- The recent injury to Kwang-hyun Kim gives Daniel Ponce de Leon a good shot to begin the season in the Cardinals’ rotation, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Miles Mikolas’ own health woes had already opened up a spot, likely to be claimed by John Gant. Now, with Kim questionable to be ready for Opening Day after experiencing some back stiffness, there could be another job available behind Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright and Carlos Martínez. The Cards will also continue to lengthen out Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo, Goold notes. Ponce de Leon has more MLB starting experience than those two, seemingly giving him the clearest path to the job if Kim isn’t fully recovered by the first week of April.
Cardinals Rumors
Cardinals Lose Another Starter To Start The Season
- The Cardinals, meanwhile, might be without yet another starter when the season opens. Manager Mike Shildt put Kwang Hyun Kim in the same camp as Miles Mikolas concerning their readiness for opening day. Kim missed his most recent start after his back tightened up on him during a bullpen session, per MLB.com’s Jeff Jones (Twitter links). There’s not much concern long-term regarding Kim’s health, but there are now a couple of open rotation spots behind Adam Wainwright, Jack Flaherty and Carlos Martinez. John Gant is the favorite to nab one of those two spots, with Daniel Ponce de Leon, Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo among the candidates to start games early in the year.
- The Cardinals have come to terms with 24 pre-arbitration players, per Jones (via Twitter). This is notable because it means they didn’t have to renew anyone’s contract, an option that teams retain under the current arbitration system. While pre-arbitration players don’t have the right to arbitration yet, they do still have to come to terms on a new deal each season. In cases where an agreement can’t be made, the team can unilaterally renew a player’s contract. The Cardinals had had to renew contracts in the past for Flaherty and Jordan Hicks, and while it’s hard to quantify long-term damage, it certainly paints a poor portrait of team-player relations. It is a good sign, in this case, that the Cardinals found common ground with all of their pre-arbitration players.
John Gant Favorite To Begin Season As Cardinals' Fifth Starter
- With right-hander Miles Mikolas out for the beginning of the regular season, fellow righty John Gant is in line to open 2021 as the Cardinals’ No. 5 starter, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Daniel Ponce de Leon, Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo are still competing for the role, but Gant is the favorite to join Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Kwang Hyun Kim and Carlos Martinez in their rotation, per Goold. Gant, 28, hasn’t started a game since 2018, though he has put up useful numbers from both the St. Louis rotation and bullpen.
Miles Mikolas Shut Down For Seven To Ten Days
March 12: Mikolas won’t throw for the next seven to ten days, Mozeliak tells Goold. An MRI taken of his right shoulder did not reveal any structural issues but did show some inflammation. Mikolas will undergo further testing in the coming days once the inflammation subsides a bit.
March 11: Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas has been slowed by shoulder troubles thus far this spring, but the club received generally positive results after a wave of imaging yesterday, it seems. Manager Mike Shildt told reporters this morning that Wednesday’s wave of tests did not reveal any structural damage in Mikolas’ shoulder or elsewhere in his arm (Twitter link via Rob Rains of StlSportsPage.com). Shildt described the results as “favorable,” but he’ll also be backed off his throwing program for the time being.
It’s unclear at this point just when Mikolas will be ready to return to the mound. The Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold wrote yesterday that the club does not expect Mikolas to be ready to begin the regular season in the rotation, which would create some uncertainty at the back of the rotation early in the year. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak has already indicated that touted but oft-injured righty Alex Reyes will be used as a multi-inning piece out of the bullpen, with a target of around 100 innings hopefully on the docket.
At present, the Cardinals’ top three options are set with Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright and Kwang Hyun Kim all locked in. Righty Carlos Martinez has oscillated between starter and reliever over the course of his five-year contract extension, but given this year’s $11MM salary and the growing need for starters, it seems likely he’ll open the year in the rotation as well.
The Cards have plenty of depth options in their ranks. Righty Daniel Ponce de Leon has fared better as a reliever in his limited big league career to this point, but he does have 20 serviceable MLB starts under his belt. Fellow right-hander John Gant was used exclusively out of the ’pen in 2019-20 but also made 19 starts for the Cardinals in 2018 and threw well in that showing. Lefty Genesis Cabrera has been used primarily as a reliever in the Majors over the past two seasons but has almost exclusively started as a minor leaguer. Prospects Johan Oviedo and Jake Woodford both made their Major League debuts in 2020 as well.
It wouldn’t be a shock if the Cardinals looked into some additional starting options — they reportedly had some degree of interest in Jake Odorizzi — though the in-house depth they have should be able to hold things down as long as Mikolas isn’t in line for a significant absence. If the Cardinals do want to add some veteran depth, there are still a few free agents of note on the market, including Rick Porcello, Trevor Cahill and Homer Bailey. Others could hit the market in the coming weeks as veterans exercise opt-out provisions in non-roster deals around the league, and at least a handful of depth options figure to hit waivers as teams continue to inch closer to setting Opening Day rosters.
