Seven paragraphs in the history of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the Cardinals, who signed free agent starter Adam Wainwright for a year, beatwriter Derrick Goold wrote this sentence: “But in the narrow belt of the NL central cities of the Midwest, the Cardinals $ 8 million guarantee to Wainwright means more spending on freelance agents than the other four division teams combined. “
It’s January 29th. The teams were allowed to sign free agents from November 1st. And now, almost three months later, the Cardinals signing – a one-year contract for a 39-year-old starter mug – represented a total expense higher than any other guarantee given by the other four teams at NL headquarters. It was also, as Goold noted, the very first addition the Cardinals had added to their roster for the entire off-season.
I’m sorry, but this is crazy. Is someone actually trying to win headquarters?
At least up to this point, the answer is clearly no.
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The Cardinals, Cubs, Reds and Brewers would certainly love to win the division title, but the current “let’s hope the other teams keep losing talent” strategy is not exactly a proven way to get into the postseason.
“There’s still time to explore further,” said John Mozeliak, President of the Cardinals for baseball operations, at a Zoom press conference Friday. “I know that sounds weird because we’re two weeks away from Florida. But unusual times require unusual things, so here we are. ”
Even before Wainwright was signed, the Cardinals had a better off-season than the other teams in the division – sorry, Cardinals fans had a better off-season – because the club did not actively throw talented players towards goals across the league, despite being themselves decided against activating the club option in 2021 for Kolten Wong, who won gold gloves in a row at shortstop and has achieved a base percentage of 0.356 in the last four years. And they still don’t know if “Legacy” catcher Yadier Molina will return.
– The Cubs traded ace Yu Darvish and backup catcher Victor Caratini for four young prospects in San Diego years away from having a possible impact on the MLB. They cut the bat Kyle Schwarber, who did 38 home runs in 2019. Jon Lester, Albert Almora and Jose Quintana have also disappeared. You signed Joc Pederson to a one-year contract on Friday morning.
– The Pirates have traded three big names with a 2021 strike value this off-season – 2019 all-star Josh Bell, rotation staple Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon who had an injury-related season. Trevor Williams, Chris Archer and Derek Holland are also gone. Oh, and they haven’t signed a single major league player yet.
– The Reds sent the most established and reliable weapons in their bullpen and traded more closely with Raisel Iglesias and Archie Bradley, who was not written out. The free agent Trevor Bauer will not be back, nor will the free agents Tyler Thornburg, Anthony DeSclafani, Curt Casali or Freddy Galvis.
– The Brewers haven’t necessarily lost players, but they haven’t exactly expanded their club either. Oh, but you could deal closer with Josh Hader so stay tuned.
The Central had four teams making it to October in the 2020 expanded playoff format – only the Pirates missed – but no one took a step forward. Not even the Cardinals, who were just getting closer to maintaining the status quo by bringing Wainwright – the club’s most reliable starter in 2020 – back to their knees.
For those five fan bases, it was frustrating to watch teams like the Blue Jays attack with a slightly aggressive off-season around October.
“The pandemic created multiple levels of challenge for each team,” said Mozeliak. “You are looking at the past off-season. So far there have been four, five or six clubs that have been very aggressive on multiple fronts, whether it’s free agent or trade, but I think a lot of teams are still trying to understand what their identity will be like next year appearance. And that has resulted in a slightly slower pace in the off-season to some extent. But as we’ve seen over the past few weeks, teams are starting to sign players and make agreements so clearly that the pace feels more normal from an off-season standpoint.
“There are still a lot of people who have questions about what 2021 will be like. I think it’s only natural to be a little more hesitant. “
Up to this point – things could change of course with lots of free agents still available and lots of potential trades to be made – NL Central’s offseason slogan was “A Bit More Hesitant”.
We hope the clubs don’t play like that for the fans of these five teams at the start of the season.
