St. Louis Cardinals officially on the clock with Jason Heyward
The NLDS came and went, the St. Louis Cardinals dropped their first ever postseason matchup with the Chicago Cubs in four games, and they are now officially in offseason mode.
The tallest task for John Mozeliak and company will be not only deciding what to to with Jason Heyward, but the decision is making a run at him, beating out the likely 10-20 other teams that will likely be competing for his services. And seeing as they have the upper hand on other clubs with the pre-free agency negotiating window, they’re on the clock.
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Heyward’s not the typical big-money free agent: at the dish this season he hit a solid .293 with 13 home runs, 60 RBIs, 33 doubles, 56 walks and 23 stolen bases. He’s an all-around contributor, though the offensive numbers don’t scream “$200-million contract.” But add in his elite-level defense in the outfield, his age (he’ll be just 26 at the start of next season), his low strikeout rate and his fairly solid durability, and Heyward becomes likely the most valuable outfielder the free agent market has ever seen.
So what do the Cardinals do? St. Louis is already slated to have Matt Holliday, Stephen Piscotty, Randall Grichuk, Jon Jay, Tommy Pham and possibly Peter Bourjos in the outfield mix next season. Even if Piscotty continues to see time at first base and Bourjos is non-tendered or traded, it still creates a crowded bunch. The club has also expressed some interest in bringing back Brandon Moss at least in a bench capacity, further clogging up the depth chart.
Mozeliak is in an enviable predicament of having more starting-tier outfielders than spots to fill on the field. But as it pertains to pursuing Heyward, who is by far the team’s best defender in the outfield and also a contributor at the plate, the Cardinals GM would have to get seriously creative to make something work.
Should St. Louis decide they are going to re-sign Heyward, and should they manage to pull it off, one way to clear things up would be looking to trade some combination of Grichuk, Jay and Matt Adams. If John Lackey ultimately walks away in free agency, two or more of that bunch could be packaged in a deal for a quality starting pitcher, or they could be moved separately in deals for bullpen arms to replace likely departures Jonathan Broxton, Randy Choate and Carlos Villanueva.
The future also has to be taken into account with a potential Heyward contract, as Kolton Wong, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez and others will all be due raises over the course of the next few seasons.
Only Mozeliak can decide what’s best for the Cardinals, though there will be plenty of in-house options to replace Heyward should he ultimately sign elsewhere. With Lackey, Broxton, Choate, Villanueva and Moss all without 2016 contracts as well, the starting rotation, bullpen and bench will also need some addressing. But whatever St. Louis decides to do, the clock’s ticking.