- Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak is optimistic that newly signed outfielder Jose Adolis Garcia will reach the majors this season, per the Associated Press. “In terms of skillset, I just feel like I would describe him more as a five-tool player, so from a defensive standpoint, above average, from an offensive standpoint, I think there could be some power,” Mozeliak said when assessing Garcia on Saturday. Garcia, a native of Cuba, mentioned through an interpreter that “other offers” were on the table, but he accepted the Cardinals’ $2.5MM proposal “because of the tradition and because it is such a wonderful organization and I knew that I was going to identify with the team and fit in.”
Cardinals Rumors
Quick Hits: International, Org Rankings, GMs On Strategy, Buehrle, Bard, Ankiel
International prospects are among the most mysterious — but potentially impactful — elements of the baseball transactional world. If you’re interested in learning more about this year’s class, and have a Baseball America subscription (as we’d heartily recommend), then be sure to check out Ben Badler’s round-up of the latest array of young talent. Per Badler, the Rays and Twins are expected to land two of the top players in this year’s class: switch-hitting shortstops Wander Franco and Jelfrey Marte. The new CBA rules will be in effect as of the new July 2 signing period, and you can find details of those here.
Here are a few more stray notes from around the game:
- The BA staff has also released its spring organizational prospect rankings, with the Braves, Yankees, and Astros receiving the three highest grades. The Dodgers and White Sox round out the top five, while the Diamondbacks, Angels, and Marlins received the lowest overall ratings for pre-MLB talent.
- Over at Fangraphs, David Laurila spoke with several general managers about strategic decisionmaking. You’ll want to read the piece in its entirety, of course, but it’s interesting to note the subtle variations in thinking. Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti emphasizes that every market imposes different limitations on a team’s front office. Jerry Dipoto of the Mariners says that his front office has worked to acquire and develop certain types of players. Several execs noted the difficulty of committing to a rebuild, while also emphasizing the need to avoid being stuck in a middle-ground. For White Sox GM Rick Hahn, who has launched a rebuilding effort, “staying the course is essential once you pick a direction.”
- Speaking of the White Sox, former lefty Mark Buehrle discussed the team’s just-announced decision to retire his number. As Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports, the veteran hurler says he’s “blown away and floored” at the honor — though he’s also apprehensive of the public-speaking duties that will come with it. Buehrle says he more or less decided he’d retire not long after signing his last contract, a free-agent deal that took him away from the Chicago organization for the first time as a professional. “The reason I didn’t say anything, I didn’t want all the attention,” he said of his quiet exit from the sport, which had left many wondering whether he’d pitch again. “I’ve always told people I was a young guy that came into the big leagues unknown. Kind of snuck into the big leagues and I wanted to kind of sneak my way out.”
- Whereas Buehrle entered the game quietly and steadily flourished, righty Daniel Bard flashed great promise before washing out of the majors with sudden control problems and injuries. Now, he’s back in camp with the Cardinals, and as GammonsDaily.com reports (with a video), Bard hasn’t lost any of his arm strength even as he works on a new delivery.
- Bard’s career path mirrored somewhat that of former Cardinals hurler Rick Ankiel — who later reinvented himself as an outfielder. As Derrick Good of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, Ankiel has decided to tell his story of dealing with the sudden inability to command the baseball. That’ll be available in full on April 18th, when Ankiel and Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown will release a book titled “The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch That Changed My Life.” For now, you can check out that article and a recent podcast with Goold’s interview of the former phenom.
Cardinals Sign Jose Adolis Garcia
The Cardinals have announced the signing of Cuban free agent Jose Adolis Garcia. The outfielder will receive an invitation to MLB camp on the minor-league deal. He’ll receive a $2.5MM bonus, per MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter).
Garcia is the younger brother of Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia. He was listed at 24 years of age as of last August, when Ben Badler of Baseball America reported that he had left Cuba in search of a MLB opportunity. Garcia, a right-handed hitter, received clearance to sign in early December.
While Garcia is expected to be ready for an assignment in the upper minors, he’s not viewed as being quite ready for the majors. Despite excellent numbers in Cuba — he hit .315/.395/.517 over his 380 most recent plate appearances — he wasn’t exactly productive in his brief run with a second-level Japanese club.
