Start Up The Middle

[Talkin' Baseball]

The Cardinals have a lot of issues to address, and you can't do everything first. If you are rebuilding this team, what do you build around? Start up the middle. Recent reporting says the Cardinals intend to try Herrera again as a catcher. (Not what I do, but...) If this is true then Herrera and Pages are your catchers. You don't need to re-visit that this winter. There are plenty of catchers in the system if you want to re-visit that later.

Winn is your SS and Wetherholt is your 2B. They will be here for years and will be good. No need to focus on that this offseason.

Victor Scott II is the CF next year. He needs to improve offensively, but with his defense and speed he has done enough to stay there for now. If his offense doesn't improve, that may be a conversation for later.

With these guys you are set up the middle- possibly for awhile. Then you build the team out to the corners.

On the infield I have to assume that Contreras and Arenado will be here until the players change their stance on their no-trade clauses AND the owner's change their stance on paying down their contracts. If Contreras and Arenado are here, they will play.

In the OF corners, I assume Burleson will man one of those and if Donovan is here he will man the other. I expect Donovan to be gone, and personally, I would like to see Burleson shopped. Unless Walker has a killer spring I expect him to be in Memphis.

I have no doubt that this front office can build a substantial bullpen at a low cost. Some of the pieces are already in St. Louis.

So, where should the immediate efforts be focused? Starting pitching. Gray should be traded, if he would be traded. Pallante should not be allowed to start, and ideally should be moved. If you put Leahy in the rotation you will have the same issues with hitting an innings wall as you did with Liberatore and possibly Pallante.

Where does the starting pitching come from? We have Liberatore and McGreevy. Start with that. If we follow the plan above, Nootbaar, Donovan, Gorman, Crooks, and Pallante are available to offer for pitching. I would add Burleson (I know a lot of you wouldn't) and Chase Davis to that list. You need to get 2-3 viable pitchers through trade. They need to sign 2 veteran pitchers at a price not to exceed 10M. Think Jose Quintana, or a Mahle type. We need them for at least half a season while Mathews, Doyle, Henderson, Mautz, and company work their way up the system and Roby, Hjerpe, and Hence (I'm sure he will be recovering from something) recover from injury.

So this winter address starting pitching and probably try to bring in some type of corner OF, even if he is just a stopgap.