St. Louis Cardinals make a big splash trading for Marcell Ozuna
By Jared Wolfe
The St. Louis Cardinals finally make a splash, get outfielder Marcell Ozuna!
I posted an article a few short days ago regarding the possibility of the St. Louis Cardinals trading for Marcell Ozuna, and they did it this afternoon.
As of now, some sources say that the only top prospect pitcher we gave up was Sandy Alcantara, alongside three other minor league prospects.
Prized pitching prospect Sandy Alcantara and three other prospects are going to the #Marlins from the #STLCards in Marcell Ozuna trade. The trade will become official Thursday
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 13, 2017
Now, this may not be what most Cardinals fans were hoping for, especially the start of the offseason with all the Giancarlo Stanton talks.
However, Ozuna will no doubt have a significant impact on the team next season batting in the middle of the order.
In 2017, Ozuna had a breakout year for the Marlins. He hit a whopping 37 home runs and drove in 124.
In comparison to the Cardinals, their homerun leader this past season was Paul DeJong with 25, and their leading RBI hitter was Yadier Molina with 83.
This a major power boost for the middle of the order for 2018!
This is without mentioning he was the National League Gold Glove winner in left field.
His bat is big, but adding his quality defense cannot hurt either, especially after having an abysmal defensive year at times last year.
Here is a look at what the lineup could look like next season:
Projected 2018 Lineup:
- Matt Carpenter (1B)
- Tommy Pham (CF)
- Marcell Ozuna (LF)
- Dexter Fowler (RF)
- Paul DeJong (SS)
- Yadier Molina (C)
- Jed Gyroko (3B)
- Kolten Wong (2B)
Bench:
Jose Martinez (1B)
Stephen Piscotty (RF) – Pending not being traded to Athletics in coming days, stay tuned.
Randal Grichuk (LF) – pending on not being traded, has been mentioned possible trade candidate.
Harrison Bader (OF)
Carson Kelly (C) – pending on not being traded, has been in the talks with Tampa Bay Rays.
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A lot could change to this in the next couple of days, especially with the other possible trade pieces the Cardinals now have after solidifying their outfield.
We are also apparently still in the hunt for other possible hitters including Evan Longoria, Manny Machado, and Josh Donaldson.
According to my “Predator Baseball Projections,” the addition of Marcell Ozuna will add a projected 1.01 wins in 2018 to the lineup, but if he repeats what he did in 2017, that number could be 2.88 wins.
In reality, it is even greater than that because of the worst outfield spot, which is the reason the Cardinals traded for Ozuna, posted a -0.34 wins below average in 2017.
So, factor in the difference he is going to help tremendously.
As of now, the offense with the addition of Marcell Ozuna could be almost three wins better than last season! Last season, the team played +2.48 wins above average.
As of now, the 2018 team projections have the Cardinals at +5.20 wins above average. Let’s hope this is true!
Next: St. Louis is actively pursuing Alex Colome
As a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, we can breathe a sigh of relief; we finally did something!
I hope this is the start of something more for building a championship caliber team in 2018. This can’t be it though, stay tuned because I feel more is coming.