St. Louis Cardinals: Protection (or better) waiting in the wings

The St. Louis Cardinals have plenty of questions in their MLB pitching rosters and answers to these are likely waiting down in the farm system.

The Winter Warmup allowed fans to come face-to-face with a few of the Cardinals’ MLB pitchers as well as a few of the promising young arms ready to make an impact.

In relation to the starting rotation, Wainwright, Carlos Martinez, and Weaver all spoke to the fans. Each brought a promise for the coming season. Waino stated that he wants to return to greatness again and avoid the mediocre. Martinez says he is excited that the Cards added his friend Ozuna. Weaver added weight to help him endure the workload of a starter.

The supporting cast included Jack Flaherty, Austin Gomber, and Dakota Hudson. These three (and others) are stoked and ready to help when needed and/or have their chance to move to the majors and stay there. Let’s take a look at each.

Starting with Gomber who has farther to climb than the other names listed:

Next up, Hudson:

Finally, Flaherty:

Just look at the promise of that future!

Here’s my take: Gomber is value in a trade which is why the organization has shown him off during the Winter Warmup, Hudson is great protection and could be traded at the deadline, and Flaherty MUST be on the no-touch list as he is the most likely to replace Waino/Mike Mikolas during the 2018 campaign.

Having said that, it wouldn’t surprise me if both Flaherty and Hudson are on the no-touch list. Both are likely to begin the season in Memphis, which is for the best so that each can have regular development and can become beyond MLB-ready.

These three aren’t the only ones who you should keep an eye on. I encourage that all St. Louis Cardinals fans keep an eye on Ryan Sherriff (in fact, I wrote about him as a dark horse closer candidate) and Rowan Wick.

If the pitchers aren’t enough to show the promise that is waiting in the farm system, infield support can be found there as well.

The St. Louis Cardinals may find answers to their infield questions waiting in the minors.

The St. Louis Cardinals contemplated making additions to their 2018 roster in the infield. While not making any additions, the Cardinals may need to look to their farm system for support.

Before digging into the young guys, let me share that fans were able to hear from Matt Carpenter and Carson Kelly during the Winter Warmup. Carpenter suggested that he has not ever requested/demanded to bat leadoff and Kelly praised his battery-mate, Alex Reyes.

Additionally, fans of the Cardinals were able to hear from Jose Martinez who may play into both the infield and outfield of the 2018 season. One other piece of news from the Warmup: Paul DeJong has relinquished jersey number 11 so that Jose Oquendo may have his number back; he will now wear number 12.

All of these sleepy pieces of news pale in comparison to the potential promise of last year’s surprising appearance of Patrick Wisdom who also appeared at the Warmup. Let’s take a look at Wisdom’s career and why last season’s numbers may present solutions to the 2018 Cardinals.

Should Wisdom repeat the impressive numbers of 2017, he could be a nice supporter for first and third base in 2018.

Here’s my thought on Wisdom: he will clearly start the 2018 season in Memphis to see if he can replicate his numbers of last season. Then, if he is near the numbers, look for him to be used should an injury or poor performance rear its ugly head in St. Louis. This move will show other teams that he is MLB-ready and build his value as a trade piece for the deadline.

In short, I doubt that Wisdom- who survived the rule 5 selections in 2017- is on any other team’s radar at present but I predict that to change quickly in the 2018 season.

Wisdom isn’t the only name that St. Louis Cardinals should keep a keen eye on. For my take, I recommend watching the rise of Luke Voit, Breyvic Valera, Delvin Perez, Yairo Munoz, and Edmundo Sosa.

The St. Louis Cardinals farm system promises not only pitchers and infielders but support for outfield as well.

Here’s the thing that we have heard all offseason: the St. Louis Cardinals have a surplus of outfielders. The thought was that the organization had plans to use this surplus to make trades. This was not the case.

At the Winter Warmup, fans were able to meet and hear from Ozuna who shared his excitement at joining the Cardinals, Randal Grichuk who shared that while he is always working for playing time that he is happy to still be with the Cardinals, and the aforementioned Jose Martinez.

The Winter Warmup also brought with it an exposure to the power outfielder who was acquired during the 2017 season, Tyler O’Neill. O’Neill, the number-four prospect in the Cardinals system, came to the organization with great promise and did not disappoint in 2017.

Here’s a look at his career:

To me, O’Neill carries incredible promise and incredible threat to Grichuk (and perhaps others as well). In addition to the batting numbers shown above, O’Neill has appeared at both corner outfield spots predominantly in his career which also lends to the supposition that Grichuk might have a short live span as the incumbent backup to the outfield.

My take is this: Grichuk is to be short-lived with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018. I’m not really sure if he even makes it to the opening day roster. Either (1) he will be traded during spring training after he shows that he has the chops for another MLB team to take the rider, or (2) he starts the season on the Memphis roster.

My take on O’Neill is this: Tyler will start the season as the starter in RF for Memphis but this will be short-lived. O’Neill is basically MLB-ready today and keeping him in Memphis doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Should O’Neill see himself climb to the ranks of St. Louis, then this might be the displacing piece to Jose Martinez. But wait! What about Harrison Bader…?

These are Bader’s numbers (who, by the way, was heard from at the Warmup as well):

Bader is impressive and between him and O’Neill, only their performance during spring training stands in the way of who will rise to the surface.

Here’s my take on Bader: depending on his performance in spring training he will either start as a backup in St. Louis or as the starting CF for Memphis. I think the latter makes the most sense but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Bader traded before the start of the 2018 season in some package deal (maybe with Grichuk). The ceiling for Bader just seems made of steel rather than glass.

The 2018 St. Louis Cardinals season will be one to watch with many moves including many promising prospects.

The St. Louis Cardinals, I predict, will be a team to watch in 2018 for the number of wins as well as the number of moves made. While I hope that the Cardinals players will perform at the levels expected, I find great comfort in who is waiting in the wings.

More from St Louis Cardinals Prospects

• Reflecting on the 2013 Cardinals’ top 30 prospects
• The St. Louis Cardinals’ 2024 rotation needs work
• Cardinals: Moises Gomez hit 39 home runs, could be in St. Louis in 2023?
• Cardinals: These two prospects have the tools to break out in 2023
• Cardinals: Alex Reyes and Delvin Perez should be cautionary tales

Thinking ahead, it seems that the St. Louis Cardinals and fans should prepare for the rise of names listed in previous slides. Of these, I think the most likely to rise to be Flaherty, Hudson, and O’Neill. And, of these three, I am most excited to watch O’Neill.

Spring Training is just a matter of days away and from all reports from the Winter Warmup, the St. Louis Cardinals are likely done making trades or acquisitions as exemplified in DeWitt’s comments. While these comments were made, they say nothing about internal moves.

Fast-forward to Spring Training and the internal battles for positions, and you have yourself a recipe for internal moves making way to external moves. My gut simply tells me that the Cardinals have shopped the names in the previous slides and that clubs would like to see more evidence of their abilities.

Roll through Spring Training (and maybe the beginning of the season), gain additional experience, and then strike while the iron is hot. This, I believe is a very likely outcome and is something worth watching.

Next: 2018 bests can prove fans wrong

All of this said, we know too that the St. Louis Cardinals- at least in recent seasons- have been slow to act and methodical in their approach. In short, don’t expect any rash or quick moves. But, they would be nice and these guys offer protection for them and parts to be used in them. Thanks for reading!