Cardinals: 3 insider insights as St. Louis approach the Winter Meetings

Three big insights entering the Winter Meetings for the Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have been fairly quite so far this off-season, but as the have internally evaluated both the free agent and trade market so far, it appears things are now heating up right as the Winter Meetings are upon us.

Over the last few days, different national and local insiders have dropped key information about what the Cardinals are up to in regards to the catching market, a potential shake out in the outfield, and where the Cardinals stand with their pitching. Lot’s of interesting things to note and could make for a busy Winter Meetings for St. Louis.

Cardinals are targeting their new catcher via trade

Insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was on Scoops with Danny Mac and seemed very confident that the Cardinals with solve their need at catcher with either Sean Murphy or one of the Blue Jays catchers. 

Well the Cardinals appear focused more on a trade for one of the catchers that are out there, either Sean Murphy or one of the three Blue Jays catchers. Now, there is no reason why a trade can’t be made next week too, but there is a big intense focus on free agents now, so I do wonder whether the trade market will be somewhat stalled because of that. But it seems to me that those pursuits, those particular situations, Murphy and the Blue Jays catchers, they are almost independent of the free agent market. There is not really a great catcher out there, Willson Contreras the biggest name, but he is not a great defensive catcher. So, I could definitely see a deal happening with them. But I could also see it the other way too, taking till mid-December or late December.

This should be great news for Cardinals fans, as Murphy and the three Toronto catchers – Alejandro Kirk, Danny Jansen, and Gabriel Moreno, all present four of the very best catching options available this off-season. We presented some trade proposals for these catchers recently.

Murphy ranked 2nd in fWAR last season among catchers, only behind J.T. Realmuto. Murphy is not a household name due to being a bit hidden on a terrible Oakland team, but Murphy is controllable through the 2025 season and has a strong argument as a top 3 catcher in the game today.

Kirk was an American League All-Star last year and won the Sliver Slugger award but lacks a bit defensively. Jansen has shown incredible power at the plate but has not gotten an everyday catching role. Moreno is one of the best prospects in baseball and could be the long-term answer for St. Louis behind the plate.

While there have been rumors circulating that the Cardinals met with Willson Contreras last week, there has been no reports confirming said meeting, so I would take Rosenthal’s insight as a much more credible look at where St. Louis is leaning.

Shake-up coming in the St. Louis outfield

In the Cardinals pursuit of an every-day catcher, it appears that their abundance of outfield options may be one of the clearest paths toward pulling off one of those trades, meaning a shake-up is likely coming once again for the Cardinals starting trio.

Lars Nootbaar and Dylan Carlson continue to be the two names most likely to be dealt, as their names are consistently mentioned by MLB Network’s Jon Morosi as candidates for trade this off-season. Derrick Goold just put out a piece on the Cardinals’ plans for Tyler O’Neill next season, indicating he will be a major part of their roster next season.

Even if Nootbaar or Carlson are not dealt, with the impending debut of Jordan Walker, as well as  MLB-ready Alec Burleson and Juan Yepez already making their debuts, the Cardinals will certainly use at least one, and possibly even more, of those names to acquire not only their new catcher, but other potential moves on the roster.

To put icing on the cake, it seems like the Cardinals are still considering external options in the outfield as well, further indicating they are content dealing from their current crop. Cody Bellinger is working out with Cardinals bench coach Matt Holliday, and Jeff Jones even speculated a name like Cedric Mullins could be a trade target for St. Louis.