With the Winter Meetings wrapping up today ahead of tomorrow’s Rule 5 Draft, here’s an update on what the Cardinals are doing.
In a straight up swap, the Redbirds acquired Drew Robinson from the Rangers in exchange for Patrick Wisdom. Robinson will provide the Cards with a left-handed utility bat off the bench. He still has a lot to prove though.
Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News
Last season Robinson hit .183 with three home runs, an OPS+ of 53 and a WAR of -0.5. He will be 25 next year, in what will be his third major league season. Despite his struggles at the big league level, he has hit well in the minors. In 53 Triple-A games in 2018, Robinson slashed .303/.379/.569 and hit 10 home runs.
St. Louis sacrificed some power in this deal in favor of a left-handed hitter. Wisdom hit 46 home runs in 227 games in the Pacific Coast League over the past two seasons. Even with the Cardinals last year he hit four homers and posted a .520 slugging percentage.
Wisdom is a couple years older than Robinson though. He also didn’t necessarily have a spot with the Cardinals next year. It will be interesting to see what he can do in Texas if he gets the opportunity to play every day. The Cardinals focus will be on Robinson though, as he will likely fill the void left by Greg Garcia’s departure.
Ken Rosenthal reported last night that the Cardinals were in trade talks with the Dodgers and that those talks were centered around Jose Martinez. This isn’t the first time Martinez’ name has been mentioned as a potential trade chip, but it could be the first time something actually happens.
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It’s hard to imagine what the Dodgers would give up to acquire Martinez and what his role for them would be exactly. Given the Cardinals pursuit of left-handed relief pitching, they could be looking at Scott Alexander, or they might be interested in something entirely different.
After the trade for Goldschmidt, it’s hard to see a scenario where Matt Carpenter isn’t at third base next year. He could move to second if something is done with Wong, but there’s no evidence that is going to happen. Regardless, former Cardinal David Freese could be on the Birds radar. If they plan on getting back into the postseason he would be a great asset to have.
Another possibility is that the Cardinals have no interest in dealing with LA at all and these rumors are just smoke and mirrors. This scenario could be true if there are other teams interested in Martinez and the Cards are trying to drive up the asking price, or, if the Redbirds are just trying to generate some interest in Martinez, that way they can get rid of him for a decent return. It’s clear that he’s an odd man out for 2019 after the Goldy trade, so why not trade him while he has some value?
This might burst some bubbles on the idea that Harper is going to wind up wearing the Birds on the Bat, but the Cardinals have been clear in the last couple days that Dexter Fowler is their right fielder for 2019. This is despite a very poor 2018 campaign and a 2017 season that was less than impressive.
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Last season Fowler had a WAR of -1.4. He accomplished this by slashing just .180/.278/.298 with eight home runs, 31 RBI and an OPS+ of 59. Over 289 at-bats he walked just 38 times and struck out 75. His defense was atrocious as well. He accumulated -5 DRS to go along with his UZR/150 of -10.9 and a Def of -8.6. Obviously, he missed some time due to injuries, but his poor performance cost him a lot of playing time as well.
Steamer projects that next season Fowler will hit just .239 with a .730 OPS, nine home runs and 42 RBI. It only accounts for him playing 82 games as well, which doesn’t really build confidence.
The projections along with his level of play in 2018 make it kind of confusing when the Cardinals say Fowler is their guy for 2019. A simple look at the numbers and anyone can see that’s a bad idea. What this decision boils down to is, Mozeliak gave Fowler way too much money for too many years. Because of that, he has to play him in order to squeeze every ounce of worth he can out of him while the team is still paying on his $80.5 million contract.
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