St. Louis Cardinals and Ruben Tejada Agree to Deal

Despite having three options at shortstop the St. Louis Cardinals have decided to go outside the organization for a shortstop.

It didn’t take long till rumors were flying about the St. Louis Cardinals and Ruben Tejada, when the New York Mets decided to waive him. Now the two have reached an agreement and the Cardinals have another option at shortstop.

The deal is a one year major league free agent deal for $1.5 Million. So, the Cardinals will likely be making a related move on the 40-Man roster to make room for Tejada. The details of the move have not been released yet, but what is known is that Tejada will wear no. 19, the number that had been occupied by my wife’s favorite player (Jon Jay).

My hope in this is that the move does not hurt Aledmys Diaz‘ chances at breaking Spring Training as the starter, Tejada is a lifetime .255 hitter and a decent shortstop defensively. However, Diaz is much more offensively talented and offers some upside at the position defensively.

This move gives the Cardinals flexibility to either send Diaz or Greg Garcia down to AAA to start the season. However, if the Cardinals do indeed break camp with Diaz as the starter, this move would give the team flexibility to not have Jedd Gyorko playing out of position at shortstop, and keeping his backup 2B/3B role. 

More from St Louis Cardinals News

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Here is Willson Contreras’ first message for St. Louis fans
• How do the St. Louis Cardinals stack up with Willson Contreras?
• Cardinals: The insane asking price the Athletics had for Sean Murphy
• St. Louis Cardinals: Ask me anything with Josh Jacobs – 12/8

I am not sure where Tejada fits after Peralta returns, as the Cardinals will have a glut of shortstops at that point. However, we will cross that bridge when we get to it. This move may not be a popular move, but it gives the team more flexibility and allows for them to be better prepared for life without Jhonny Peralta during the first two months of the season.

For more on Tejada and what he brings to the table, you can read what I wrote when the rumors of acquiring Tejada first started swirling, and you can also read Dan Buffa’s piece from a few days ago.

Next: Mike Mathney Has the Rotation Set Up to Fail

This will be an interesting wrinkle into the final two weeks of Spring Training, as a new horse has entered the shortstop competition. What are your thoughts on the deal? Love it? Hate it? Let us know!