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The Cardinals might not be done after signing Dexter Fowler
Saturday’s Say Hey, Baseball features possibilities for the Cardinals, a Jon Lester parody song, and the tragic death of Twins prospect Yorman Landa.
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After two seasons as a Chicago Cub, Dexter Fowler has chosen his next home for five years and $82.5 million: the St. Louis Cardinals. Picking up another outfielder was the team’s most pressing need this winter, and Fowler checks that box as its biggest free agent acquisition of the offseason. (Sorry, Brett Cecil, you’ve been dethroned.) But signing Fowler doesn’t mean St. Louis is done for the year. The team could potentially look to add some power with one more key move by signing either Edwin Encarnacion or Mark Trumbo, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Either of those free agents would likely pencil in at first base for the Cardinals, even though the team announced last month that Matt Carpenter would convert to hold down the position in 2017. (Trumbo has spent most of the last two seasons splitting his time between the outfield and the DH spot, but the former wouldn’t have much space for him in St. Louis, and the latter obviously would not be an option.)
Both options would bring power — Trumbo led baseball with 47 home runs last year, and Encarnacion was just behind him with 42 — but both are defensive liabilities on the wrong side of 30.
For Encarnacion, the rumor is the first to bubble in a few days. Over the past week, several of the teams that might have considered signing him have opted for alternatives (the Astros and Carlos Beltran, the Yankees and Matt Holliday), and the hot stove seems to have cooled a bit for him, as Toronto’s front office have said it doesn’t feel a reunion is so likely anymore.
- Minnesota Twins pitching prospect Yorman Landa died this morning in a car crash in his native Venezuela. He was 22.
- Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila promised “changes” this winter, but the team’s offseason has been more of the same so far.
- A team that has made changes this winter? The Chicago White Sox, whose moves at the Winter Meetings were “transformative,” per South Side Sox.
- It may be the offseason, but there are still plenty of opportunities to make fun of Jon Lester’s pickoff move — or lack thereof. Like in a delightful Christmas parody song.
- The Oakland A’s apparently want to acquire a second baseman, which doesn’t really make any sense.
- Mark Melancon has been a San Francisco Giant for less than a week, but it’s not too early for some alternative history on what the roster might have looked like without him.
- With Fowler off the market, Bluebird Banter has an updated offseason to-do list for Toronto.
- Arquimedes Caminero is reportedly taking his extremely cool name and 100 mph fastball to Japan.
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