(KMOX) - I know the season just ended Wednesday but it's never too early to start looking ahead and I do think there's some benefit to doing a bit of that while the St. Louis Cardinals 2021 season – good and bad – is still fresh in our minds. I'm not going to propose specific changes or improvements at this point, it's too early for that IMO, this is simply a look at what we know and what the team has control over. This is by no means a "full accounting" of everything, it's a first glance.
For the sake of simplicity let's just take a look at what we currently know about the way the Cardinals are setting up for 2022...
Catcher
Yadier Molina is already under contract, plus the Cardinals have Andrew Knizner and Ali Sanchez under team control along with top catching prospect Ivan Herrera who seems ticketed for Triple-A Memphis in '22.
I wouldn't expect any change here.
Infield
Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt are locked in, which is great. They are your cornerstones. Tommy Edman will definitely be on the team and have a significant role. Paul DeJong is under contract thru 2023 (with team options after that) so it seems very likely that he'll be back along with Edmundo Sosa who is also under team control. Jose Rondon is also under team control and did a nice job coming off the bench in '21 showing that he can play all over the IF and in the corner OF as well. He's a nice utility option.
Could they look at the big-time SS market this offseason? Sure. They could. I wouldn't necessarily count on that considering the payroll commitments already in place, however. Adding another $25-30 million AAV on a multi-year deal doesn't seem very likely with some pitchers looking at serious raises in 2022 and 2023. I would expect DeJong and Sosa to compete for playing time at SS starting in Spring Training and perhaps throughout the season. They could look for a left handed hitting depth option in the IF (someone to take Matt Carpenter's spot if he departs via free agency) from outside the organization as well.
It's also important to note that Juan Yepez (.969 OPS, 27 HR) who plays 1B-3B-OF and Nolan Gorman (.814 OPS, 25 HR) who plays 2B-3B both had big performances at Double-A and Triple-A in 2021 and could factor into the IF-DH mix (if the universal DH comes in as expected). That's some serious power potential with positional versatility that could enhance the team's offense at some point in '22.
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Outfield
Tyler O'Neill, Harrison Bader and Dylan Carlson appear to be lined up to open the year as the starting OF, if healthy. They all showed enough to earn jobs for '22. Carlson should only get better with experience, O'Neill has already broken through and Bader was 16% above MLB average offensively, despite being streaky, and was typically outstanding defensively. Lars Nootbaar looks like he has a chance to be a solid 4th option as well, he did a nice job in his rookie season. Edman and Yepez could also figure into the OF depth picture as well.
They could look outside for more proven LH depth here, depending on what they do with the infield.
DH
There is no apparent full-time DH on the team so this will be interesting if the DH come to the NL as expected. They could look for a veteran bat in free agency on a short-term deal or they could look at the young guys, Yepez and Gorman, as potential answers as well. A lot of teams use the DH as spot that rotates players in and out rather than going with a single player. I'm sure there will be talk about Albert Pujols in free agency and he could be a nice platoon option against left handed pitching, which is how he was deployed with the Dodgers.
Starting rotation
Barring injury it looks like four spots are spoken for: Adam Wainwright, Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas and Dakota Hudson. That's a really nice start to a 5-man rotation. For the 5th spot they have guys like Jake Woodford, Johan Oviedo, Matthew Liberatore and Alex Reyes as in-house options. They could also look at bringing back Jon Lester, JA Happ or Wade LeBlanc as well.
Given the depth problems they dealt with in '21 this could be a spot where they target a higher-end veteran SP in free agency as well. I wouldn't expect it to be someone like Max Scherzer - word is that he could be looking at $40 million a year on a 2-3 year deal - even though that kind of addition would be awesome. Reyes is intriguing here but given his struggles late in the season and his issues with command all season long it might not be an easy transition to pull off but I do think it's worth trying by having him stretch out over the offseason.
Bullpen
As of now the Cardinals have the following relievers under team control for '22: Reyes, Woodford, Giovanny Gallegos, Jordan Hicks, Kodi Whitley, Ryan Helsley and Genesis Cabrera with Luis Garcia and TJ McFarland both headed to free agency. They could look to bring back either (or both) of them given their strong showings in the 2nd half of '21.
Junior Fernandez and Justin Miller are also under team control though neither would appear to be a primary candidate for a spot.
This is definitely an area where the team could look to add a proven veteran piece, especially if they're going to look at Reyes as a starter in the spring. As we found out this year, you can never have enough pitching depth. Gallegos looks like he'd be a fine option to close again but someone who could compete for saves - and take some pressure off Reyes and Hicks - might be a nice option as an upgrade as well.
Finally...
The team could use some improvements, obviously, with the goal of avoiding another Wild Card berth (thought the new playoff format might be better) but they have a good starting point given what was learned in '21. The cornerstones are in place and if they can get more out of Flaherty, Mikolas and Hudson than they did this past season they should be in position to boost that win total a good bit with upgrades mixed into a few spots as well.
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