some of the names above, not to mention on-the-mend pitchers in Zach Duke and Marco Gonzales.
Fourth Outfielder
Tommy Pham
Age: 29
Bats: R
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; cannot become a free agent until the 2021-22 offseason
Options Remaining: 1
Jose Martinez
Age: 28
Bats: R
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; cannot become a free agent until the 2022-23 offseason
Options Remaining: 2
Todd Cunningham
Age: 27
Bats: S
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; cannot become a free agent until the 2022-23 offseason
Options Remaining: Out of options
Chad Huffman
Age: 31
Bats: R
Contract Status: Pre-arbitration; annot become a free agent until the 2022-23 offseason
Options Remaining: Out of options
The odds-on favorite to end up as the Cardinals’ top outfielder behind Dexter Fowler, Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk is likely Pham, who has seen action at all three positions in the grass and slashed a respectable .245/.333/.455 with 14 homers in 358 PAs since debuting in 2014. But now-Diamondback Jeremy Hazelbaker improbably turned a strong spring into a spot with the Cards a year ago, and Martinez, Cunningham and Huffman are surely hoping to follow in his footsteps.
Martinez is the only one of the three who has played with the Cardinals, having picked up 18 PAs with them in 2016, and owns a .324/.392/.483 slash in 885 Triple-A PAs. The switch-hitting Cunningham hasn’t been anywhere near that effective as a Triple-A hitter (.274/.349/.368 in 1,810 PAs), and has been in over his head in 130 plate trips with the Angels and Braves (.207/.256/.264), but he’s a stolen base threat who has accounted for eight Defensive Runs Saved and a 19.7 UZR/150 in a small defensive sample size in the bigs.
Then there’s the eldest of the bunch, Huffman, whose only 21 major league PAs came back in 2010 with the Yankees. Like Martinez, Huffman offers a quality track record of Triple-A production (.272/.364/.455 in 2,604 PAs). Of course, the fact that he’s over 30 and has barely garnered any major league action doesn’t bode well for his chances of bursting on the scene this season or any other year.
Prediction: Pham will defeat a relatively unimpressive group of combatants to remain St. Louis’ fourth outfielder to begin 2017. But it seems he’ll soon have the newly signed Jose Adolis Garcia breathing down his neck. Garcia, whom general manager John Mozeliak views as a five-tool talent, could be major league ready by the summer.
Cardinals Notes: Garcia, Schafer
- The Cardinals gave Cuban outfielder Jose Adolis Garcia an invitation to big league camp when they reeled him in with a $2.5MM bonus on Friday, but he’s unlikely to reach the majors before the summer, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Garcia still has to return to Haiti, where he lived after defecting from Cuba, to acquire a work visa to play in games. That could be a two-week process, notes Goold. The 23-year-old is the latest of five international players the Cardinals have added for at least $1.5MM over the past eight months, and they’re now targeting another Cuban outfielder, the highly touted Luis Robert. General manager John Mozeliak acknowledges that the international spending limitations teams like the Cubs, Dodgers and Red Sox are facing has helped the Cardinals. “Our strategy all along was when we looked at who were the players in the international market at the time the big-spenders were out,” he informed Goold. “We saw this as a window where we could be more competitive relative to other years. Where Adolis fits in for us is a.) not taxed, and b.) I like the idea of being able to go to a high level quickly.”
- Although he ranked among Baseball America’s top 25 prospects as an outfielder in 2007, Jordan Schafer hasn’t acquitted himself well as a major leaguer, having hit .228/.308/.307 in 1,472 plate appearances. As a result, he transitioned to the mound in the Dodgers’ minor league system last year and is now trying to make the Cardinals as a hybrid player. Pitching is nothing new for Schafer, who thought someone would draft him as a hurler out of high school, details Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. However, pitching “was really never spoke of again” after the Braves selected him in the third round of the 2005 draft, Schafer told Langosch. The 30-year-old left-hander now possesses a 91 to 94 mph fastball, which he believes he can improve on, and is also working on a slider, sinker and changeup to go with his heater and curveball. Schafer “looks good” as a pitcher so far, per Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. On Schafer’s versatility, Mozeliak observed: “It’s just such a creative tool to have in your toolbox, if it works. I think it’s really interesting. I hope the manager thinks it’s equally as fun. The biggest question is, ’Will it be effective?'”
Cardinals Interested In Cuban Prospect Luis Robert
The Cardinals have been scouting Cuban outfielder Luis Robert, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, as the team had evaluators at Robert’s recent workout in the Dominican Republic. It was reported last month that Robert left Cuba in November to pursue a career in Major League Baseball and he has since established residency in Haiti, as per MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez.
As one scout tells Goold, the “floodgates have opened” on the Cardinals’ international signing processes. The Cards have already far exceeded their spending pool limit for the 2016-17 July 2 international signing period, and also added such non-pool players as the recently-signed Jose Adolis Garcia. It’s no surprise, therefore, that St. Louis is exploring yet another highly-touted star in Robert while they still can.
Robert has yet to be declared a free agent by MLB, and if that designation comes before June 15, the Cards still have a chance at landing the 19-year-old outfielder, who is subject to pool limits due to his age. If Robert isn’t a free agent by June 15, however, then he will become part of the next international signing class that opens on July 2. That would take the Cardinals (as well as the Astros, Athletics, Braves, Cubs, Dodgers, Nationals, Padres, Reds and Royals) out of the running for Robert’s services, as they would be limited to spending no more than $300K on any international prospect as punishment for exceeding their pool number.
Needless to say, Robert will command far beyond that $300K figure given the eye-popping early reports on his talent. One NL international scouting director tells Sanchez that Robert is second only to Shohei Otani on the list of best international talents in baseball, describing the 19-year-old as “a five-tool guy that can be in the big leagues soon.” An international scouting director for an AL team goes even further, calling Robert “the best player on the planet, and that’s no exaggeration.”
Eight teams (the Cubs, Dodgers and Royals, as well as the Angels, Diamondbacks, Rays, Red Sox and Yankees) are currently under the $300K limit for past excesses of the spending cap, with the latter five teams regaining their full spending eligibility on July 2. So Robert would have a larger market for his services if he is named a free agent sooner rather than later, not to mention the fact that he is likely to score a bigger contract while the old international signing rules are still in place. The new rules, as negotiated in the new collective bargaining agreement, place a stricter signing cap on international players and go into effect for the coming July 2 class.
Jose Adolis Garcia Could Make ML Debut In 2017
- Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak is optimistic that newly signed outfielder Jose Adolis Garcia will reach the majors this season, per the Associated Press. “In terms of skillset, I just feel like I would describe him more as a five-tool player, so from a defensive standpoint, above average, from an offensive standpoint, I think there could be some power,” Mozeliak said when assessing Garcia on Saturday. Garcia, a native of Cuba, mentioned through an interpreter that “other offers” were on the table, but he accepted the Cardinals’ $2.5MM proposal “because of the tradition and because it is such a wonderful organization and I knew that I was going to identify with the team and fit in.”
