Friday, March 8, 2013
Cards external SS options
By Jason A. Churchill
The St. Louis Cardinals will be without Rafael Furcal for the 2013 season, opening the door for Pete Kozma and/or Ronny Cedeno to take over for the American League Central favorites. If GM John Mozeliak decides to search for an upgrade, the options are limited, but there are a few possibilities.
The Cardinals are rich in pitching, one reason they don't appear to have interest in bringing back Kyle Lohse despite the injury to Chris Carpenter, and the Baltimore Orioles have their future shortstop playing third base in Manny Machado. Young pitching to Baltimore for J.J. Hardy? Perhaps, though there has yet to be any reports of such interest on either side -- just connecting dots here.
The free agent market is just about dry, those for depth purposes a veteran such as Ryan Theriot -- a former Cardinals reserve -- could make some sense. If Jose Iglesias makes a move early in the season, the Boston Red Sox could use Stephen Drew as trade bait to land some pitching.
Just in case anyone was wondering, the Rockies are not interested in trading Troy Tulowitzki and the Cardinals didn't call to inquire, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.
In the meantime, Mozeliak told reporters Thursday, the club will stand pat, but Kozma is a career .236 hitter in the minors with almost zero power and Cedeno is an aging journeyman.
Stay tuned.
