#Cardinals shortstop plus

Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol has said that former second baseman Tommy Edman will slide over to shortstop. With Gorman taking over at second base, St. Louis, his debut will signal the beginning of another era as well. Louis Cardinals fans are excited to see the beginning of the much-anticipated Gorman Era in St. Louis Cardinals have officially called up their second-ranked overall prospect, Nolan Gorman, in preparation for him to make his Major League Baseball debut on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. While not a huge sum, if the Cards are really ready to move on from DeJong entirely, they could explore trying to move him before the trade deadline, possibly for another team’s undesirable contract.By Kevin Henry 3 months ago Follow Tweet The Cardinals have a $12.5MM club option for 2024 that looks like a sure thing to be declined, with DeJong receiving a $2MM buyout.

#Cardinals shortstop plus

Louis still owes DeJong the remainder of his $6MM salary for the 2022 season, plus $9MM for 2023. Having Edman, Sosa, and Donovan all on hand takes some of the pressure off Gorman to contribute right away, and it also isn’t out of the question that DeJong could return to the mix if he gets on track in the minors. Louis hasn’t traditionally been hesitant about calling up star prospects for important roles. It has become apparent that Gorman doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors, and St. Of course, the real x-factor here is Nolan Gorman, as the star second-base prospect is crushing Triple-A pitching. Sosa essentially came out of nowhere to be a solid contributor to the 2021 team, but his limited track record in the majors or minors perhaps makes him something of a risk as a true everyday player. It is possible that moving DeJong wouldn’t lead to that much of a dropoff in glovework at shortstop, though since Edman is himself a reigning Gold Glove winner at second base, the Cardinals undoubtedly have some concern over whether they’d be weakening themselves at several positions. That will provide some additional depth at shortstop, plus Brendan Donovan can also play second base, giving the Cardinals some flexibility up the middle.Įdman and Sosa have also both looked good defensively at shortstop, albeit in smaller sample sizes at the big league level.

The result is a 79 wRC+ over 662 PA since the start of the 2020 season.Įdmundo Sosa is currently on the COVID-related injured list, but has started a minor league rehab assignment and appears to be close to a return to St. However, DeJong’s power (74 homers in 2017-19) papered over his lack of average and OBP, but his slugging numbers have dramatically tailed off over the last three years. This was the largest (at the time) contract ever given to a player with under a year of MLB service time, and it isn’t like the extension was a real miscalculation, as per Fangraphs’ calculations, DeJong’s career $8.9 fWAR has been worth $70.9MM over his career. For a team that prizes defense as heavily as the Cards, DeJong’s ability in the field has given him a lot of leeway as a lineup regular, even as his offense has been in decline.ĭeJong’s best offensive year is still his 2017 rookie season, as he finished second in NL Rookie Of The Year voting, and the Cards locked him up with a six-year, $26MM contract extension. 130/.209/.208 slash line over his first 86 plate appearances of the season, DeJong’s offensive struggles have become too large for the Cardinals to overlook, even though his typically excellent glovework is still strong. This clears the path for Tommy Edman to likely take over as the Cards’ regular shortstop. For the time being at least, he’ll serve as the Cards’ primary backup at second, third, and shortstop - potentially sharing time with Brendan Donovan in that role when Sosa returns.Ģ:21 PM: The Cardinals have optioned shortstop Paul DeJong to Triple-A Memphis, The Athletic’s Katie Woo reports ( Twitter link). With Edmundo Sosalikely returning from the COVID IL sooner than later, it could be a relatively short stay in the bigs for Robertson, but the fact he’s been added to the Cardinals 40-man roster could indicate a longer stay. Across 100 plate appearances for Triple-A Memphis this year, he’s posted a. 248/.357/.369 triple-slash across five minor-league seasons.

While he’s never had a ton of power, he has shown the ability to get on base, compiling a. Louis system, posting consistently solid numbers at each level. It’ll be the first taste of the bigs for the versatile 27-year-old.ĭrafted out of LSU by the Cardinals in the fourth round of the 2017 amateur draft, Robertson has steadily worked his way through the St. Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2022ģ:05 PM: The Cardinals have selected the contract of infielder Kramer Robertson to fill DeJong’s spot on the 26-man roster, the team announced.