How do the St. Louis Cardinals stack up with Willson Contreras?

St. Louis Cardinals lineup with Willson Contreras

Let’s talk about the really fun part of this – the improvement to the Cardinals lineup. In 2022, the Cardinals catching position produced a .552 OPS over the course of the season, ranking 28th in all of baseball. In 2022, Contreras posted a .815 OPS, bringing a big bat to what was a major weak spot in the Cardinals lineup.

Not only does it upgrade the catcher position at the plate, but when Contreras starts, the lineup becomes much deeper than it was before. Here is one way the Cardinals lineup could play out next season.

1. RF Lars Nootbaar
2. 2B Brendan Donovan
3. 1B Paul Goldschmidt
4. 3B Nolan Arenado
5. C Willson Contreras
6. LF Tyler O’Neill
7. DH Jordan Walker
8. CF Dylan Carlson
9. SS Tommy Edman

Without any moves being made, the club still had a bench of Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez/Alec Burleson, Paul DeJong, and Andrew Knizner. The additions of Contreras and Jordan Walker to their lineup should mean the Cardinals have at least an above league bat at every spot in the order, with big thumpers in the form of their MVP duo, and potentially more in the form of Contreras, Walker, and Tyler O’Neill.

One underrated part of Contreras’ plate skills is his ability to hit right-handed pitching, something that the Cardinals were hoping to improve on this off-season.

An over .800 OPS against both handedness is a great asset for St. Louis, and Contreras’ ability to get on-base against righties is what is really needed. Against left-handed pitching, he does not get on-base as much, but he destroys the baseball.

What will be interesting to see is how the Cardinals choose to deploy Contreras other than at catcher. Will he be the designated hitter on his off-days? If so, does that mean the club now needs to carry three catchers?

I may change my opinion on this, but with so many different DH options already on the club, I would rather sit Contreras when he needs a day off from catching, and hope to squeeze out more starts behind the plate because of that. Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez, and Alec Burleson are great options to start on his days off, no need to push Contreras too hard on a long-term deal.

What will the Cardinals do with the rest of their off-season in preparation for the 2023 season? Let’s take a look at where their budget stands and what assets they still have to trade from.

Cardinals budget and tradeable assets

Coming into the 2023 off-season, it was reported that the club would enter next season with a payroll cap of $180 million-$185 million, and Contreras puts them right up at $180 million at the moment. This likely takes them out of any significant free agent signings for now, unless the Cardinals make a few trades.

Names like Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez, Alec Burleson, and Lars Nootbaar are all young assets on the big league roster who could be dealt to make a significant upgrade to the starting rotation or lineup. Although they clearly cannot sign a front-line stater or significant bat this off-season, these assets on their own roster as well as a flurry of valuable prospects could help them bring in an impact player on a cost controlled deal.

The Cardinals could choose to move off of players like Dakota Hudson ($2.5 million), Paul DeJong ($9 million), Genesis Cabrera ($1.2 million), Jordan Hicks ($1.6 million), or other names that would clear a little bit of money as well. It’s hard to predict at the moment where they will go from here.

One thing to note here is that the $180 million-$185 payroll number is a reported projection, not a firm cap that we know of. The DeWitt’s can always green light a $5 million-$15 million increase, giving Mozeliak flexibility to round out the roster.

I really do not think the Cardinals are done making significant acquisitions. If anything, it seems to indicate that we should have all eyes on the trade market, as any impact moves they want to make will likely be impacted by that.