The Cardinals optioned outfielders Austin Dean and Justin Williams, infielder Edmundo Sosa, and righty Jake Woodford to Triple-A, as per the club’s Twitter feed.
Dean has by far the most MLB experience of the group, appearing in 98 games with the Marlins over the past two seasons. St. Louis acquired Dean in January, though Dean faced a lot of competition for an Opening Day roster spot, given the amount of outfield depth in the Cards’ camp. Dean played mostly as a left fielder in Miami with a few appearances in right field and first base, and he hit .223/.268/.388 with 10 homers over 311 plate appearances.
Williams faced a similar situation as Dean did in facing an uphill battle to win an outfield job, though Williams’ left-handed bat makes him a solid call-up possibility during the season given that Cardinals’ other outfielders are mostly right-handed hitters. A second-round pick for the Diamondbacks in the 2013 draft, Williams was dealt to the Rays in 2014 and then came to St. Louis as part of the return in the Tommy Pham trade package at the July 2018 deadline. Shortly before that deal, Williams received his lone bit of MLB experience to date — a single plate appearance on July 21, 2018.
As noted by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sosa is eligible to be sent down due to a fourth option year, as opposed to the usual three. After the Cardinals cut ties with Yairo Munoz, Sosa stood to benefit from that unusual situation, and he played well in Spring Training in his bid for a utility infield job. While at Triple-A, Sosa will be the “de facto backup” to Cardinals’ starting shortstop Paul DeJong on the big league roster, should DeJong suffer a longer-term injury. Sosa has had only a few more cups of coffee in the big leagues than Williams, as Sosa has appeared a total of 11 games for St. Louis over the last two seasons.
So how many openings do the Cardinals have on the 40 man roster? Just the one that was taken by Munoz? A lot of options for Shildt with most having lots of upside potential to fill it with if there are available openings.
I believe that is right…just one spot since Munoz left…which opens it up for Carlson…plus I think Cecils spot will be open soon enough
With the delay to the season the 40th spot is probably gonna stay open for Hicks to return. Why pay somebody when no games are being played.
So… What does this mean for Dylan Carlson?
Why would anyone trade their Pham for nothing
Pham’s attitude and his mouth, or more specifically his inability to control his mouth, is what got him traded. He was becoming a cancer to the team, and in the clubhouse, and that is a sure fire way to get traded from this organization. Farewell, and good riddance to Timmy Pham.
How could you possibly know he was a cancer. Just because you don’t like how he speaks the truth doesn’t mean teammates hate him. He might be the most beloved player in the locker room, you have no idea.
I thought all transactions were halted including roster changes. When did mlb give the go ahead? I saw the statement mlb made freezing rosters but i must have missed them restarting the transactions.
Well, should DeJong suffer a long injury Tommy Edman would actually play short stop not Edmundo Sosa. Just sayin. Facts.
Such great depth. Unbelieveable depth. Top notch depth. Greatest depth ever seen. Depth, depth, depth. Funny how the word “depth” is used with the Cardinals but never the word, “talent?”
Man I really hope selling Garcia and trading Arozerena doesn’t come back to make MO look foolish. There’s quite a bit of potential he’ll wake up one day and say man we could have had Carlson, Arozarena, and Garcia in the outfield. I’m leaning toward an outfield compiled of those names rather than Oneil, Thomas, and Wiliams. Time will tell, hopefully I’m wrong.
Unfortunately—-those aren’t the only poor player evaluations Mozeliak has made. Enough talented former Cardinals are already gone. Look at the line ups of all of the teams that made the 2019 playoffs. Every team had former Cardinals who were instrumental on their teams. Tribute to the Cards minor league program. Not so much with Mozeliak’s value concepts.