St. Louis Cardinals: Rivals Cubs AND Brewers land powerful lefties

The St. Louis Cardinals have much to worry about now that their division rivals have added two lefty arms to their rosters.

The St. Louis Cardinals have yet to make waves via trades but that isn’t stopping their rivals from making tsunami side waves with moves of their own. Both the Cubs and the Brewers have added left-handed arms to their rosters as of Thursday, July 13.

First up, the Chicago Cubs announced that they have added lefty starter Jose Quintana to their starting pitcher lineup. The St. Louis Cardinals were once rumored to be kicking the tires on Quintana themselves but apparently something kept them from signing him. Could it have been the asking price?

The Cubs, however, were not frightened and traded for Quintana by sending the White Sox prospects named Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Matt Rose, and Bryant Flete. Quintana brings with him team control through 2020 and great stats from the left side of the mound.

The Cubs needed starting pitching and got that today. The cross-town rival White Sox were out of the running this season and were reportedly interested in offloading high-dollar contracts to build their farm system. These needs were fulfilled by the moves today.

Here’s a look at Quintana’s numbers (since the St. Louis Cardinals will now need to face him; we won’t belabor the point by reviewing the prospects):

Notice that while his numbers were down in 2017, Quintana is still a great grab by the Cubs. I hate that I’m applauding them for it, but let’s put credit where credit is due. To help with the credit, Quintana is now joining the National League which should make things easier on him as the league is kinder to pitchers than hitters (credit to Ken Rosenthal for this tidbit).

Should the St. Louis Cardinals be worried about facing Quintana? Probably a little since the club doesn’t hit left-handed pitching terribly well. That said, the numbers (while small samples) of those who have faced Quintana are not bad. Here’s a look:

.333/.379/.407 facing a left-handed hurler ain’t too bad. Maybe the St. Louis Cardinals can swim the Quintana waters without worry… I guess we will see now.

But wait, this wasn’t the only news of the day. In what might have been a reaction move, the Milwaukee Brewers made a trade with the New York Yankees sending a first base prospect Garrett Cooper for pen lefty Tyler Webb.

While not as flashy as the Quintana move, the pick up of another lefty in the NL-Central is something that the St. Louis Cardinals must now consider. 26-year-old Webb has made his MLB debut this season with the Yanks and, at this point, maintains his rookie status.

Here’s a look at Webb’s career numbers (much of which is in the minors):

Notice that he isn’t the flash move that the Brewers likely need to maintain their first place hold of the NLC, but it is a start to shore their pen and/or open them to flipping Webb for a flash player.

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Rumors are that circulating that the Brew Crew is interested in J.A. Happ and Sonny Gray (thanks to Trevor Hooth for this info). Happ is commanding a 3.54 ERA with Toronto (another supposed seller) and Gray is commanding a 4.00 ERA with Oakland (yet another supposed seller). Happ, the lefty, and Gray, the righty, will look to capitalize upon the Quintana deal meaning that their price likely just went up.

Of the two moves today, the St. Louis Cardinals are far more likely to face Quintana than Webb. In similar fashion, the Cards have numbers against Quintana where they have no numbers against Webb– something that plagues the bird batters.

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What do you think? Are you worried about the signings today or do they have little impact on the St. Louis Cardinals. I’d like to hear your thoughts so hit me up on Twitter and go Cardinals!