MLB insider: Cardinals preparing to make a surprise free agent splash?
By Josh Hill
According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the St. Louis Cardinals are believed to be ready to make a pretty significant splash in free agency.
Two seasons ago, when the St. Louis Cardinals season was on the brink only for the team to storm into the MLB postseason, we should have learned never to count them out. While the season has been over for a month, the Cardinals are still channeling that never count them out energy in the free agent market.
After signing Willson Contreras away from the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals appear to be ready to make another — perhaps even splashier — move to fortify the roster for 2023.
According to Jon Heyman, the St. Louis Cardinals are believed to be a surprise team making a serious play to sign top free agent pitcher Carlos Rodon.
“There’s a mystery team in on Rodon, and it’s believed to be the Cardinals (so maybe it’s not such a great mystery after all),” Heyman reported on Sunday.
St. Louis has plenty of competition, but it’s the other teams that have been connected to Rodon that are on their heels. As it stood, the Giants and Yankees were in a battle to try and outbid one another to add the ace to their respective staff but the Cardinals are a chaotic variable no one was accounting for.
St. Louis Cardinals making a move to sign Carlos Rodon?
For what it’s worth, the Cardinals enter the conversation as a rather attractive landing spot.
New York seems to be in constant need of an ace to lead its staff, even after big swings on pitchers like Gerrit Cole a few years ago and missing on Justin Verlander this offseason. San Francisco has personal reasons to land Rodon, as it would be a way to stick it to the Yankees after losing the Aaron Judge sweepstakes.
It would seem that the Giants have the inside track to landing Rodon, as San Francisco was the place he most recently called home. The Giants also appear ready to spend big this winter, with Carlos Correa also being on the team’s radar.
St. Louis is a sneaky team to add to the mix, however. Rodon could remain in the National League but would be in a significantly weaker division. Going up against the hapless Pirates and down-on-their-luck Reds and Cubs seems like a much more attractive prospect than pitching against the Dodgers and Padres. Those dynamics also factor into Rodon’s chances of reaching the postseason, as the Cardinals path to October is much clearer than the Giants or Yankees.