St. Louis Cardinals: Five things we’ve learned so far this spring

The St. Louis Cardinals have already suffered a key injury and have had to weather some negative publicity, while playing some pretty good baseball. What are five key take-aways from the first couple of weeks of spring action?

Well, yesterday’s announcement from former St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguer Tyler Dunnington is very unfortunate. If you haven’t had the chance, check out Dr. Miles’ insights on the entire situation and how we can all learn to be better because of this.

Now that the Jhonny Peralta injury news has had a chance to set in, the Cardinals have been mentioned in rumors for a handful of shortstop rentals, even though they have some pretty good in-house options to fill the void.

The Cardinals have seen exciting spring performances from up-and-coming prospects and their big club guys all the same.

Carlos Peguero, Anthony Garcia, and Magneuris Sierra have shown some promising tools so far this spring, and how about Randal Grichuk (.524/.545/.857) and Stephen Piscotty (.435/.519/.478)?

Newcomers Seung-Hwan Oh and Mike Leake have looked good on the mound thus far, as neither guy had allowed a run, until Oh surrendered a solo shot to Nate Schierholtz earlier this afternoon.

There have been some interesting story lines and some exciting stories to follow. In this piece, I will outline some of the observations I’ve noticed so far this spring, and how I feel about each as we approach opening day.

First, lets talk Mike Matheny.

Next: Matheny is all-in on 2016

1. Mike Matheny is Getting After It

Mark Saxon over at ESPN.com wrote a short piece yesterday on Matheny and how he’s handling the Yadier Molina situation, which I absolutely love.

The piece addresses the fact that Matheny is unwilling to disclose to the media when Yadi will start swinging in game action. Saxon emphasizes that these are spring training games we’re talking about, mostly to illustrate how “over the top” that push for a competitive advantage might seem.

To the casual baseball fan, I’m sure that that is most definitely the case. “Why don’t you guys just chill out? It’s spring training! Who cares what all the back ups do?”

“We can’t give all the ideas that we have with him because they’re going to be reading over there, too. I’m not being coy. I’m giving him the chance to go out and get his work done, but we’re also competing.” – Matheny to Saxon yesterday afternoon

I’ve had multiple people say things like that. All I can do is laugh those comments off, mostly for how short-sighted they are.

Sure, these spring games don’t count in the win-loss department, but I still see them as being very important. They can set the tone for match ups later in the season, and they are a big measuring tool for what your farm system looks like.

Matheny has established, loud and clear, that these games are important to him.

“We can’t give all the ideas that we have with him because they’re going to be reading over there, too. I’m not being coy. I’m giving him the chance to go out and get his work done, but we’re also competing.” – Matheny to Saxon yesterday afternoon

This kind of attitude (at least in my experience) is what can make outsiders dislike the St. Louis Cardinals. I guess it’s understandable. To them, baseball’s a game, it’s entertainment. To Cardinal Nation, baseball means so much more.

Yes, Matheny has made some questionable strategic decisions in his tenure with the Redbirds. But there is absolutely no question as to how much he wants to win in St. Louis.

I love it.

Next: Holliday at first base is getting serious

2. Matt Holliday at First Base is a Real Thing

Props to everybody out there that called this happening.

I was in the camp that thought the Cardinals should entertain the idea, but didn’t think that it was all that serious of a possibility.

All five of Holliday’s spring starts have been over at first base, and he seems to be decently comfortable at the spot. With Francisco Liriano slated as the Pirates’ opening day starter, there is a strong possibility that we will see Holliday at first to start the season.

How much we see him over there the rest of the season is tough to predict. Both Matt Adams and Brandon Moss have turned in solid springs thus far. A lot is going to depend on what those two do, and if they show any chance of being productive against left-handed pitching.

In games that Moss and Holliday are both in the lineup, I’d much rather have Holliday at first with Moss out in left. Anything to give Holliday the best chance at staying on the field for the full 162 this year.

Adams is stuck to first base only duties, which means that his offensive production is going to have to be that much better if he wants to see 400 at-bats this year.

We should get a pretty good forecast on the Holliday/first base situation in how much we see him over there in the first few weeks of the regular season.

Next: Mike Leake has a chance to shine as a Cardinal

3. Mike Leake has a chance to be pretty darn good

This is going to be a pre-mature love piece for Mike Leake, considering he’s only thrown six innings in a Cardinal uniform, in spring training games that “don’t matter.”

But I can’t help but to be at least a little bit excited about what Leake has done so far. In his two starts, he’s recorded eight strikeouts without surrendering a single walk.

It’s taken Leake just 38 pitches to record 18 outs thus far this spring. That’s just over two pitches per out, or just over six per inning. And, he’s got that low pitch count despite having to work around three hits.

Leake looks really, really sharp so far this spring. I think that he is going to benefit in a huge way from working with Yadi this year, as most guys do.

Leake reminds me a lot of Adam Wainwright thus far in the sense that he doesn’t have overpowering stuff, he just knows how to pitch.

It will be interesting to see how he responds when guys start to hit him a little bit. It’s going to happen. The key will be how he rebounds from start to start.

I could see Leake winning 15 games very easily this year. 200+ innings should be in his arsenal. If he does both of those things, he’ll give the rest of the Cardinal pitching staff a big time boost.

Next: In-house options should be enough at shortstop

4. The Cardinals should be fine staying in-house to cover Jhonny Peralta

As our guy Buffa pointed out this morning, the Mets have released Ruben Tejada, and the Cardinals could potentially pick up the six-year veteran at a league minimum type price.

But, Aledmys Diaz has been impressive so far this spring, and the Cards have Jedd Gyorko as an internal option as well. Heck, Greg Garcia is even a formidable option (he’s hitting .292 at the start of play today).

Tejada is an average hitter at best (.255/.330/.323 career slash line) and he struck out five times in five at-bats against the Dodgers in the 2015 NLDS before the whole Chase Utley situation.

Again, Tejada is average defensively, at best. Via Buffa and Baseball Reference, Tejada posted a -15 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average number last season.

via fangraphs.com

As you can see from the handy Fangraphs table above, Tejada’s -15 DRS in 2015 qualified him as an “awful” defensive player a season ago.

Yes, Tejada would probably be a bargain. But based on everything he’s done thus far in his career, I don’t see any way that he would be an upgrade over a Diaz, Gyorko or really even Garcia at shortstop.

Plus you would have to figure out what to do with him once Peralta did return. Mozeliak very well may go after Tejada, I just don’t think it is in the club’s best interest.

There’s no reason to block Diaz the way he has played so far this spring. Things could change, and Diaz could fall back production-wise. I still think that the club would be better off with Gyorko or Garcia at short until they get Peralta’s services back some time this summer.

Next: Yadi out there on opening day?