Best bang for your buck: revealing shortstop free agent values vs Cardinals

Seven All-Star caliber shortstops have been signed recently, and the Cardinals passed on each one of them. Were they wise to run with who they already had?

St. Louis Cardinals v Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals v Pittsburgh Pirates | Justin Berl/GettyImages
2 of 9

Javier Baez

After the 2021 season, Javier Baez was signed to a six-year, $140 million contract with the Detroit Tigers. Along with Eduardo Rodriguez, Baez was signed to help the young stars that the Tigers had coming up through the ranks. Due to his clubhouse value, the Tigers were willing to sign him for a fair amount of money.

For his career, Baez has accumulated 24.5 WAR. He has earned $67 million thus far in his career. According to the Fangraphs value statistic, Baez would have fetched $196.3 million on the open market. This creates a surplus value of $129 million.

His surplus value is greater than those of both Edman and DeJong.