Questionable free agent signing has become valuable for the Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have given fans a full season's worth of emotions despite still being in the first month of the year, but that was the expectation in year one of the rebuild. The excitement has turned to heartbreak a few too many times already, but there have been some bright spots throughout the entire roster.

Cardinals late signing of Ramon Urias is paying off already

After Spring Training got started, the Cardinals decided to bolster their infield depth by signing 32-year-old versatile fielder Ramon Urias to a one-year, $2 million deal. Despite the old saying of "no such thing as a bad one-year contract", the move was panned by fans who did not see a need for an aging bench piece when there were other options available in-house. When the move was announced, reliever Zak Kent continued his DFA tour and Urias was given a spot on the 26-man roster.

At the time, there was no real fit for Urias and the fact that a player already in the organization needed to be relocated for an aging defensive-specialist raised some eyebrows. The expectation was for Urias to fill in across the infield, while grabbing a start or two a week and whatever offense he provided in those games would be gravy. Now, the Cardinals are getting all the gravy and little extra dessert for taking the low-risk chance on the former Oriole and Astro. Urias has played in eight of the Cardinals' 10 games thus far and is already ranked third on the team by measure of fWAR, behind breakout star Jordan Walker and rookie phenom JJ Wetherholt.

Defensively, he has actually measured as mediocre or worse while playing seven of his games at third, but his bat has carried the weight. Despite having the fewest plate appearances among players not named Jose Fermin and Yohel Pozo, he is second on the team with two homers, each of which came in a big spot, including a go-ahead two-run homer against the Nationals while going three for four and adding a double. His tiny sample has resulted in a 220 wRC+, meaning he is 120% above league-average with the bat, obviously a crazy expectation for someone who has a career-high of 16 homers and a career .725 OPS.

This type of output is obviously not sustainable, especially when looking at the metrics showing a 35% strikeout rate and zero walks taken. That goes to show that when Urias is in, he knows he needs to hit and is aggressive at the plate. That approach is working thus far, but it may not result in more plate appearances for the infielder. Nothing against Urias, but the Cardinals are using this season to learn about their young guys, and Urias is simply here to provide guidance and a breather when needed.

Even with that sporadic playing time, Urias seems ready to provide that safety net for Oli Marmol as the manager works to find the best way to balance playing time and rest days for the young infield. If he continues to do well with his opportunities, Urias could spell Nolan Gorman at third base and allow the lefty slugger to fill the DH spot when Ivan Herrera catches. The lineup flexibility that the veteran provides Marmol is nice to have, especially as the lineup searches for consistent offense to help make up for pitching deficiencies early in the year.