MLB Offseason Preview - St Louis Cardinals

St Louis Cardinals

National League	Central Division
86-76	17.5 GB of Division Lead
Manager: Mike Matheny	GM: John Mozeliak
AAA Affiliate Memphis Redbirds	AA Affiliate Springfield Cardinals

2016 Rankings

Hitting	AVG – 18th	OPS – 5th	Runs – 5th	HR – 2nd	SB – 29th
Starting Pitching	ERA – 13th	K/9 – 18th	H/9 – 24th
Relief Pitching	ERA – 13th	K/9 – 11th	H/9 – 5th

Top Hitters

POS.	Name	AVG	OBP	Slug	HR	RBIs	SB	WAR
SS	Aledmys Diaz	.300	.369	.510	17	65	4	3.5
IF	Matt Carpenter	.271	.380	.505	21	68	0	3.4
IF	Jedd Gyorko	.243	.306	.495	30	59	0	2.9

Top Pitchers

POS.	Name	G/GS	Record	IP/Saves	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	WAR
SP	Carlos Martinez	31 GS	16-9	195.1 IP	3.04	174	70	135	5.4
CP	Seung-hwan Oh	76 G	6-3	19 saves	1.92	103	18	214	2.8
P	Alex Reyes	12 G/5 GS	4-1	46.0 IP	1.57	52	23	263	2.2

Trades That Occurred During the Season

• Traded OF Charles Tilson to the White Sox for P Zach Duke

Impending Free Agents

• RP Jordan Walden
• LF Matt Holliday
• LF Brandon Moss
• RP Jerome Williams

Top Prospects

POS.	Name	Level
P	Alex Reyes	MLB
P	Luke Weaver	MLB
OF	Harrison Bader	AAA

Team MVP

• SP Carlos Martinez - Martinez was the Cardinals' best pitcher this past season and turned in his second consecutive stellar season.  He has emerged as the team's ace, taking over for Adam Wainwright who has struggled with injuries and hasn't performed all that well even when he has been healthy.  He has been a workhorse for the team the past two seasons, as well, and the Cardinals need him to continue his dominant ways because if he were to falter, the team would collapse quickly.

Success/Failure

• Failure - The Cardinals failed to make the playoffs this year after five consecutive seasons of making them and becoming a mainstay in World Series discussions.  Despite their recent successes, the current team doesn't really feel like a World Series team or one that could compete with the Cubs, Dodgers, Indians, or Red Sox in a seven-game series.  Their rotation struggled greatly this year after Carlos Martinez with the way Adam Wainwright, Mike Leake, and Michael Wacha pitched.  Wacha has really regressed from his consecutive productive seasons in 2014 and 2015 when he looked like a future ace.  Elite prospect Alex Reyes looks like he will become the future ace that everyone has expected him to develop into after he had a 1.57 ERA in his role as both a starter and out of the bullpen this season.  The Cardinals were a different team than what they have been in recent seasons in that they hit a lot of home runs, but didn't have a good team batting average and were virtually no threat on the basepaths; they were very un-Cardinal-like.  I also think that manager Mike Matheny is not a good one and his in-game decisions are often second guessed.

Offseason Outlook

• For 2017, the Cardinals will need to figure out something to do in the outfield since Matt Holliday has departed via free agency.  They have been linked to free agent Dexter Fowler, who is an average defensive center fielder, but is an on-base machine and would serve as a great lead off hitter who could also bring some speed to a team desperately lacking in that area.  Ian Desmond is another player that would fit in well for St Louis after he turned in an excellent season playing center field for the first time in his career after having been a shortstop every year prior.  The Cardinals have also been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Jose Bautista, but I'm not certain that this would be a good move, as Bautista has never been a good fielder in his career and, at this point in his career, probably slots in best as a DH for an American League club.  I think regardless of what happens that the Cardinals could struggle to make the playoffs again next season, because the division is pretty much already won by the Cubs and the Pirates will definitely be better next year.

*All stats and information come from baseball-reference.com, fangraphs.com, rosterresource.com, baseballamerica.com, and spotrac.com