MLB rumors: 5 teams that should begin a rebuild
St. Louis Cardinals
Three straight seasons. For many Cardinals fans, three seasons with no postseason is way too much. Most baseball fans would love the Cardinals history of success, but spinning wheels does get to be frustrating eventually for a fan base.
The Cardinals are in a spot where they could clear off some salary quickly and allow themselves to rebuild quickly. This offseason will see Adam Wainwright leave along with a lot of good role pieces in Matt Adams, Bud Norris, and Tyson Ross. However, with limited room already in the 2019 budget, the Cardinals are looking at a pay raises for Matt Carpenter, Jedd Gyorko, Kolten Wong, and Miles Mikolas built into their deals along with arbitration for Marcell Ozuna, Michael Wacha, Dominic Leone, and Chasen Shreve.
The finances could end up forcing a sell-off of some pieces, and if the Cardinals did this right, they could open themselves to attack a very loaded 2019/2020 free agent class with books that are fairly clear.
Obviously, franchise stalwart Yadier Molina would remain, and the team would be built around young pitching in their rotation as they already have an overflow of young arms to fill in behind Mikolas. Moving electric Carlos Martinez could allow them a major windfall in the trade market and open up significant salary as well.
The only other “big” contract beyond 2019, outside of a host of options for players for the 2020 season, is Dexter Fowler, which could make his deal difficult to move, though the team’s relationship with Fowler may have deteriorated to the point where they’d eat money to send him elsewhere.
With a farm system brimming with “fill-in” talent, this could be a chance for the Cardinals to use players like Wacha, Ozuna, Martinez, and possibly Wong and Carpenter to bring in a few elite young pieces to compliment the grouping of solid players in the upper minors, allowing the Cardinals likely to follow their deep young pitching back to competitiveness as quickly as 2020 or 2021, as well as giving them the financial flexibility to address the market for a big star piece they may need.