Cardinals Rumors: St. Louis a potential landing spot for top free agent

Corey Seager #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on prior to the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on September 24, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)
Corey Seager #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on prior to the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on September 24, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)

The St. Louis Cardinals are rumored to be a potential landing spot for top free-agent shortstop Corey Seager.

The St. Louis Cardinals will be looking for shortstop upgrades this winter. That much is clear. The only things we do not know is who they will target and who they will eventually end up with.

Recent reports have connected the Cardinals to Trevor Story, a free-agent shortstop who is coming off arguably his worst year in professional baseball. But a new report from Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times connected the Cardinals to Corey Seager. https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2021-10-30/dodgers-free-agency-clayton-kershaw-kenley-jansen

Seager, 27, is scheduled to be the top free-agent shortstop this winter, ahead of Astros shortstop Carlos Correa. He is versatile defensively – he can play second and third bases if needed – and there is a consensus he will spend most of the remainder of his career at third base. Offensively, he hit a strong .306/.394/.521 with 16 home runs and 57 RBI in 95 games. In his career, he’s slashing .297/.367/.504 with 104 home runs and 364 RBI in 636 games.

When he is on the field, there are no shortstops better than Seager. The only issue is that he has a hard time staying on the field. He fractured his hand, followed by a hamstring injury, limiting him to 95 games this season. He missed a month in 2018 with a strained left hamstring. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and played in only 26 games.

Still, Seager is going to seek a deal worth north of $300 million this winter — and that’s why the Cardinals are an unlikely landing spot. He would dramatically upgrade their infield, but with that contract and Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt under contract, they would have little financial flexibility going forward.

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Expect the Cardinals to check in on Seager. But unless something changes, and his asking price dramatically drops, he will be playing somewhere other than St. Louis in 2022.