How They Were Acquired: The St. Louis Cardinals’ NLCS Roster
The last time the Cardinals were in the NLCS five years ago, they were only a minor roadblock for Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants. On his way to a World Series MVP, Bumgarner pitched 15.2 of 45 innings in the series, which the Giants won in five games. The Cardinals, who will stick with the same 25-man roster that defeated the Braves in five games, could have as difficult a challenge, if not more, with Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg possibly in line for 20-30 innings of work during the upcoming series.
Here’s how every member of the Cardinals’ 2019 NLCS roster was originally acquired. The team’s full RosterResource Depth Chart and Payroll pages are also available as a resource.
Homegrown (12)
- Yadier Molina, C: Drafted Fourth Round 2000
- Matt Carpenter, 3B: Drafted 13th Round 2009
- Carlos Martinez, RP: Amateur Free Agent (Dominican Republic) April 2010
- Kolten Wong, 2B: Drafted First Round (22) 2011
- Jack Flaherty, SP: Drafted First Round (34) 2014
- Daniel Ponce de Leon, RP: Drafted Ninth Round 2014
- Harrison Bader, CF: Drafted Third Round 2015
- Paul DeJong, SS: Drafted Fourth Round 2015
- Ryan Helsley, RP: Drafted Fifth Round 2015
- Dakota Hudson, SP: Drafted First Round (34) 2016
- Tommy Edman, INF/OF: Drafted Sixth Round 2016
- Randy Arozarena, OF: Amateur Free Agent (Cuba) July 2016
Total WAR: 23.0
Signed in Free Agency (4)
- Dexter Fowler, OF: December 2016 (CHC) — Signed to five-year, $82.5 million contract.
- Miles Mikolas, SP: December 2017 (Japan) — Signed to two-year, $15.5 million contract; signed four-year contract extension (2020-23) in February.
- Andrew Miller, RP: December 2018 (CLE) — Signed to two-year, $25 million contract ($12 million club option for 2021).
- Matt Wieters, C: February 2019 (WSN) — Signed to Minor League contract ($1.5 million salary).
Total WAR: 3.3
Acquired Via Trade (7)
- Adam Wainwright, SP: December 2003 (ATL) — Acquired in trade that sent J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero to the Braves.
- Jose Martinez, OF: May 2016 (KCR) — Acquired in trade that sent cash considerations to the Royals.
- Marcell Ozuna, OF: December 2017 (MIA) — Acquired in trade that sent Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen, Magneuris Sierra, and Daniel Castano to the Marlins.
- Yairo Muñoz, INF/OF: December 2017 (OAK) — Acquired in trade that sent Stephen Piscotty to the Athletics.
- Giovanny Gallegos, RP: July 2018 (NYY) — Acquired in trade that sent Luke Voit and international bonus slot money to the Yankees.
- Genesis Cabrera, RP: July 2018 (TBR) — Acquired in trade that sent Tommy Pham and international bonus slot money to the Rays.
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B: December 2018 (ARI) — Acquired in trade that sent Carson Kelly, Luke Weaver, Andy Young, and 2019 competitive balance round B pick to the Diamondbacks.
Total WAR: 9.5
Acquired Off Waivers (1)
- Tyler Webb, RP: June 2018 (SDP)
Total WAR: 0.1
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Acquired Via Rule 5 Draft Triple-A Phase (1)
- John Brebbia, RP: December 2015 (ARI)
Total WAR: 1.3
It might be useful (and not just for the Cardinals) for your categories to take note of the players “acquired by trade” who were also “homegrown” in the sense that they’d never played in MLB before being traded. The Cardinals have quite a few of those: Wainwright, J. Martinez, Munoz, Cabrera, Brebbia, if my sources are correct. Their player-development machine looks even more impressive when those guys are added to it.
Players that a team originally signs/drafts and develops, regardless of where they are now, is a whole different subject. I,(and I’m sure many others) find it very interesting that those guys somehow came back. But focusing on how the guys on this particular team got here is more important in this case.
Maybe I wasn’t clear in what I was suggesting. I think it would be justified to treat guys acquired in a trade by a franchise, before ever reaching the majors (and in many cases, before ever reaching AAA, or even AA), as though they were part of that franchise’s player-development system, rather than lumping them in with others who were full-fledged major leaguers before the trade. (Compare e.g. Wainwright, who hadn’t reached AAA yet when they traded for him, and Goldschmidt, who when they traded for him was, well, Goldschmidt.) At the very least, identifying the guys in that category, even without a new category for them, would be helpful to readers not familiar with the team(s).