After what was a busy day around Major League Baseball with some key roster decisions being made, let's dive into some of the latest MLB rumors, news and notes revolving around the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres.
St. Louis Cardinals rumors: Mistakes made in non-tender decisions?
On Friday, the Cardinals announced that they had non-tendered four players — pitchers Dakota Hudson and Jake Woodford, catcher Andrew Knizner, and infielder/outfielder Juan Yepez. While some of the moves were expected, Cardinals fans and some media members seemed surprised to see Knizner's name on the list.
Initial thoughts:
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) November 18, 2023
Somewhat surprised by Yepez. There wasn’t room for him on next year’s roster but I thought he had trade market value.
Really surprised by Knizner. Carrying four catchers on a 40-man is a lot, but pretty hard to question how much he did for that staff.
Knizner was at the center of the Willson Contreras firestorm in May when it was said that Contreras would be focusing on DH duties rather than working behind the plate. With that, Knizner became the primary catcher and was a steadying force for the Cardinals during a tumultous few days under the Gateway Arch.
His OPS+ of 92 last season was the highest of his career, so there are questions about why the Cardinals would cut bait with him now. Expect him to land with another team soon and, when that happens, will St. Louis regret the decision?
New York Yankees rumors: A wild trade idea with the San Diego Padres
In his article for The New York Post on Saturday morning, Joel Sherman tried to get creative for the Yankees in order to make a deal with the San Diego Padres that would land Juan Soto in the Bronx.
Sherman threw out this idea while talking about ideas to not only help the New York offense, but also slice some of the San Diego payroll this offseason as has been reported is a priority for the Friars, "But taking on (Giancarlo) Stanton plus Yankees prospects for (Juan) Soto, (Jake) Cronenworth and (Yu) Darvish would save San Diego more than $90 million overall."
Now let's pump the brakes here and say that Sherman admitted there was a lot that would have to happen for this to come together, including Stanton and Darvish waiving no-claim clauses and the Padres feeling like this return would be enough for a centerpiece of their offense (Soto) and rotation (Darvish). The Padres, after all, already have plenty of holes in their rotation, so losing Darvish would seem to go against what San Diego is needing to accomplish this winter.
Sherman admits that this idea falls into "pipe-dream category," but with the Yankees desperate to get back into the postseason, who knows how far Hal Steinbrenner will go?