Categories: Sports

The Cardinals Won’t Make a Big Splash – A Deadline Retrospective

It’s hard to tell right now if the Cardinals will be buyers or sellers over the next couple of days; the team sits at .500 while they are currently playing, but they are 7-3 in their last 10. They have some big holes on this roster, and adding a rental or 2 might not make them a World Series contender.

Judging by the history of the team, it doesn’t appear they would make a splash anyway. Here are all of the deadline deals that John Mozeliak has made:

The biggest deal they made was for Holliday. The most recent “big deal” would probably be the Craig/Kelly for Lackey deal. The “win now” deal would be Dotel/Jackson from 2011 that led to a World Series Championship.

More recently, the team has been “shifting assets”. They got rid of Pham because he was a “cancer”, Voit because they had just extended Carpenter (and would end up with Paul Goldschmidt), and Mercado because they had a glut of outfielders and needed to clear a 40-man spot (which would also happen to Adolis Garcia and Randy Arozarena down the line). At least these deal did bring back decent players that are impacting the roster now – Gallegos, Cabrera, J Williams.

The most recent deal was sending out Gyorko’s contract while taking on an injured player and a low level minor leaguer.

I think we’ll see more of these types of moves in the next few days. The Cardinals won’t want to give up Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore, or Ivan Herrera for a rental. They also don’t have the depth to get a guy under club control. We’ll see them pick up some more low hanging fruit, like an inning eater for the rotation (a la Masterson) and a bullpen arm or 2 (a la Duke and Broxton). These are needs and will allow the team to say they did something.

They won’t get a Trevor Story, a Max Scherzer, or a Craig Kimbrel. I can’t say that I blame them either; the team would need all 3 to be a true contender. Unfortunately the weakening farm system would be wiped bare and the guys that are close to making an impact are worth too much in the next 2 years to waste on guys that could walk after the season.

The best course of action is to wait until the off-season; they’ll have a lot of money coming off the books and players like Story and Scherzer will be available as free agents.

Eugene Tierney

Recent Posts

Power Punk Duo MR. DINKLES Deliver “Letter To Elon”

LA/Seattle power-punk duo Mr. Dinkles return w/ the single “Letter To Elon,” a sharp, reflective track pulled from their…

15 hours ago

From Basement Fog to Sunbeam Drift: Wooden Overcoat’s “Home” Redefines Psychedelic Pop

Portland has long held its place as one of America’s quietly influential music capitals, a…

2 days ago

NYC’s Frenchy and the Punk Turn Urgency Into Art on “War on War”

Frenchy and the Punk deliver a jolt of tension and momentum with "War on War" -…

2 days ago

Chicano Genre-Benders INTEGRA PINK Debut “Spiderman Piñata”

SoCal’s genre-warping upstarts Integra Pink return with their most urgent and unpredictable release yet, “Spiderman Piñata,” out now.

5 days ago

DWARVES Announce New LP ‘JENKEM”‘ Out June 5th

Legendary and notoriously volatile, DWARVES return with a new full-length, JENKEM, arriving June 5.

6 days ago

BRIAN WILSON “On Tour 1999-2007” Exclusive Record Store Day Collection Out April 18

Following the triumph of Brian Wilson’s Roxy Theatre shows in 2000, Wilson took that magic across the…

7 days ago

This website uses cookies.