St. Louis Cardinals: Postseason free agents the Cards should target

The St. Louis Cardinals need to make changes this offseason and one place they should look would be to free-agents-to-be who are playing now in the postseason.

The St. Louis Cardinals sent Stephen Piscotty to the As to get him closer to home which panned out well for both teams and Piscotty. The dude went on a tear and had a great year. While Piscotty isn’t due to free agency, the Cardinals have plenty of other names on the As roster who should interest them.

Pitchers

Let’s jump right to the site of greatest need for the 2019 St. Louis Cardinals: pitchers. The As have three starting pitchers and one relief pitcher. Honestly? All of them should interest the Cardinals.

First up, the relief pitcher, Jeurys Familia. Familia was a great name for the New York Mets from 2012 until he moved to the As in 2018. Some seasons saw a good Familia, others did not. He left the As with a 2.88 ERA through 40 games. Came to the As and posted a 3.45 ERA through 30 games.

Admittedly, the Athletics play in one of the sh*ttiest ballparks in the country but Familia will be only 29 when the 2019 season starts. Familia earned $7.925M in 2018. My guess is that he will net $9M or so through FA but this shouldn’t scare off the Cards.

On the starting front, Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, and Edwin Jackson are set to hit free agency. The Cardinals had a great session with Jackson in the past but his age now should prohibit the birds from taking interest. Anderson will be 31 and Cahill will also be 31.

Cahill is a right-handed starter. He posted an 8.22 ERA with Kansas City in 2017 and a 3.76 ERA with the As in 2018. Could he return to his sub-3.00 days by returning to the National League? He posted sub-3.00 days with the Cubs a few seasons back and maybe an NLC return would see this performance return as well.

Anderson is a lefty and would fit nicely into the St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation. While it isn’t likely that the Cards will be shopping for starting pitching, this doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t. Anderson posted a 4.48 ERA for the As in 2018. His numbers aren’t that great so the Cards could make the money work and let Mike Maddux work some magic.

Fielders

The Athletics have Jed Lowrie and Jonathan Lucroy hitting the market this season. Lowrie, a second baseman, likely has no place with the Cardinals. Lucroy will be looking for a starting role and this won’t happen with the Cardinals. In addition to their desires, both names are in their mid-30s which will keep them away from the Cardinals.

For 2019, the St. Louis Cardinals should kick the tires on the arms from the Athletics and leave the others alone.