St. Louis Cardinals Hot Stove: The bargain basement of free agents

Sep 3, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Chicago White Sox catcher Geovany Soto (58) in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

This is the off season of big name free agents. Zach Grienke, David Price, Jason Heyward, and Chris Davis are just of few of the high end options on the market, and they all rank in the top twenty players from this past season and the past three years. It’s a lot of fun to speculate about the St. Louis Cardinals pursuing any or all of these free agents, but today we’re going to try something different. Let’s leave the hypothetical Neiman Marcus behind and head to the thrift shop. We’re hunting for bargains — used, but still useful, pieces that could be added to the roster for next to nothing. Let’s see what we can find.

We need to start by identifying the Cardinals’ biggest needs. We’d like a starting pitcher, a first baseman (or at least the right handed half of a platoon there), a backup catcher, and a utility infielder with a better bat than Pete Kozma. Time to start hunting.

Next: Mark Buehrle