St. Louis Cardinals: Brandon Moss and Matt Adams ready to rebound

The offseason is practically over, as the St. Louis Cardinals’ pitchers and catchers will be reporting for spring training workouts soon. We are now left with the position battle everyone is talking about.

It’s no secret that first base is going to be a competition going into spring training this year for the St. Louis Cardinals. We have two candidates in Brandon Moss and Matt Adams. They both are kind of cut from the same mold, being big left handed power bats, who have shown some promise and struggle in their careers.

On one hand we have a guy who has come up through the Cardinals’ system and has had a lot of promise surrounding him for some time. We saw Adams come up in 2013, he became a bit of a fan favorite, as he was knocking homers left and right off of the bench. We all wondered what Adams could do with 500 at-bats, and we got our answer in 2014, as he unfortunately hit 15 homers in 527 AB.

Moss on the other hand is your veteran, who once was a promising prospect himself. He has been on several different clubs in his career, eventually sticking with the Oakland Athletics for three seasons, where he hit 76 homers in three seasons. He signed with Cleveland in 2015, hoping to help them in their quest for an AL Central title, that fizzled and he was traded to the Cardinals last July.

Neither player had a good 2015 season, as they were plagued by injuries, so both players kind of enter on even ground in 2016.

However, both players have regrouped in the offseason and are rejuvenated and ready to start the 2016 season off on the right foot. So, what does this do for the St. Louis Cardinals? Who wins the battle and is the starter on opening day? Will we have a competition, or will one guy run way with the job?

These are the questions I want to tackle today.

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Brandon Moss

Moss is actually one of the players that I am most interested about in 2016. I think that there is a good chance that we see a rejuvenated player in 2016, and I am not alone. Moss is coming off of a year where he struggled to consistently get ahead, as he struggled with the recovery from a hip surgery in the 2014-2015 offseason.

This injury recovery sapped Moss’ power for the most part. However, as he told reporters at Winter Warm Up, he is ready to go with no lingering effects from said injury. He believes that all systems are a go for 2016, and expects his power to be back in action for the Cardinals this season.

What Moss brings to the table that Adams simply does not is an ability to hit left handed pitching, as Moss sports a 100 wRC+ against LHP, as opposed to a 50 wRC+ for Adams. So, theoretically one could see a bit of a platoon situation if Admas happens to win the job away from Moss. Although with both being lefties this would be quite the weird platoon situation.

Alex Kristafulli of Viva El Birdos points out that while Adams seems to be the more attractive candidate to play first given his youth, “Moss is the more ideal candidate from a business standpoint.  He’s due to make $6.5 million next year.  The Cardinals acquired him in a trade near the 2015 deadline for highly regarded prospect Rob Kaminsky.” This makes Moss the more attractive option for the organization, given what he is costing and has cost the team.

Given Moss’ experience and proven track record of power, it is actually easy to see why the organization is going with the veteran instead of a bit of an unknown in Adams. Moss has had success before crushing balls out of ballparks, so leaning on his experience to get the Cardinals some much needed runs next season is the logical choice for the organization.

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So, who wins the job?

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We’ve already been told that Moss is going to get the first crack at the job and for good reason. As to who outplays the other and becomes the team’s starter come Opening Day, I think Moss is going to win out with Adams closely behind him.

Now, I don’t think that Moss is going to run away with the job leaving no room for Adams to be a player for the team in 2016. I simply believe that Moss is going to be given the benefit of the doubt and get the majority of at bats at the position. I believe they are both ready to make this a strong competition in spring training, one that many Cardinals’ fans are going to want to keep their eye on in 2016. They are both going to be keys to the offense getting back on track in 2016.

I think that even if Adams wins the job, Moss’ power will play for the Cardinals somewhere, especially given his versatility and ability to play in the outfield. This adds intrigue to the competition and makes even more sense as to why the Cardinals did not go out and spend a bunch of money this offseason on another outfielder.

With both players healthy, rested, and ready for action in 2016, it is going to make for one exciting campaign, one where plenty of souvenirs are deposited in the outfield seats. Man, I am ready for baseball season already. How about you Cardinals fans? Are you ready?