St. Louis Cardinals: Plan-B for the 2018 Cardinals

ST. LOUIS, MO - AUGUST 9: Alex Reyes
ST. LOUIS, MO - AUGUST 9: Alex Reyes /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
ST. LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 13: Paul DeJong
ST. LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 13: Paul DeJong /

How would the St. Louis Cardinals adjust their plans should a catastrophe strike the infield?

St. Louis Cardinals’ Plan-B: Greg Garcia accepts the shortstop sword, kneels, and summons the combined powers of Bo Hart and Joe McEwing to become the very temporary savior until Mo is able to heal Paul Dejong by providing access to his own personal “blood boy.”

With the once-promising Aledmys Diaz shipped off and a best-in-small-doses Greg Garcia serving as the alternative, Dejong has become the infield’s linchpin. If Paul were to miss any significant period of time, the Cards would be in a pickle as neither Garcia nor Memphis utilityman Breyvic Valera seem like everyday answers.

It will be interesting to see how Yairo Munoz — of the Stephen Piscotty trade — performs in his first full season at Triple-A. Until then, it’s Dejong every day of D’week.

As for the rest of the infield, the corner spots and second base all have built-in, proven backups who are capable of filling in if Plan-A fails.

At third, Jedd Gyorko can be spelled by Matt Carpenter and probably will be as part of Plan-A, if only to get Jose Martinez more ABs at first. Of course, Kolten Wong has Gyorko (and Carpenter) at second, and Carp has Martinez at first. If all else fails, Patrick Wisdom, Max Schrock (re: Piscotty), and Luke Voit wait in the wings.