Should The Cardinals Sign one of the Big SS's in Free Agency?

By: Brady (bradynw13@gmail.com)

There are a lot of Great Shortstops on the free agency market this year, and with the Cardinals once thought to be long term SS Paul DeJong struggling offensively (again) and not really progressing, many Cardinals fans want them to go after a big SS this off season. They will also have the contracts of Dexter Fowler, Andrew Miller, and Matt Carpenter coming off the books so they should have money to spend. However, a question that enough people aren’t asking is: Is it in the Cardinals best interests to go after one of these guys?

Trevor Story

Story has been linked to the Cardinals for quite a bit and it makes sense. Every great Rockies player eventually ends up on the Cardinals and Arenado and Story used to be an Infield duo on the Rockies, but I have some concerns about Story. He’s having his worst offensive production this season in a while along with his worst defensive season in a while and he’s still speedy but not quite as fast as before. He just doesn’t strike me as a player that will age well, his plate discipline and he’s already in a spiral of decline. Ultimately I don’t think it would be a smart idea for the Cardinals to sign Story long term.

Corey Seager

Corey Seager main strength is his ability to mash to ball: plain and simple. He is a somewhat difficult player to evaluate because of his season to season variance offensively and injury history. This along with his defensive shortcomings make him a risky player to give a big contract. Who knows if he can stay healthy enough to play the majority of the time? Who knows if he stays a shortstop or becomes a 2nd baseman down the line? Which offensive version of Corey Seager is the real one? With all these questions in mind, I think the Cardinals should avoid handing him a big contract.

Javier Baez:

There isn’t much to say here. Baez is the worst SS on this list and signing a bat who’s one positive trait is power to a big and long term deal would be a financial death sentence.

Carlos Correa

The Astros unwillingness to extend Carlos Correa this off season might be one of the biggest mistakes they’ve ever made. Correa’s stellar play this season has most likely priced him out of Houston. Not only is he really good right now but he looks to be a player the ages pretty gracefully. He has the plate discipline and contact ability to be a serviceable hitter once his bat speed has fallen off, and his defensive value doesn’t come from his speed as he’s roughly an average player speed wise. All signs point to him being a good signing to make. There are some concerns about offensive volatility, but I lean more on the side of him being a 140 wRC+ player than a 100 wRC+ player. His two down seasons came in an injury riddled 2018 campaign and a 60 game covid season in 2020 where the entire Astros team had down years after all the attention and hatred from the cheating scandal. I’d say the Cardinals would be smart to pursue Correa heavily.

Marcus Semien

Marcus Semien is currently having the best year of his career in Toronto this season. It’s certainly been helped by playing in the Dunedin minor league stadium for the first part of the season, but he’s still been chugging along nicely since they moved back to toronto. The only real problem with Semien is that he’s much more suited as a second baseman. His defense at shortstop just isn’t that good. He’s much better as a second baseman. This really isn’t that much of a problem for the Cardinals though as they could slot Tommy Edman at shortstop or second. Provided the Cardinals put him at second, they should go after him.

The Majority of these players have big question marks that make me anxious about giving them huge deals. As much as fans want to grab a big fish, it wouldn’t be wise to go after Story, Seager, or Baez. Get Correa if you can and Semien if you’re willing to stick him at second.