Impact Infielder Made Available; Would Cardinals Claim Veteran After Strong Season?

St. Louis would benefit from some extra firepower

Scott Neville | Mar 11, 2024

Impact Infielder Made Available; Would Cardinals Claim Veteran After Strong Season? /

In this story:

St. Louis Cardinals

Could the St. Louis Cardinals add one more impact player to the roster before setting their Opening Day roster?

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has all but ensured that the current roster will look very similar in just a few weeks when the season begins.

The final external piece appeared to be former San Francisco Giants three-time All-Star shortstop Brandon Crawford. Could his former teammate become a last-second addition?

"J.D. Davis has been placed on waivers after the Giants couldn’t find a taker on the trade market (teams also knew San Francisco had no spot for him after signing Matt Chapman and Jorge Soler)," the New York Post's Jon Heyman wrote Saturday. "His $6.9 million salary after arbitration win isn’t unreasonable."

Davis hit .248 with 42 extra-base hits including 18 home runs, 69 RBIs and a .738 OPS (103 OPS+) in 144 games last season.

The 30-year-old is a career .261 hitter with a .775 OPS (113 OPS+) across seven seasons. While the Cardinals do not have a starting spot for the slugger at the moment, his versatility would prove to be extremely valuable and land him consistent playing time.

Davis has spent the majority of his time at third base but has logged 94 career games in left field and 48 at first base.

Given the injuries to both Tommy Edman and Lars Nootbar, St. Louis could use someone who could slide into a corner outfield spot and produce. It's also good to have some corner infield insurance seeing as the superstars manning those positions are 36 and 32 years old respectively.

Considering all it takes for the Cardinals to acquire Davis is to place a waiver claim and absorb a moderate salary, it makes a lot of sense to make this move.

Crawford taking up a roster spot to possibly just be deployed as a backup shortstop makes Davis' fit a little less clear but there will be plenty of injuries over the course of a 162-game season and the veteran would add a starting-caliber player to be plugged in off the bench when those aforementioned ailments occur.

It would be wise for the Cardinals to make a play for Davis, who could help stabilize this young core of position players.

More MLB: Cardinals Fan Favorite Suffers Notable Injury, Placing Opening Day Status In Jeopardy

Published Mar 11, 2024

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu