Cyber Monday: Best bargain free agents for the St. Louis Cardinals

These signs are not flashy, but would be worth every single penny if St. Louis goes bargain shopping

The St. Louis Cardinals face a lot of key decisions this off-season, and with the Winter Meetings right around the corner, they should find themselves in conversations for some big time moves. Even so, every club needs to keep their eyes on “bargain deals”.

St. Louis should make a big move for a catcher, starting pitcher, or big bat for their lineup, but they cannot do that for every upgrade they do. Whichever direction St. Louis decides to splash their best resources, they should also be looking for good value at other positions.

This is not a “Steven Matz or Brett Cecil” kind of deal I am talking about. We are looking at players who will be of low cost to teams this off-season, but can fill a key role or need for St. Louis, outplaying their market value in 2023. Think in the vein of Albert Pujols this past off-season or Jose Quintana at the trade deadline. Pujols did require a large contract, and Quintana’s return was minor at best, but both served key roles in the Cardinals push for the postseason.

For this, I will give a “bargain” option for the catcher position, left-handed bat addition, starting pitcher, and a bullpen piece that St. Louis could go after if they want to get the best bang for their buck. Again, these should not be the biggest moves the Cardinals make, but these paired with their premier moves could pay huge dividends next season.

Catcher – Christian Vazquez

While the likes of Sean Murphy, one of the Blue Jays catchers, or Willson Contreras would carry more buzz for the Cardinals, Christian Vazquez may be the closest player to Yadier Molina they could get for 2023.

Nicknamed “Mini Yadi” by former Cardinal Joe Kelly, Vazquez would provide the Cardinals with a great defensive backstop, league average hitter, and two-time World Series champion behind the plate. In 2022, Vazquez ranked 7th among catchers with a 14.4 Def on FanGraphs, a statistic that measures a players defensive value considering their position and production, with his number ranking him in the second highest tier of defense “great”.

Vazquez posted a 99 wRC+ while posting a slash line of .274/.315/.399 with 9 HR and 52 RBI. This makes time just 1 point below a league average hitter, which the catcher position is notorious for being significantly below league average. So the Cardinals would get an above-average hitter as far as catchers go, as well as one of the best defenders at the position.

MLB Trade Rumors projects a 3 year, $27 million deal for Vazquez this off-season. That would be $1 million less than Molina made in his final year with the Cardinals, while providing significantly more value that Molina did most of 2022. Not only did Vazquez have a 1.9 higher WAR than Molina did last season, but he was also able catch 108 games last season, which would have been higher had he not been traded to the Astros who already had another quality starting option as well in Martin Maldonado.

Left-handed bat – Ben Gamel

Before you laugh or groan, Brandon Kiley of 101 ESPN noted that Ben Gamel has had a .763 OPS against right-handed pitching over the last two years, and that would have ranked 6th on the Cardinals in 2022. This is not a game changing bat, nor the biggest bat the Cardinals should add this off-season, but would be a great value should the team invest more of their resources with other needs. B

Michael Brantley would be the best option on this list, and actually someone I would love for the Cardinals to grab this off-season, but he will cost a lot more on a one year deal than Gamel will. If the Cardinals spend big at catcher or to address their pitching, Gamel would be a nice under-the-radar pick up for the club.

Gamel also had a thing for mashing against the Cardinals last season posting a .858 OPS in 12 games. Maybe some of the 30-year old’s magic at Busch Stadium last season could continue in 2023 as a Cardinal. Again, this a good value pickup for the Cardinals, not some game changing bat. If they choose to go bargain in other areas, fans should be clamoring for a name like Brantley. If not, Gamel would be a nice name to add to their mix, especially if they lost someone like Juan Yepez, Alec Burleson, or Nolan Gorman to trade this winter.

Reliever – Chris Martin

After being traded from the Chicago Cubs to the Los Angels Dodgers at the trade deadline, Chris Martin posted a 36:1 strikeout-walk ratio with a 1.46 ERA in his 26 games with the Dodgers. He has the stuff of a late inning reliever who would make a fantastic trio with Ryan Helsley and Giovanni Gallegos at the back of the Cardinals bullpen.

Martin has been a bit streaky throughout his career, as most of the non-elite relivers in the game are, but he would come into the St. Louis bullpen fighting to be the 7th inning guy, taking pressure off of him and making him a low risk signing for St. Louis.

MLB Trade Rumors has Martin projected to get two-years, $14 million on the open market, a very digestible number for a club looking to bring their bullpen up to the level of other contenders in baseball. Going after another reliever seems a bit scary considering the club’s recent history with bullpen arms in free agency, but there is a higher ceiling with Martin than guys like Aaron Brooks or Drew VerHagen, and much lower risk than the bigger contracts guys like Brett Cecil and Greg Holland received.