Hot Stove Season continues for St. Louis Cardinals

The Hot Stove season continues for the St. Louis Cardinals even if most of the big moves have been made already.

With one trade out of the way, the St. Louis Cardinals acquired a right fielder in Jason Heyward and their new 8th inning guy in Jordan Walden. This comes days after signing Dean Anne to a Major League contract, presumably to add to the middle infield depth and lead to the non-tender of the light-hitting Daniel Descalso.

With Randal Grichuk expected to be on the 25-man Opening Day roster, there’s no need for Shane Robinson so the Cardinals rightfully released him from his contract.

The payroll flexibility is certainly there to add a right-handed bat to platoon with the left-handed hitting Matt Adams at first base. Adams hit .288/.321/.457 this season but hit a horrendous .190/.231/.298 against left-handed pitchers. This leads to all the more reason as to why the Cardinals need to find a platoon partner for Adams. Whether the club will seek an external option remains to be seen.

With the Rule 5 Draft coming up in December, the club will have to make sure to protect players that are eligible to be drafted. The deadline is Thursday night at 12 AM ET/11 PM CT. Catcher Cody Stanley was moved to the 40-man roster after the Cardinals, understandably, outrighted relief pitcher Keith Butler off the 40-man roster.

The deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is December 2. With Shane Robinson already having been released and Descalso already a strong non-tender candidate, the Cardinals will likely offer contracts to Jordan Walden, Lance Lynn, Tony Cruz, Peter Bourjos and Jon Jay. With the Twins’ interest in Bourjos, we shall see what develops. I would expect that Lynn gets locked in to a contract extension.