Stuck In Our Craw

The addition of Brandon Crawford prompts another look at the roster

Usually on Sunday nights, David Jones and I get together and record an episode of Gateway to Baseball Heaven. This Sunday was one of those nights and we spent part of the episode talking about the shortstop situation. With Tommy Edman still not swinging a bat and Masyn Winn experiencing tightness that kept him out of the opening split squad games, shortstop depth had jumped to the top of the discussion topic list.

During that discussion, I was pretty adamant that the club wouldn’t add anyone from outside the organization. Even though Edman was still hampered, it seemed reasonable to think that he’d be back within a week or two of the season starting. The 40-man roster is full and while there are always people that could be removed, most everyone that fits that description was added by the organization since the end of last season. Winn was already back to form, as shown by his strong game against the Astros, and there wouldn’t seem to be a significant need for a backup shortstop. Jose Fermin might not be a person you want starting four times a week but filling in occasionally would seem to be in his wheelhouse. As David said, if you could sign someone to a 15-day contract, maybe it would be more likely but since baseball wasn’t like that, the club would probably stand pat.

So, of course, Monday the club signs Brandon Crawford.

On one hand, it’s perhaps a signal that Edman’s injury is more significant that we first imagined. We don’t know that the Crawford contract is a major league one but it seems likely that it is. For the Cardinals to go out and tinker with their roster in this way isn’t something you would expect if you truly felt Edman was going to start the season in St. Louis (OK, fine, technically Los Angeles but you get the point).

It is possible that the club has decided that Crawford would be useful in keeping Edman in center field and will keep him around the rest of the season. There’s some merit in that, though I am not a believer that Edman in center field is the best use for resources. It’s just a little interesting that the Cardinals kept Fermin and added Buddy Kennedy, only to not use them when an opportunity arose. I know that the club—well, at least Oli Marmol—has spoken about the benefits of the minor leagues winning, a position I agree with, but it seems strange that you would use such 40-man spots for those kind of guys. Then again, that seems to be what Jacob Young is for and he’s got one of those slots.

There is also the “leadership” conceit that we have spent much of the winter discussing. Crawford, who turned 37 in January and has 13 major league seasons under his belt, fits in that veteran mold. Of course, we’re starting to get to the point where there aren’t too many players on the roster that don’t fit into the mold. Can you max out on veteran leadership?

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It’s also fair to say that this is very much a signing like Matt Carpenter. A team icon (in Crawford’s case, the Giants) that hasn’t had a good season in a couple of years at best but has the cache that (hopefully) let’s them connect with younger players. At least Crawford is supposed to be able to provide something on the defensive side of things, though that might be asking a bit much. The fielding metrics indicate a significant decline over the last few years, a sentiment backed up by a Giants fan that I know.

Which is fine….if you don’t already have Matt Carpenter. The Cardinals have spent many years piling up redundancies but I never thought the no-hit veteran was a market inefficiency. Having both Crawford and Carpenter seems like you are assuring yourself no good option when it comes to the bench, especially if you aren’t wanting to use Ivan Herrera on days when he’s not catching. Granted, the need for pinch-hitters and the like is lessened with the advent of the DH but it’s still a concern.

It seems most likely that Kennedy will be removed for Crawford from the 40-man when the deal is finalized. Where he stands on the 26-man may not mean as much now as it will when Edman returns, but let’s take a look anyway.

Catchers (2): Willson Contreras, Ivan Herrera

Herrera has had a strong run of late, both in the Caribbean Series and the early part of spring. It’s going to be interesting how often he forces the issue and puts Contreras at DH, plus what that means for the other moving parts. And will the Cardinals be comfortable with both of their catchers in the game regularly?

Infield (7): Nolan Arenado, Matt Carpenter, Brandon Crawford, Brendan Donovan, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman, Masyn Winn

This seems pretty solid, at least to start the season. I really wish if the Cardinals were going to show in the “team icon” section of free agency, though, that they’d have gone and gotten Joey Votto instead.

Outfield (4): Alec Burleson, Dylan Carlson, Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker

Assuming Edman starts the season on the injured list, Burleson will get a little bit of a shot to see if he can stave off a trip to Memphis. That said, he’s not looked very improved in the outfield in the early going, so his time might be at DH which, as we’ve said, can get complicated. He probably won’t have a long time to make his case, either, and even if he hits .400 with power, it might be hard to figure out how to keep him on the roster.

Rotation (5): Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Steven Matz, Miles Mikolas

Interestingly, the rotation actually could be laid out alphabetically and it would work out fairly well. Even if the club goes with a six man rotation in the early going (which I’m not projecting here but I can believe they might), if they added Zack Thompson they could keep the trend going. It won’t line up that way, but it’s a reasonable rotation, isn’t it?

Bullpen (8): Ryan Fernandez, Giovanny Gallegos, Ryan Helsley, Andrew Kittredge, Keynan Middleton, Riley O’Brien, Andre Pallante, JoJo Romero

That bullpen gets crowded in a hurry, doesn’t it? You still have names like Josh James (who isn’t on the 40-man but could force the issue in a hurry), John King, and Nick Robertson. Gordon Graceffo isn’t on the 40-man either and while the Cards might want him to continue to develop as a starter, that Memphis rotation is getting awfully full as well and Springfield is pretty filled up as well.

I want to talk about the Cardinals Hall of Fame ballot, some of the books I’m reading, and the start of The Bad Batch, but we’ve run long enough here and I’ll save that for another installment. I look forward to seeing all the details of the Crawford contract and how it’ll work out for the club this season. I remember how often he was a pest and a problem for St. Louis while he was in San Francisco. I hope that doesn’t continue now that he wears the birds on the bat.