Badler says there’s still some polishing left to be done before Garcia is ready for prime time. But he also emphasizes the impressive tools that Garcia brings to the table. He’s said to carry well-above-average speed, an outstanding arm, the ability to play center, and good bat speed. There are some offensive worries, though, per Badler’s latest write-up; namely: “his long swing, free-swinging approach and struggles to recognize offspeed pitches.”
There won’t be any impact on the rest of the Cards’ international maneuverings, as Garcia was able to sign free of international limitations given his age and experience. St. Louis will hope to strike once again on a slightly older Cuban prospect who signs for a substantial, but hardly massive bonus. The team hit it big in 2016, when Aledmys Diaz posted an outstanding rookie season after originally signing for $8MM in March of 2014.
Jhonny Peralta Looking Forward To Rebound Year
- Jhonny Peralta is fully healthy and fully prepared for a move to third base, the veteran Cardinals infielder tells MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch. Bothered by a thumb injury for much of 2016, Peralta batted only .260/.307/.408 over 313 PA as he lost his starting shortstop job to Aledmys Diaz. Peralta will now battle Jedd Gyorko for regular playing time at the hot corner while looking to re-establish himself before hitting free agency next winter. Peralta, who turns 35 in May, is hopeful of continuing to play “for a couple more years.”
Yadier Molina, Cardinals Have Had Preliminary Extension Talks
Catcher Yadier Molina and the Cardinals have had preliminary talks about an extension, Fan Rag’s Jon Heyman reports. Cards GM John Mozeliak says that if the two sides can hammer out a deal, they would like to complete it before the start of the season, as is frequently the goal with extension talks.
Last month, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reported that both Molina and the Cardinals had interest in a new contract. The 34-year-old Molina is heading into the last season of the five-year, $75MM deal he signed prior to the 2013 season, although he has a $15MM mutual option or $2MM buyout for 2018.
Despite his advancing age, Molina remained productive in 2016, hitting .307/.360/.427 and receiving solid marks for his defense and framing while playing 147 games. He did miss brief periods over the course of his current deal due to a 2013 knee sprain and a 2014 torn thumb ligament, but he’s otherwise been remarkably durable, appearing in at least 136 games in three of the last four seasons. Molina’s career as a whole, of course, has been terrific, with eight Gold Gloves and seven All-Star berths.
As Heyman notes, Molina’s current deal provided a precedent for longer extensions for catchers like Russell Martin and Brian McCann. Still, it’s highly likely that a new contract for Molina would be shorter in duration than his last one. Molina would be 35 by the start of the 2018 season, and catcher aging patterns aren’t pretty (although Molina’s framing should help him in that regard, just as it did with his brother Jose).
The Cardinals also have well-regarded catching prospect Carson Kelly, and as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted last month, Kelly’s emergence would appear to be a factor in potential Molina extension talks. Kelly appears likely to begin the 2017 season with Triple-A Memphis, but the two players could potentially both play the catcher position in coming years if the Cardinals extend Molina. Molina has also occasionally played first base in the last several seasons, and perhaps there’s a possibility he could play that position a bit more frequently as he ages.
Cardinals Void Contract Of Kendry Flores
The Cardinals have voided their minor league deal with Kendry Flores after the right-hander did not pass his physical, reports Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com (on Twitter). Langosch reported earlier this week that the righty was headed for an MRI after experiencing shoulder discomfort.
Once a well-regarded prospect in the Giants organization, the 25-year-old Flores has seen minimal MLB action over the past two years with the Marlins, posting a 4.02 ERA in his 15 1/3 innings while recording ten strikeouts and seven walks. He has much more experience at Triple-A, with 150 frames of 3.78 ERA ball under his belt, though his peripherals have hardly been overwhelming (7.0 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9).
Though losing Flores is nowhere near the biggest blow the Cards’ pitching staff has endured in the past few days — that nod goes to Alex Reyes, who’ll unfortunately miss the season after Tommy John surgery — he had figured to play a role in the depth situation. With experience as both a starter and reliever, Flores might have been called upon had a need arisen for an arm during the season.
