For St. Louis Cardinals fans, this has been one of the most uninteresting offseasons of all time. Names such as Randy Choate do not generate much excitement. And neither do names such as Ronny Cedeno and Ty Wiggington!
One explanation is simple: roster depth. But the Cardinals farm system is now ranked #1… Is there not enough depth in the farm to avoid signing players like this? I mean, I just can’t understand these signings.
The first was Ty Wiggington, a 35-year-old player that can play first base I guess and maybe fake it at third. The guy is a career below average hitter and a stick in the mud at playing defense. It is difficult to see the appeal of a player like this, and the 2013 projections agree. The only bright spot one could fathom is the .156 ISO projection from Bill James… but Wiggington does not even hit for average let alone have an impressive On Base Percentage to make that important. And he probably will come no where close to that projection. It gets worse when you look at his defense.
Ronny Cedeno, a much younger player, is also a poor defender and an even worse hitter. With players like Matt Adams as a bat off the bench and a fill-in at first, Matt Carpenter a more than capable utility guy who hits quite well, and two players that can play better defense than Cedeno and are at least as capable hitters (2013 hero Pete Kozma and prospect Ryan Jackson), one wonders just why these signings even happened.
The only thing I can think of is that some of these players are going to be traded away. And even that doesn’t make much sense. I just can’t figure it out. I suppose Mike Matheny is just another manager who is distrustful of young players, and will give too much playing time to underwhelming at best veterans who will end up blocking chances for younger players to show any upside they might have.
These signings make perfect sense. First, Furcal has an injury history, and the Cardinals need a capable replacement. Jackson is not ready proved by his performance last year, and Kozma is a 230 lifetime hitter in the minors, who made some really boneheaded plays in the playoffs. Cedeno is a capable defender at the second most important defensive position, and he’ll hit 250-260 if/when Furcal goes down. As for Wiggington, he plays 1st, 3rd, 2nd, RF, and LF, and offers right handed pop off the bench. He is basically a re-incarnation of Edguado Perez. He’s the guy that every other manager fears coming off the bench, who could tie the game with a 3 run bomb. Also, now when Matt Capenter pinch hits in the 8th inning, and the other manager sends in the loogy, Wigginton simply comes off the bench and faces a soft tossing Loogy’s fastball and puts it in the seats (he takes away the sweeping slider being a right handed batter). So these were good signings. And as far as the minor league depth goes, outside of Wong and Taveras, that depth is all in RHP.
sometimes I wonder if people read the points laid out in writing that they are replying to. these were pointless, bad signings. you completely dismiss Ryan Jackson, who actually is a part of the farm system, as well as Pete Kozma, who has shown some upside (granted, it probably was a fluke, but hey, Ronny Cedeno really really sucks). then later you say that the system has absolutely no depth… what’s the point of having players when they don’t get used? and how is Wiggington any good? as I pointed out, the Cardinals already have better options than Wiggy and Ronnie in their own system. signing players that suck just blocks players in their own system. must be frustrating.