Cardinals News: Pujols v. Molina, Skip Schumaker, and free agents

Here's a quick roundup of news surrounding former St. Louis Cardinals and the team's approach in free agency this year.

Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina square off as managers.

Two Cardinal legends in Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina are going head-to-head in the Dominican Winter League. Pujols is getting his first taste at managing as he leads The Leones del Escogido this winter. Yadier Molina will be managing his fourth professional baseball team, as he was announced as the manager of Aguilas Cibaenas.

The two former Cardinals and now rival managers faced off on November 5th. Rafael Furcal was on Molina's staff, former prospects Yairo Munoz and Cesar Prieto were playing for Yadi's team. Albert Pujols was triumphant in the first matchup between the two teams.

Skip Schumaker gets a new job.

In 2022, Skip Schumaker, a former Cardinal player himself, was the St. Louis Cardinals' bench coach to manager Oliver Marmol. He then agreed to be the Miami Marlins' manager in 2023. That year, Schumaker led the Marlins to their first playoff berth in 20 years thanks to an 84-78 record, a 15-game improvement over 2022. He was awarded the National League Manager of the Year award for his efforts.

Schumaker and the Marlins agreed to part ways after this past season, and he was a free-agent manager as a result. Speculation was rampant all offseason, as both the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox had managing vacancies. Instead of taking one of those managing jobs, Schumaker has instead agreed to be a senior advisor to president of baseball operations Chris Young of the Texas Rangers.

Cardinals free agent options become limited further with list of players who were given qualifying offers.

The deadline for teams to offer qualifying offers to eligible players came and went on Monday night. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt was not given one, and he will be a free agent as a result.

In total, 13 players were given qualifying offers across baseball. These players have two weeks to accept or decline the offers.

How does this news relate to the Cardinals? Well, the team may have had interest in some of these players, especially Max Fried, Anthony Santander, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, and possibly even Pete Alonso or Christian Walker. With the qualifying offers being attached to these players, if they decline they option and elect free agency, whatever new team signs them will forfeit a draft pick. According to Derrick Goold, losing a draft pick isn't something the Cardinals will want to do this offseason.