Redbird Droppings: A Slow Winter Meeting Day 1 Recap

Redbird Droppings has very little from Day 1 of the Winter Meeting

This could be a really quick winter meetings for the Cardinals. We know Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray are staying, Nolan Arenado is as good as gone, and any other veteran is up in the air. They won’t be adding much, so no big deals will happen.

Arenado’s Status
As already mentioned, Arenado is pretty much out the door. What we have learned is it won’t be happening at the winter meetings; John Mozeliak believes that a deal will be done and they’ve been gauging interest for weeks. He noted that they’d like to keep him, but financially, they pretty much have to move his contract.

With Juan Soto off the board, the market for Arenado should be opening up; the Yankees are looking to replace Soto and they struggled at third last season. The Dodgers are known to be interested and the Red Sox are going to make a push. The Tigers and Astros are also rumored to have interest.

If a deal for Arenado doesn’t happen, he’s ready to be the third baseman for the team; manager Oli Marmol has talked with Arenado and said the third baseman is moving through the winter as a Cardinal. It’ll make things more complicated, both from a financial and roster standpoint.

Miles Wants To Stay
Miles Mikolas is another Cardinal with a no-trade clause, and he’d like to stay with the team for the final year of his contract. He’s going to make $16M, which isn’t a huge amount in today’s game. The downside is he’s not the same pitcher he was when he first joined the team; we’ve seen inconsistency over the last few years and gradual decline.

The Cardinals would have to eat some money if they did try to deal the righty; probably around $6M to get a mid-level prospect in return. Getting another $10M off the books would be a positive though.

Some quick hit rumors and signings:

• The Blue Jays are interested in Andrew Kittredge as they look to re-stock their bullpen.
• The Tigers are checking in on Paul Goldschmidt; there are rumors of an $8M contact. I know there are a lot of people that would welcome him back to the Cardinals for that amount, but the Cardinals need to see what they have in guys like Alec Burleson and Luken Baker. They have also been linked to Kyle Gibson and Jack Flaherty, but both pitchers could be out of their plan after they signed Alex Cobb yesterday.
• Jordan Hicks is getting another crack at the rotation with the Giants; it hasn’t worked out the last few times, but the Giants signed him as a starter, so by God they’re going to keep trying it.
• The Cubs are close to completing a deal with catcher Carson Kelly; the deal should be done today. Look for Chicago to be very active this winter.
• Dakota Hudson received a minor league contract from the Angels; I’m expecting that he’ll receive an NRI this spring. I’m not expecting him to make the team though.

That’s it. This has been the slowest winter meeting for the Cardinals in years. Don’t forget to check out the promotion schedule and theme tickets for 2025 while waiting for anything to happen.

I’ll be back tomorrow with (hopefully) more.