Cardinals Not Expected To Pursue Pitching Additions Following Reyes Injury
The Cardinals took a significant hit this week with the news that Alex Reyes will require Tommy John surgery, but the team doesn’t expect to pursue remaining free-agent arms to replace the touted 22-year-old, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com offers a similar take, noting that the organization will utilize Spring Training to evaluate right-handers Michael Wacha, Luke Weaver and Trevor Rosenthal (formerly the team’s closer, though Seung-hwan Oh now owns that title) as options.
Certainly, the free-agent market still bears a number of alternatives, though the majority of arms that are still available at this juncture of the offseason come with perhaps as many questions as any of St. Louis’ internal candidates. Doug Fister, Colby Lewis, Jake Peavy and Jered Weaver are among the top right-handed names left on the market, while Jorge De La Rosa and Jon Niese are the two available lefties that have most recently enjoyed big league success. None of the names in that group enjoyed a fully productive or healthy 2016 campaign. The trade market, of course, bears a far more appealing name in White Sox lefty Jose Quintana, but the asking price on the excellent southpaw remains extremely high.
Per Langosch, Wacha appears to be the early front-runner to join Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn and Mike Leake in what will be an all-right-handed rotation. Still just 25 years of age, Wacha has been plagued by shoulder injuries in recent seasons and posted a disheartening 5.09 ERA in 138 innings last year. However, his strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates all remained fairly consistent relative to his more successful 2013-15 seasons, and his average fastball (93.2 mph) was the same as it was in a very solid 2014 campaign.
ERA alternatives pegged Wacha for a mark much closer to 4.00 than his 5.09 mark, with FIP leading the charge at a solid 3.91. Wacha did experience a stark increase in BABIP last season, as his average on balls in play rose from .272 in 2015 to .334 last year. Also working against him was a strand rate (64.7 percent) that sat six percent below his career mark. Wacha logged a 3.21 ERA in 353 innings from 2013-15, so it’s certainly plausible that he can return to form if his shoulder holds up.
As for Weaver (Luke, not Jered), the young right-hander was the Cardinals’ first-round pick in 2014 and has received some Top 100 prospect fanfare from pundits around the game. He posted a sensational 1.30 ERA in 83 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last season, averaging 10.0 K/9 against 1.3 BB/9 before struggling in his MLB debut. The 23-year-old was charged with 23 earned runs on the strength of 46 hits and a dozen walks in 36 1/3 big league innings, resulting in a dismal 5.70 ERA. Weaver threw just six innings in Triple-A last season — his only experience at that level — so it’d hardly be a surprise if the preference among St. Louis decision-makers was for him to get a bit more minor league seasoning.
Rosenthal was at one point a vaunted starting pitching prospect broke but into the league as a reliever in 2012 and never looked back. He posted a 2.78 ERA with a 25-to-7 K/BB ratio in 22 2/3 innings of relief as a rookie and was entrenched in the ninth inning less than two calendar years later. Rosenthal, though, saw his control dissipate in 2016 (6.5 BB/9) and surrendered considerably more hits (on a rate basis) than he ever has in his career. A .425 average on balls in play against him assuredly didn’t help his cause, but throwing strikes and commanding the ball within the zone were both obvious issues for the former All-Star in 2016. Beyond that, his season was shortened by shoulder inflammation. In his absence, the newly signed Oh (who formerly starred as one of the best closers in KBO and NPB history) seized hold of the Cardinals’ closer role.
Looking past that trio, the Redbirds have options in the form of southpaws Tyler Lyons and Marco Gonzales as well as right-hander John Gant (who came over to the Cards in the Jaime Garcia trade). While the addition of depth on minor league deals should probably never be ruled out for any club, the Cards do seemingly possess enough depth to weather the loss of Reyes. Should further injuries arise in camp, the team could always look to external options, but significant additions don’t seem likely at this point.
Alex Reyes To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Cardinals righty Alex Reyes has decided to have Tommy John surgery, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on Twitter. The unfortunate outcome seemed likely after it emerged yesterday that Reyes was under evaluation; as Good further reports today, Reyes was diagnosed with a full tear of his ulnar collateral ligament after reporting pain during a throwing session on Friday.
With the news, it’s clear that the 22-year-old Reyes will miss all of the 2017 season. He’ll likely aim to return to action early in the 2018 campaign, assuming that his rehabilitation program proceeds smoothly. It’s a long road, and not without it’s risks, but many other pitchers have successfully found their way back.