Miles Mikolas' Bullpen Session Delayed
- Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas had been expected to throw a bullpen session today, but that’ll be pushed back to Wednesday, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat were among those to note. Manager Mike Shildt said the right-hander feels good but wouldn’t guarantee Mikolas will be ready for Opening Day. Mikolas missed the entire 2020 season after undergoing surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his forearm, but the current issue is a “creaky” shoulder, notes Zachary Silver of MLB.com.
MLBTR Poll: Who Will Win The NL Central?
The National League Central looks as if it will be the most wide-open division in Major League Baseball when the regular season opens in a few weeks. Minus the Pirates, who figure to contend for the worst record in the league this year, it appears anyone could take the Central. The Cubs, Cardinals, Reds and Brewers were all playoff teams in 2020, and only five games separated the division winner (Chicago) from the fourth-place finisher (Milwaukee). This past offseason would have been an opportune time for any of the Central’s teams to establish itself as the clear front-runner, but it doesn’t appear anyone separated itself from the pack.
The Cardinals made the biggest move in the division over the winter when they acquired third baseman Nolan Arenado from the Rockies. But other than that and re-signing right-hander Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina, they were pretty quiet.
The Cubs worsened their rotation when they traded away 2020 NL Cy Young-contending starter Yu Darvish to the Padres in a deal that netted them fellow righty Zach Davies. They also reunited with righty Jake Arrieta, who once won a Cy Young in their uniform but has since devolved into a back-end starter, and swapped out one flawed corner outfielder (Kyle Schwarber) for another (Joc Pederson).
The Reds said goodbye to last year’s Cy Young winner, Trevor Bauer, who signed with the Dodgers. They also cut ties with two accomplished relievers – Raisel Iglesias and Archie Bradley – though their bullpen did gain Sean Doolittle, Noe Ramirez and Cam Bedrosian. On the position player side, it doesn’t appear they adequately addressed shortstop, where they ranked 27th in the majors with 0.1 fWAR last year. Barring last-minute changes, they’re going to rely on some mix of Kyle Farmer, Jose Garcia and Dee-Strange Gordon, which isn’t particularly reassuring.
The Brewers, meanwhile, have reeled in two high-profile free agents in recent weeks, having signed former Cards second baseman Kolten Wong and ex-Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. At the very least, they should give the Brewers a pair of average regulars, largely because of the outstanding defense they typically provide. The Brewers are also getting back Lorenzo Cain, who sat out most of last season, and he’ll join Bradley and former MVP Christian Yelich in what should be a strong outfield.
Aside from Pittsburgh, FanGraphs’ preseason odds give every team in the division a realistic chance at coming out on top. The Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs and Reds are all projected to win between 78 and 81 games. Which of those four do you think is the favorite?
(Poll link for app users)
Several Players Awaiting Clarity On Minor League Option Status
In the minutes after we posted our annual list of out-of-options players earlier today, several readers pointed out players they believed to have been omitted. In following up with various team and agency sources around the league, it became clear that there’s some uncertainty as to how the 2020 season will impact some players’ number of minor league options.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch explores the situation at greater length, reporting that Cardinals outfielder Justin Williams isn’t even sure whether he has a minor league option remaining. Neither, according to Goold, are the Cardinals themselves. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes that the Angels are in a similar spot with right-hander Jaime Barria. Goold lists the Cubs’ Adbert Alzolay as another player currently in this state of limbo.
The reason? The commissioner’s office, the MLB Players Association and Major League teams still need to determine whether last year’s shortened slate of games counts as a full season under the league’s option structure. An arbiter is expected to make a final decision sometime this month, per Fletcher. Goold writes that a decision is expected “any time now,” adding that the Cardinals have been awaiting clarity for weeks.
By rule, players are given three option years after being selected to a team’s 40-man roster. Being optioned to the minor leagues, even if it’s out of Spring Training, counts as an option year — so long as the player spends 20 days down on the farm. Players are granted three option years, but there’s no limit to the number of times they can be optioned back and forth throughout the course of one of those individual option seasons.
It is possible for some players to be granted a fourth option year. This is most typical among players who have missed considerable time due to injury. Players who are on the 40-man roster and have exhausted those three minor league options before accruing five full seasons of play can be granted this exemption. A “full” season by that definition entails 90 or more days on an active Major League or Minor League roster (but not the injured list).
As Goold explains with regard to Williams, he fell shy of 90 days on an active roster in 2013, 2014 and 2019. His fifth “full” season would’ve been 2020 — you can see where this is going — but the season itself was not 90 days in length. Beyond the fact that the season itself was only 67 days long, players who were “optioned” weren’t sent to the minor leagues to compete in games but rather to alternate training sites to participate in simulated game settings against others in the organization.
Generally speaking, Major League clubs are keenly aware of the out-of-options players on other rosters, but it was clear in asking around today that there’s presently a disconnect because of last year’s shortened season. Even if you were to downplay the significance of one team not being clear on another team’s player, the reports from Goold and Fletcher underscore the confusion surrounding the issue.
