St. Louis Cardinals: The Competition Revisited

Arizona Diamondbacks

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If you haven’t read Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal’s excellent backstory on the Zack Greinke signing, do yourself a favor and check it out. Here’s a snippet:

The entire baseball world knew that Greinke was close to choosing between the Dodgers and Giants. Greinke, at his introductory news conference in Phoenix a week later, would say that he was “minutes away” from going to a different team, believed to be the Dodgers.

Yes, the Dodgers. The one team St. Louis Cardinals fans can point to and say, “Well, at least we’re not them.” Perhaps no other team in baseball has had a worse offseason. Not only has L.A. failed to sign a major free agent (Hisashi Iwakuma doesn’t count), they didn’t even keep the one free agent everyone presumed would stick around.

Greinke’s signing came on the heels of the Diamondbacks’ huge trade with the Atlanta Braves, which received 2015 overall #1 pick and everyone’s All-American Dansby Swanson, a triple-A pitcher and Ender Inciarte, a good young Major League outfielder. Pitching was Arizona’s problem in 2015. Not anymore.

Next: San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants

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The great thing for the San Francisco Giants about signing Johnny Cueto — another kick in the balls for the Los Angeles Dodgers, by the way — is that the Dominican righthander won’t have to be THE guy there, which would have been the case had he taken the Diamondbacks’ big offer a few weeks earlier. Cueto doesn’t have the stones to be THE guy.

He is fascinating, though. When Cueto is on, he’s awesome. His career splits don’t really scream “choker,” either. And yet, it’s hard to forget seeing him get rattled in the 2013 Wild Card Game, when Pittsburgh Pirates fans started chanting his name. And when he joined the Royals this past season, he laid egg after egg until a couple of good postseason starts salvaged his reputation.

Luckily, with Madison Bumgarner assuming the stone-cold clutch #1 starter role, the Giants don’t have to worry about Cueto gacking in the spotlight. The pressure is off.

The Jeff Samardzija signing, on the other hand, has the stink of a panic move, coming right on the heels of Greinke’s defection to Arizona.

Even so, this is the Giants we’re talking about. The Giants, a team that patches its roster with spare parts and races to World Series titles. Expect the G-men to sign some scrub before spring training and then enjoy a career year out of him, a la former 4-A player Angel Pagan, who wasn’t good enough to stick with the Mets for chrissakes.

The Giants are like a West Coast version of the St. Louis Cardinals. Except they’ve actually improved this winter.

Next: Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs

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When the Chicago Cubs lavished thirty-something utilityman Ben Zobrist with millions on December 8, I almost laughed. When it signed former St. Louis Cardinals starter John Lackey a day later, I shrugged. But when the team got former St. Louis Cardinals rightfielder Jason Heyward a week later, I stopped eating. Then I ate a lot.

The thing of it is, all of these signings are mere add-ons to a team that was already very good. Heyward represents the biggest jump — and a fascinating first look at how much a Major League team will pay for defense now. For the record, it’s $184 million.

The Cubs had the tenth best defensive efficiency ratio (.695) in baseball — the St. Louis Cardinals were 18th (.689) — and now with Heyward are better in that department. The signing of Zobrist allowed the team to finally shed themselves of Starlin Castro in a trade with the New York Yankees that yielded a very good bullpen arm in Adam Warren.

Oh, and by the way. The Cubs didn’t have to deal any of their young talent in the process. Which means they still have a guy like infielder Javier Baez to dangle at the trade deadline to acquire a key piece if they need it.

It hurts to admit it, but the Cubs look very, very good on paper. We’ll see how much that translates in live games.

Next: New York Mets

New York Mets

Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Laugh all you want (#LOLMets), but the once hapless New York Mets will remain a threat to the St. Louis Cardinals and every other National League team until New York loses some of that great young pitching they have, whether to free agency or injuries. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey and Steven Matz form one of the top rotations in the big leagues, collectively posting the third lowest WHIP (1.15) and fifth most strikeouts (891) in baseball last year.

What’s even more amazing about the Mets is they have another potential stud in Zach Wheeler who’s set to be the fifth starter in this rotation when he returns from Tommy John surgery in June or July. So pitching is not their problem.

The big question is that offensive. Will catcher Travis d’Arnaud build on his very good 2015 and last an entire season without injury? (Likely) Will left fielder Michael Conforto blossom into the hitter everyone in New York is hoping he’ll be? (Close to it, probably) And how about new shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who turned around in his career in Tampa Bay last year? (Ask me tomorrow) Is their new second baseman, Neil Walker, worth getting excited about? (No. No he’s not.)

Next: Possible Replacements for Yadier Molina

Meanwhile, the Mets’ savior from last season, Yoenis Cespedes, is still floating around in the free agency market. Could a reunion happen in the next few weeks? Here’s the thing about the Mets, though. With starting pitching like that, it may not matter.