The Cardinals have placed infielder Edmundo Sosa on the COVID-19-related injured list according to Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. First baseman Juan Yepez has been called up to take Sosa’s spot on the roster, though he won’t join the team in Kansas City until tomorrow.
Sosa’s placement on the IL corresponds with a small COVID breakout among the Cardinals’ traveling party, as three staff members and a clubhouse attendant have also tested positive. Jones notes that Sosa is “mildly symptomatic” and will need to return a pair of negative tests and become asymptomatic before he is able to rejoin the team. Earlier today President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak claimed that the club is “probably 95%” vaccinated, which lends some hope that this will be the only COVID-themed transaction for the team this week.
The 26-year-old infielder heads to the IL having started just six of the team’s first 22 games. In that brief showing, Sosa has slashed a tepid .160/.250/.160 with an uncharacteristic 42.9% strikeout rate. The team’s active roster is now a bit light on shortstop depth, but should be able to weather Sosa’s absence with starting shortstop Paul DeJong and versatile second baseman Tommy Edman on hand.
The 24-year-old Yepez meanwhile will see his first taste of big league action since a surprise cameo last October. The right-handed hitter is expected to see some action off the bench and in the corner outfield during his call-up, with Paul Goldschmidt entrenched at first base. There’s a case to get Yepez as many at-bats as possible, as he’s continued last year’s tear through the upper minors and Arizona Fall League with an 8-homer, .960 OPS showing across 21 Triple-A games this year.
Cardinals should trade for Duvall. Apparently, he is a good hitter.
If he is he should stay away from the cards hitting coach. One thing is certain, he can turn a mlb capable hitter into waiver fodder in record time.
They should under no circumstances bring up Gorman until this hitting regime is gone. If it takes Mo until 2024 to make that happen he can go with them.
Ironically guess whose hitting system has been adopted throughout the entirety of the minor leagues since his hiring, and yet here you are acting as if he’s not also going to get credit for the minors development. Interesting take there.
I hope Yepez rakes and forces their hand. If he can hit .200 against righties he would be an upgrade over Dickerson. I’m crossing my fingers that Yepez doesn’t fall victim to Jeff Albert.
I also hope Sosa is ok and can return quickly. He hasn’t started off great, but irregular playing time is likely partly to blame. I understand the Cards wanting to give Pauly D every opportunity to turn it around, but he looks bad. Sosa is likely to get his chance.
if DeJong can’t get it together, Sosa isn’t the answer anyway. he’s a nice part time player, but he’s not a full time SS on a team wanting to win a championship
Sosa was a perfectly good starting shortstop when he took over for the slumping DeJong last year. The jury is still out on whether or not that was a fluke.
If the Twins are falling behind by the break, STL should trade for Correa and upgrade SS in the short term while they try to figure it out long term. It’s a shame Delvin Perez hasn’t developed. This SS situation looked great a few years ago, but looks terrible right now.
As much as I still believe in Swanson, he might be a more realistic target. The Braves will be out of the playoffs race by the end of May.
I mean that Duvall guy certainly ain’t helpin
He wasn’t helping in the playoffs either but apparently, Braves fans think he is good hitter.
I don’t see the Cards making any kind of splashy trade unless DeJong, Sosa, and Edman all show they can’t handle the position. That isn’t likely to happen this season.
I would love for the Cardinals to see if Edman’s arm can handle every day shortstop. I believe it’s where he played most of the time in the minors. Would then free up second base for Gorman. With a team that has championship aspirations, it would be nice for Gorman to get acclimated before the last month of the season for a playoff push.
I mostly agree, but we can’t count on a prospect called up mid-season to push team over the edge team. Maybe that works out, but I wonder if more likely, a veteran presence is what they need. We need to win at least a pennant soon. I am getting impatient. I would love to thise old guys go out on top (or close to it).
Correa makes too much money for the Cardinals to be able to afford adding even a third of his salary this year.
Well considering the Cardinals are running a payroll of about $30M less than last year and Correa signed a 3 year deal worth about $105M, and if the hypothetical trade did happen, they would only be on the hook for about 40% of that $35M this year (about $14M), then I would say it’s possible the Cardinals could make it work. Especially with Molina and Wainwright salaries being one year deals, future payroll is only big for Goldschmidt and Arenado. It’s likely that Correa opts out if he has a good year anyways. So I think it’s financially possible, but I would agree ultimately unlikely. It was more just a pipe dream that I would like to see happen as I think it would be a sizable improvement at arguably the weakest position on the roster for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals need a #5 hitter in the lineup. I am not sure that is what Correa provides a team.
Move Edman to short, call up Gorman for 2b. I know Gorman is raking, but I haven’t seen him play second, so I’m also kind of wondering if he would be a glaring weakness in the otherwise stellar defense
Yeah but if he’s even above a league average hitter he can have average or below defense. If Dan Uggla did it that long, then Gorman has an even better shot, since he’s a better athlete and better hitting prospect. They need to try something. Dejong is FUBAR at this point.
Dan Uggla wasn’t a terrible 2B. Certainly not as bad as Hanley Ramirez was an awful SS. Uggla just looked rigid but he was OK at 2B.
By the end of the season, Juan Yepez will be full time DH and Nolan Gorman will be at 2B. OF Alec Burleson will likely see action too.
As bad as STL offense is now, Albert Pujols and Paul DeJong will have to be moved aside before too long.
It’s not bad because of Pujols…He is hitting .250 with 2 HR and 5 RBI with only like 5 starts. Pujols provides nice depth and leadership.
No, Pujols is hitting OK. However, Pujols can’t run and Yepez is a RH DH and needs a spot.
There will be a farewell tour mid season.
If things go bad for Pujols he could retire around the all star break and be a guest of honor there
You’re hallucinating if you think Pujols is going anywhere before retiring with Molina at the end of the season.
No reason for the offense to struggle when you have Gorman shredding at Triple A. It’s the front office choosing for the offense to suck, because it’s always and will always be about $ first.
@patriot1987, As much as I agree with your statement, it would also be silly of us to call him up this close to gaining another year of control over him. His defense will magically be improved and deemed MLB ready as soon as we gain that extra year of control. It’s the smart baseball move unfortunately.
Except the new CBA doesn’t really work the same in terms of service time anymore. Holding Gorman down doesn’t benefit the team near as much as it used to.
Right, they could get draft picks I think if Gorman finishes with ROY votes, there’s still plenty of season left for that to be possible
Sorry to get political here, but how in the world does anyone STILL believe being vaccinated helps prevent people from getting Covid?? SMDH
The Cardinals need a #5 hitter in the lineup. I am not sure that is what Correa provides a team.
No vaccine 100% prevents people from getting whatever malady they are being vaccinated for. It is proven to reduce the chance of hospitalization drastically and suppresses symptoms significantly, so it’s well worth a little prick in your arm.
How in the world do you STILL not believe how vaccines work?
Vaccines don’t prevent people from getting COVID; they prevent people from dying from COVID.
dhaab, same sentiment from me, but yes, I thought the same thing when reading this piece. It isn’t political, unless people let it become that. It is purely a medical comment, that seems appropriate based on what has been observed thus far. Maybe some day it will limit infection rates, but up until this point it seems to only limit severity of infection.