The St. Louis Cardinals are one of a few finalists in the Giancarlo Stanton hunt, but with news of another Marlins move, it seems that Stanton might exist in the rear view very soon.
The St. Louis Cardinals need to move on from Giancarlo Stanton. There, I said it. At the same time, the moment the news falls that Stanton is coming to the Cardinals, I will gladly eat crow.
Today, however, in somewhat shocking news, the Marlins have traded Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners to play center field. Gordon is owed $38.5M from the fish so this move seems to show the first of more-to-come trades wherein the Marlins do what they had hoped to do with Stanton: cut payroll.
While the St. Louis Cardinals were hoping to be the source of payroll dump, the Marlins seem to be seeking other sources for salary dump. First up is today’s news of Gordon.
Also, it seems that rumors are now circulating that Marcell Ozuna is the next name the Marlins will trade and that this might be coming soon.
Ozuna will be traded soon also.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 7, 2017
With the move of Gordon and should the Marlins move Ozuna, it seems ever more likely that the Marlins are tired of waiting on Stanton to make a decision. Should the St. Louis Cardinals feel similar feelings?
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It is my opinion that the time has come for the St. Louis Cardinals to move on and to keep the only look at Stanton the one seen in their rear view mirror. Perhaps the Cardinals are the suitor for Ozuna… Perhaps the Cardinals can now land Christian Yelich.
For my money (which it isn’t), I’m happy if the St. Louis Cardinals move away from Stanton and onto Yelich. This will save a great deal of money and will allow the Cardinals to target other names like Chris Archer should the team have interest in this rotation arm.
But, hold the press! Now Craig Mish is suggesting that the Gordon news is NOT an indication that the Marlins are moving on from the Stanton issue.
The players most likely to get dealt by Miami at this point are Stanton, Ozuna and Straily. In my opinion they will leverage Ozuna to move another contract (Tazawa, Ziegler, Prado etc). I think Yelich stays.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 7, 2017
So that reignites my belief that the St. Louis Cardinals may be the team aiming to grab Ozuna. I’m not so okay with that. Here’s a look at his numbers:
Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB | Pos | Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | 22 | MIA | NL | 70 | 291 | 275 | 31 | 73 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 57 | .265 | .303 | .389 | .693 | 90 | 107 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 98 | |
2014 | 23 | MIA | NL | 153 | 612 | 565 | 72 | 152 | 26 | 5 | 23 | 85 | 3 | 1 | 41 | 164 | .269 | .317 | .455 | .772 | 114 | 257 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | *87/9 | |
2015 | 24 | MIA | NL | 123 | 494 | 459 | 47 | 119 | 27 | 0 | 10 | 44 | 2 | 3 | 30 | 110 | .259 | .308 | .383 | .691 | 92 | 176 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | *89 | |
2016 | 25 | MIA | NL | 148 | 608 | 557 | 75 | 148 | 23 | 6 | 23 | 76 | 0 | 3 | 43 | 115 | .266 | .321 | .452 | .773 | 110 | 252 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 | *87/9 | AS |
2017 | 26 | MIA | NL | 159 | 679 | 613 | 93 | 191 | 30 | 2 | 37 | 124 | 1 | 3 | 64 | 144 | .312 | .376 | .548 | .924 | 145 | 336 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | *7/8D9 | AS,MVP-15,GG,SS |
5 Yrs | 653 | 2684 | 2469 | 318 | 683 | 123 | 17 | 96 | 361 | 11 | 11 | 191 | 590 | .277 | .329 | .457 | .786 | 114 | 1128 | 57 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 8 | |||||
162 Game Avg. | 162 | 666 | 613 | 79 | 169 | 31 | 4 | 24 | 90 | 3 | 3 | 47 | 146 | .277 | .329 | .457 | .786 | 114 | 280 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
While impressive in some regards, Ozuna- owed $3.5M in 2017- will certainly be looking for an increase in pay in 2018 through arbitration and honestly, while it pains me to say it, is just a little bit better than the cheaper Randal Grichuk.
These are Grichuk’s numbers for comparison:
Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB | Pos | Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | 22 | STL | NL | 47 | 116 | 110 | 11 | 27 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 31 | .245 | .278 | .400 | .678 | 88 | 44 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9/87 | |
2015 | 23 | STL | NL | 103 | 350 | 323 | 49 | 89 | 23 | 7 | 17 | 47 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 110 | .276 | .329 | .548 | .877 | 134 | 177 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 789 | |
2016 | 24 | STL | NL | 132 | 478 | 446 | 66 | 107 | 29 | 3 | 24 | 68 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 141 | .240 | .289 | .480 | .769 | 102 | 214 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | *8/79 | |
2017 | 25 | STL | NL | 122 | 442 | 412 | 53 | 98 | 25 | 3 | 22 | 59 | 6 | 1 | 26 | 133 | .238 | .285 | .473 | .758 | 95 | 195 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 79/8 | |
4 Yrs | 404 | 1386 | 1291 | 179 | 321 | 83 | 14 | 66 | 182 | 15 | 9 | 81 | 415 | .249 | .297 | .488 | .785 | 107 | 630 | 28 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |||||
162 Game Avg. | 162 | 556 | 518 | 72 | 129 | 33 | 6 | 26 | 73 | 6 | 4 | 32 | 166 | .249 | .297 | .488 | .785 | 107 | 253 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
If we go with this line of thinking, I hope the St. Louis Cardinals keep both Stanton and Ozuna in their rear view mirror.
List, Mozeliak, the time has come to move on past Stanton and to go grab other arms and bats. Hell, get three bats for what you would pay for Stanton. The time is now. Sorry.
I know I’m likely wrong, and I’m okay with that, but what do you think? Should the St. Louis Cardinals buy Ozuna? Should they attempt to get Yelich? Let me know on Twitter and thanks for reading.