It seems something of this nature should have been planned for during last year’s return-to-play negotiations, but as we saw with the months-long back-and-forth between MLB and the MLBPA, the March agreement under which the season was renewed had many issues that were not fully addressed. It’s not necessarily a surprise that 2021 option status wasn’t a major talking point up front, but it’s nonetheless a bit perplexing that an entire offseason has elapsed without a resolution. Minor league options — or a lack thereof — will be a considerably driving factor in spring roster moves around the game over the next four weeks.
Miles Mikolas "Pushed Back" From Sim Game Appearance
- Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas “will be pushed back just a little bit” from his first outing of the spring, manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Mikolas was scheduled to pitch during a simulated game on Monday, after throwing some live batting practice to teammates last week. “For now it’s caution,” Shildt said, and a team official told Goold that there is “very low” concern about Mikolas for the time being, yet any sort of setback has to considered notable considering that Mikolas missed the entire 2020 season. The right-hander ultimately decided to undergo surgery last August to fix a damaged right flexor tendon, after getting PRP injections both after the 2019 season and in February 2020, and then trying to work through the injury during both the shutdown and in Summer Camp. The Cards were already planning to bring Mikolas along rather slowly in order to build up his readiness for the start of the season, and it remains to be seen if this latest issue could delay his recovery plan.
Carpenter Vying For Second Base Job
Teams in need of a left-handed hitting outfielder might want to check in with the Yankees about the availability of Mike Tauchman. Though the Yankees have four years of control remaining, there may simply not be room for him on the opening day roster, writes the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. It’s not just the addition of Brett Gardner that could push Tauchman out of the picture, though that doesn’t help Tauchman’s case. He’s competing with Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich for that fifth outfielder role, and that veteran pair both bring the ability to play first base as well. That’s not on Tauchman’s resume. After a surprising .277/.361/.504 line over 296 plate appearances in 2019 turned the 30-year-old into a valuable member of the Yankee reserves, the power dissipated in 2020. His bat slipped from 28 percent better than average to 22 percent below by measure of wRC+. Mike Ford’s playing time could also be at risk, but the backup first baseman has two option years remaining, whereas Tauchman would have to pass through waivers.
- Matt Carpenter is not conceding his spot in the everyday lineup just yet, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Carpenter won’t take many at-bats from Paul Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado at the corners, and he’s competing with popular upstart Tommy Edman at the keystone, though Edman can play the outfield, too. Had the universal DH made its way to the league this season, Carpenter likely would have lined up for many of those at-bats. As is, he’ll be hard-pressed to beat out Edman at second, even if defense wasn’t a consideration. After being a 133 wRC+ hitter from 2012 to 2018, Carpenter fell to 95 wRC+ and 84 wRC+ the past two seasons. His batted ball profile has generally paralleled that trajectory, with exit velocity and hard hit percentage down in 2019 and 2020 from where he’d been previously.
- The Diamondbacks are promoting a new assistant general manager, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter). Mike Fitzgerald was previously the analytics director, and he now joins Amiel Sawdaye as assistant GMs under Executive VP and GM Mike Hazen. Ross Seaton has also been promoted to director of pitching.
Covid Notes: Jose Abreu, Andrew Miller
Major League Baseball announced last Friday that just 13 of the 4,336 tests performed during the first wave of Spring Training intake testing revealed positive Covid-19 results: nine players and four staff members spread across 11 big league teams. The broad-reaching hope, of course, is that the league and players will be able to navigate a full slate of games as successfully or more successfully than they did during last year’s 60-game sprint. A few updates of note on players who are or were delayed in their arrival to camp…
- Reigning American League MVP Jose Abreu will be away from the White Sox for the time being due to a positive Covid-19 test, the team announced Wednesday. GM Rick Hahn told Daryl Van-Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times and other reporters that Abreu is asymptomatic and “believes he contracted a mild case of the disease in January, which is reinforced by the presence of COVID antibodies in additional testing.” Abreu is expected to join the White Sox “in the not-too-distant future,” Hahn added. The 34-year-old Abreu posted a monstrous .317/.370/.611 slash with 19 home runs and 15 doubles while appearing in all 60 games during 2020’s shortened schedule.
- Cardinals lefty Andrew Miller detailed his own recent bout with Covid-19 to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Miller wasn’t one of the 13 positive tests for the league, as he tested positive 10 days prior to the date on which Cardinals pitchers and catchers were set to report. His arrival was then further delayed by a few days, in accordance with league protocols. The 35-year-old quarantined in his house’s guest room, away from his wife and children, thankfully dealing with only mild symptoms (namely a loss of smell). Miller did acknowledge that he’s dealing with some fatigue now, though he believes it is “basically from being shut down” while isolating in that bedroom. “I thought I did a pretty good job of protecting myself,” said Miller. “The vaccine is right around the corner but I didn’t quite make it there.”
