Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints
This off-season has been an uneventful one for the St. Louis Cardinals, to say the least. Most of the organization’s activity has been behind the scenes. They entered the off-season season with the goal of cutting payroll and improving their player development, and they have stayed true to the course.
St. Louis is the only team that hasn’t added any players to the major league roster via free agency. Additionally, this is their first trade acquisition of the off-season. While this shouldn’t be much of a surprise, given the clear mandate from the top to reset the roster and improve their player development. It is also frustrating to many fans.
Cardinals Add Another Utility Player
The teams announced the deal Thursday evening. The Cardinals acquired utility player Michael Helman from the Twins for cash. He will occupy a spot on the team’s forty man roster. Furthermore, no additional moves will be needed by the Cardinals since they had an open spot on their forty man roster. The Twins needed to make room on their roster after signing free agents Harrison Bader and Danny Coulombe earlier in the week.
Cardinals Value Versatility
The 28-year-old Helman was drafted in the eleventh round of the 2018 draft, reaching the majors for the first time last season. The utility man only appeared in nine games, going three for ten with two doubles. He spent the majority of the season in Triple-A St. Paul. The right-handed hitter had a respectable slash line of .271/.350/.487 with 14 homeruns over 314 plate appearances.
Helman has shown the ability to play anywhere on defense. He has logged over 1400 innings at second base and over a 1000 in the outfield. With a lot of those innings played in center. Additionally, he has put time in at shortstop and third base. It is likely he will be a depth piece for Memphis, given he still has plenty of minor league options remaining.
The utilty-man is only the third player they’ve added to their forty man roster since the end of the season. They also added two pitchers via the waiver wire. Roddery Muñoz and Bailey Horn were added as depth pieces for the pitching staff. None of these moves will excite fans. However, it shouldn’t be a surprise that no major additions have been made to the big league roster.
Long Road Ahead
St. Louis fans are experiencing something that they’re not accustomed to this off-season. The storied franchise has been a contender in the N.L. Central for most of the past thirty years. Only the older fans remember the bleak times of the seventies and early nineties.
Patience will be required while the organization tries to get back to their winning ways. There will likely be some rough times ahead with such a young roster. However, it should be exciting to see the youngsters get their chance to prove themselves. There are some excellent pitching prospects on their way. At the top of that list is Tink Hence and Quinn Mathews. Additionally, top hitting prospects like J.J. WetherholtJ.J. Wetherholt and Thomas Saggese have shown real promise and should contribute soon. There will definitely be some bumps in the road, but Cardinal fans can still be excited about what the future holds.
