St. Louis Cardinals GM John Mozeliak says team is ‘open for business’
With the trade for Justin Masterson, does this mean there will be other moves by the St. Louis Cardinals? GM John Mozeliak has this (from Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller).
Mozeliak on if Masterson deal closed doors on others: "We're open for business. We'll see what may happen. I'm not overly optimistic."
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) July 31, 2014
The Masterson deal seemingly took the Cards out of the running for Jon Lester or David Price, and that’s if there were actually as involved as all the tweets we read. (Guilty as charged on that myself.)
Mozeliak’s phone is fully charged, so if any rival GM is reading this and you want to do business, call Mozeliak. He’ll talk as the Cards are “open for business”. So what does Mozeliak believe his team needs?
Cards need a bat, but Mozeliak says: "I don't see a lot of opportunities. I'm not hearing a lot of names bandied about on off side."
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) July 31, 2014
You might find it hard to believe that the Cardinals need a bat until you view a few items. Or you’re a Cards fan.
The Cards offense of 2014 isn’t close to that of 2013. Last season, St. Louis’ offense sat atop many offensive categories. Here’s a quick review along with the NL ranks.
Runs/game: 4.83 (1st)
BA: .269 (2nd)
OBP: .332 (1st)
SLG: .401 (3rd)
OPS+: 103 (t-1st)
RISP: .330 (1st)
2 outs, RISP: .305 (1st)
Those same stats for 2014…
Runs/game: 3.68 (14th)
BA: .251 (7th)
OBP: .317 (6th)
SLG: .372 (12th)
OPS+: 93 (t-8th)
RISP: .240 (9th)
2 outs, RISP: .233 (5th)
Less pop and less production with ducks on the pond. Less runners on base. Yes, this offense has sputtered, but those RISP numbers from 2013 are still incredible. I didn’t think those could be duplicated, but the fall off is kind of scary.
And we could go through each player’s stats, comparing this year to last, and point out where he has slipped. But the bottom line is such that Mozeliak wants to add a bat due this decline.
Referring to Miller’s second tweet in quoting Mozeliak, there isn’t any big bat out there that could have the effect as Matt Holliday did when he joined the Cards during the 2009 season. All Hoiliday did after the deal was rake. The numbers from 2009 as a Cardinal: .353/.419/.604, 13 HR, 55 RBI in 270 PA.
I don’t see that type of impact bat being “available”. But you never know how things happen during this time of the season. Back in ’09, did anyone honestly see the Holliday deal happening?