How are the Cardinals non-tendered players doing elsewhere?

IF/DH Juan Yepez - Washington Nationals

After signing a minor league deal with the Washington Nationals, Juan Yepez was assigned to their Triple-A team, the Rochester Red Wings. The 26-year-old infielder/corner outfielder has played in 28 games for the Red Wings, and he is seeing moderate success.

In 125 plate appearances (105 at-bats), Yepez has a .248/.360/.419 slash line to go along with 4 home runs, 6 doubles, and 2 stolen bases. The most interesting aspect of Yepez's game so far would be his 18 walks to 19 strikeouts. Having that much balance in the batter's box will always bode in a player's favor. Having a 14.4% walk rate with a 15.2% strikeout rate will always be good for a batter. He is continuing his strong spring.

Defensively, Yepez has only appeared at first base. He has logged 205 innings in 25 games, and he has committed two errors this year. Yepez's glove was never his calling card, and it seems like Washington doesn't want to let him dabble in the outfield. He has 3 designated hitter appearances to pair with his first-base outings.

While one would hope for more from a 26-year-old batter in AAA, Yepez's offensive statistics according to wRC+ (106) surpass all but 3 players on St. Louis's roster: Willson Contreras (166), Jose Fermin (142 wRC+ in only 13 plate appearances), and Nolan Arenado (116 wRC+). Yepez has a 106 wRC+ in AAA.

The Cardinals' current first baseman, Paul Goldschmidt, is a well-below-average offensive player this year, and even his defense is reaching a career low. Juan Yepez would have had to work pretty hard to supplant the former MVP, but he is outperforming the Cardinals' future Hall of Famer as of now.

RHP Dakota Hudson - Colorado Rockies

Dakota Hudson signed a 1-year, $1.5 million contract with the Colorado Rockies. Historically, Hudson has been a groundball pitcher; it made sense that he would go to Colorado, a place where fly-ball pitchers go to see their careers die. Hudson has always been good at limiting home runs with a career 0.9 HR/9 innings ratio.

Dakota has been unable to be successful thus far in the Mile-High City. He has pitched in 6 games, all starts, and he has logged 30.1 innings so far. Hudson has the most losses (5) in all of baseball, he has a 5.93 ERA, 5.02 FIP, 1.681 WHIP, and he is waking nearly as many batters (17 BBs) as he is striking them out (19 Ks).

While Hudson is throwing the same five pitches he has always thrown, his usage of these pitches has changed. He is using his curveball and sinker less often, and he is now using his changeup more often. It may behoove Hudson to go back to using his sinker more frequently to generate ground balls and keep the ball out of the air in Denver. It also happens to be his best pitch according to run value on Baseball Savant. Hudson's fastball averages a hair above 90 MPH, so using the 4-seamer less often may benefit him.

Once again, the plethora of starters brought in by John Mozeliak made Dakota Hudson superfluous; he isn't pitching well, he hasn't pitched well recently, and he would be able to find a spot in the St. Louis rotation or bullpen.

C Andrew Knizner - Texas Rangers

Of all the non-tendered players, Andrew Knizner was the one whom most fans questioned. The veteran catcher had a strong rapport with the pitching staff, something that was missing after Yadier Molina departed for retirement. Despite well-below-average career batting numbers, he seemed to have tapped into something in 2023 when he finished with a 92 OPS+ in 241 plate appearances.

Knizner signed a 1-year, $1.825 million deal to be the Texas Rangers backup catcher. He would slot in behind All-Star and Gold Glove recipient Jonah Heim on the depth chart.

Andrew Knizner's 2024 season has been abysmal so far. He has a .125/.125/.219 slash line in 32 plate appearances, and he has struck out 8 times. That makes for a -4 OPS+ For those who are uninitiated to OPS+, 100 is league average. Knizner has been so bad offensively that he has a negative score.

Knizner's offensive struggles are primarily due to his non-existent walk rate. He's barreling the ball at a slightly above-average rate, but his average launch angle is straight into the ground. He has not been making solid contact with the ball.

Knizner was never known for his defense, but he seems to have reached a new low. His blocking, caught stealing, and framing rates are all below average; only his pop time is better than 50% of catchers.

Knizner would have been excess on the Cardinals roster given Ivan Herrera's ascension. His performance in the first month-plus of the season has not made the front office regret their decision to let the 29-year-old backstop leave one bit.