St. Louis Cardinals: The Competition Revisited

Credit:

Jim Brown

-USA TODAY Sports

As the St. Louis Cardinals stagnate, for better or worse, the rest of the National League is taking shape. The St. Louis Cardinals now know who the contenders are.

On paper, the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t on that list, for reasons that have been examined ad nauseam here and elsewhere. Honestly, this has been one of the worst offseason in franchise history. Allegedly flush with cash, the St. Louis Cardinals have spent virtually none of it yet.

Let’s hope St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak has learned from the two big misses he’s suffered this offseason. First, with David Price and then with Jason Heyward.

That lesson? Faith, trust and pixie dust doesn’t work anymore. Once upon a time, the St. Louis Cardinals could lean on their amazing fan base, always packed home ballpark and long winning tradition to lure free agents into signing reasonable long-term deals. That seemed to be the strategy with Price. From USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale, writing shortly after Price signed with the Boston Red Sox instead:

Price, a native of Murfreesboro, Tenn., was enamored with joining the Cardinals, who have reached the postseason the last five seasons, with two pennants and a World Series title. Yet, the Red Sox’s offer simply was too strong for him to refuse.

Boston got Price for seven years and $217 million. According to Nightengale, the St. Louis Cardinals offered the lefty the highest contract in franchise history, but it was still $30 million below what the Sox offered.

Heyward’s snub was worse, though. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Derrick Goold:

Two sources confirmed for The Post-Dispatch that the Cardinals’ offer was greater in guaranteed value while the Cubs’ had the higher annual average value, at $23 million a year.

There is an opt-out in Hayward’s deal, however:

The Cubs essentially beat the St. Louis Cardinals at their own game, wooing Heyward with the strong fan base, packed stadium, cool, new-age manager and winning culture. Ouch.

The dust is quickly settling, and the St. Louis Cardinals are now left looking up at four National League teams  positioned well for postseason baseball in 2016 and perhaps beyond. Here, I give you the St. Louis Cardinals’ latest public enemies number 1, 2, 3 and 4 …

Next: Arizona Diamondbacks

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

Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

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

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.