I look at all the hardware rolling in for the Cardinals this off-season and the impact of the qualifying offers that were made yesterday, along with some quick hits about payroll, coaching, and free agents.
Award Season
While the official awards won’t be given out until next week, there are plenty of hardware already being given out. We’ve all seen that Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan won Gold Gloves (and both are up for the Platinum Glove, voting ends today), so I won’t go into much detail here.
The Silver Sluggers were announced this week, and the Cardinals took home 2: Paul Goldschmidt and Arenado. The Award is given to the best offensive player at each position. Neither is all that surprising, considering both are finalists for the MVP award this year. Tommy Edman (Utility) and Albert Pujols (DH) were both finalists for their positions. Goldschmidt was also named the NL Hank Aaron Award winner; the Aaron Award is given out by MLB to the best offensive player in each league.
Minor League Baseball has given out their post-season All Stars and Awards. Alec Burleson was named to the International League (AAA) All Stars. Jordan Walker and Moises Gomez were named to the Texas League (AA) All Stars; Walker was named the top prospect in the league while Gomez was the league MVP. Finally, Tink Hence and Andrew Marrero were named to the Florida State League (Lo-A) All Stars; Hence was also named the top pitcher of the league. The team has no selections for the Midwest League (Hi-A) or Rookie Leagues; it wasn’t from lack of players, but rather MiLB only selects a right handed starter, left handed starter, and relief pitcher from each league.
Finally, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA, the red-headed, step-sibling to the BBWAA) is in the process of releasing their awards this week. The only Cardinal taking home an award so far (and probably most likely) is Goldschmidt winning the NL MVP voting; second place went to Arenado, with Manny Machado in 3rd. Former Cardinals Sandy Alcantara picked up the NL Cy Young vote.
Qualifying Offers
As expected, Jose Quintana and Corey Dickerson were not given qualifying offers from the team; 14 players from other teams did receive them: Tyler Anderson (Dodgers), Chris Bassitt (Mets), Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox), Willson Contreras (Cubs), Jacob deGrom (Mets), Nathan Eovaldi (Red Sox), Aaron Judge (Yankees), Brandon Nimmo (Mets), Martin Perez (Rangers), Joc Pederson (Giants), Anthony Rizzo (Yankees), Carlos Rodon (Giants), Dansby Swanson (Braves), and Trea Turner (Dodgers).
Of the 14, the Cardinals will have varying degrees of interest in as many as 9: Bassitt, Bogaerts, Contreras, Eovaldi, Pederson, Perez, Rodon, Swanson, and Turner. Realistically, the Cardinals won’t go after DeGrom or Judge, I expect Nimmo to go back to the Mets, Anderson is a lefty and they don’t need one, and Rizzo is a first baseman.
Shortstop, Catcher, and a top of the line starter are the main needs right off the bat; I expect that the Cardinals will only sign 1 of a shortstop and catcher, while either trading for a catcher or standing pat at short. John Mozeliak said they only have about $20M to spend this off-season, so signing any of the QO players might be difficult without shedding some payroll. I also know the Cardinals will not want to lose draft picks; while Contreras wants to come to STL, the team will be more likely to trade for a catcher (Sean Murphy from Oakland and one of Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, or Gabriel Moreno from Toronto are the big names available) or sign a lower tier free agent (Christian Vazquez or Kevin Plawecki) then sacrifice a 2nd round pick.
As for pitching, the Cardinals could stand pat with what they have or open a spot by dealing a pitcher to fill in the catcher spot. I could see them checking on the second tier guys, but I think we’ll see a third tier guy be brought in (a la Steven Matz a year ago).
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