St. Louis Cardinals: Curse you, Lance Lynn, or the Orioles, or Mozeliak…

News has surfaced that the Baltimore Orioles are considering former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn now that he is a free agent. Shame on you, Cardinals.

The St. Louis Cardinals decided at the end of the season- no wait, that’s not fair as they decided before the season even concluded- to part ways with Lance Lynn. The organization decided that a qualifying offer was the way to go in lieu of working out a new contract with the reliable pitcher.

I don’t necessarily disagree with the qualifying offer decision in principle. I do, however, have a problem with the St. Louis Cardinals doing nothing during the season at the trade deadline only to offer the QO for a draft pick compensation when they could have received more from him during the season.

Since the Cards did nothing with Lynn at the trade deadline, something we talked about here at Redbird Rants and on our weekly podcast, the best the birds can hope for now is the comp pick. Shame on you, Redbirds.

Enter then the news that the Orioles have taken interest in Lynn. Are the St. Louis Cardinals kicking themselves in the rear now? Not that I’m advocating the Cardinals sign Lynn (which wouldn’t have been a bad idea at the season’s end or now), but I am frustrated since they clearly could have grabbed someone from the Orioles at the trade deadline.

Let’s rewind the clock a little and look to see just who the St. Louis Cardinals might have grabbed from Baltimore had they completed a deal at the deadline.

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On the pitching side of things, the Cardinals could have targeted the likes of Zach Britton before anyone else started taking an interest. Other arms that Lynn might have landed are Brad Brach, Mychal Givens, or someone like Darren O’Day.

Any of these pitchers would have secured a weakened St. Louis Cardinals bullpen that suffered significantly in 2017 and beyond. O’Day is signed through 2019, Givens is pre-arb eligible in 2018 and under team control until 2022, Brach is the weakest of these names and is a free agent to-be in 2019, and Britton is a free agent to-be as well in 2019.

The argument that some would have against me is this: if the St. Louis Cardinals were interested in any of these players, why not show interest now? And to that I say: Why Not? While the St. Louis Cardinals would have to use someone other than Lynn now, I cannot say they would be poorly represented to reach out and try to snag these names.

Oh, and one more thing: now the Brewers are showing interest in Lynn. How terrible will it be to see Lynn in a Milwaukee uniform for the next 3-4 years?!

Next: Keep or trade Luke Weaver

Having said all of that, let me add that should the St. Louis Cardinals land Giancarlo Stanton, and do so by selling off the farm, then I’ll be glad they at least grabbed that compensation pick. Thanks for reading!