For the organization, losing Reyes will tell in the short and the long term, even if he is able to return to full strength. He likely would have been an important contributor to the 2017 club as it attempts the tall task of dethroning the rival Cubs. And the club will lose not only the chance to further develop the prized righty but also a year or more of his service time (which will run while he’s on the DL).
Reyes was seen as one of the game’s top prospects entering the 2016 season, though his timeline was impacted somewhat due to the fact that he opened the year on the restricted list due to a suspension for marijuana use. Still, he earned his way up to the majors in time for a 46-inning debut, and only raised his profile along the way.
While it was obviously a short sample, Reyes followed through on the hype by allowing just eight earned runs (good for a 1.57 ERA) on only 33 base hits. He also racked up a strong 10.2 K/9 against a suboptimal 4.5 BB/9, showing both his upside and need for further refinements.
Just as importantly, the youthful hurler exhibited the electric stuff that put him on the map. He averaged over 96 mph with both his four-seam and two-seam fastballs, which he went to with over 60% of his deliveries to the plate while also working in a change and curve. Unfortunately, that propensity for the hard stuff, combined with his young age and prior UCL damage, meant that Reyes carried several of the TJ risk factors identified by the statistical study of MLBTR contributor Bradley Woodrum.
With Reyes out, the Cards will not only lose a fair bit of upside from the staff — even if he wasn’t a regular in the rotation, he might’ve dominated from the pen — but will open camp with less depth than had been hoped. The ability of Michael Wacha and Lance Lynn to bounce back from their own health issues will now be all the more important, and the club will need to hope that 40-man prospects Luke Weaver, John Gant, and Mike Mayers can continue to make strides. Southpaw Marco Gonzales could enter the picture, too, if he’s able to make it all the way back from his own TJ procedure, and Goold notes that former closer Trevor Rosenthal will have a chance to show this spring that he can transition to a starting role.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Alex Reyes Likely Requires Tommy John Surgery
6:31pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the MRI results show that Reyes will likely require Tommy John surgery. The right-hander will seek a second opinion before making a final decision. FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that he’ll get the second opinion tomorrow, but there’s only an “outside chance” that Reyes will avoid surgery.
3:13pm: Reyes is headed for a second opinion, but the preliminary diagnosis appears to show at least a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament, according to ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden. It remains somewhat unclear whether doctors have clearly identified new tearing, as Reyes does have prior UCL damage dating back to 2013. At this point, though, it seems a TJ procedure is likely, per the report.
12:42pm: There is “significant concern inside the Cardinals’ organization” that Reyes may require Tommy John surgery, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
12:16pm: Cardinals righty Alex Reyes has undergone an MRI after informing the team that he has experienced discomfort in his pitching elbow, GM John Mozeliak tells MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (all links to Twitter). The prized righty had his scheduled pen session today scratched after failing to receive medical clearance.
The degree of concern is not yet apparent, though the team surely is holding its breath. Mozeliak hastened to note that the club would “wait until tomorrow when we get the [MRI] read” instead of offering any speculation. But there were notes of concern, too. “There must be a significant reason to do this,” manager Mike Matheny noted.
While a rush to judgment would indeed be unwise, it’s important to stress the importance of the 22-year-old to the Cardinals organization — both now and in the future. Already considered a fascinating talent, Reyes boosted the roof on expectations when he turned in 46 innings of 1.57 ERA ball upon receiving his first MLB call last year.
Now, Reyes is expected to fill a key role in a Cards rotation that has plenty of talent but also some questions behind just-extended staff ace Carlos Martinez. Pitchers such as Michael Wacha, Lance Lynn, and Marco Gonzales face varying health questions; Adam Wainwright and Mike Leake will be looking to bounce back after rocky campaigns; and Reyes and Luke Weaver lead a cast of promising younger arms that aren’t yet fully established in the majors.
Cardinals Send Kendry Flores For MRI
- Cardinals non-roster camp invitee Kendry Flores is heading for an MRI after reporting shoulder discomfort, according to MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (via Twitter). The 25-year-old was added on a minor-league deal over the winter, so was likely seen more as a depth piece than a key member of the staff. He owns a 3.78 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 150 career innings at Triple-A.
