The Cardinals anticipate to reinstate Tyler O’Neill from the injured record Thursday, and in doing so, they’ll push Dylan Carlson out of a beginning job and again right into a reserve position. With O’Neill occupying left discipline, the Playing cards will proceed to deploy Lars Nootbaar in heart discipline and Jordan Walker in proper discipline. MLB.com’s John Denton writes that supervisor Oli Marmol has already knowledgeable Carlson of the choice.
“On the finish of the day, we’ll discover applicable at-bats for guys, however that is the place we’re at and there’s no means round it,” Marmol stated of the choice to push Carlson right into a reserve position. “Sure guys must play the outfield … and [O’Neill] goes to play.”
Had been it only a matter of discovering enjoying time for this quartet, it is perhaps simpler to get every participant common at-bats. Nonetheless, the Playing cards even have first baseman/outfielder Alec Burleson to think about, in addition to super-utility standouts Brendan Donovan and (when wholesome) Tommy Edman. Slugger Nolan Gorman additionally matches into the combo at designated hitter and at second base.
It’s a lot of proficient place gamers for Marmol to accommodate with enjoying time. For now, Carlson has been squeezed out of an everyday position on the membership, and the query turns into one in all whether or not he’ll be squeezed off the roster totally.
MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported earlier within the week that the Yankees had expressed curiosity in Carlson, and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Submit-Dispatch reported equally yesterday. Different golf equipment determine to be concerned on the switch-hitting 24-year-old, given his former prospect pedigree and remaining three seasons of membership management past the present marketing campaign.
Due to that membership management, the Cardinals don’t essentially must really feel any urgency to make a deal. However the Playing cards are additionally in dire want of beginning pitching that’s managed past the present season. Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Matthew Liberatore, Dakota Hudson and Jake Woodford are their solely rotation choices with any actual huge league expertise who’re signed/managed past the 2023 season. All apart from Mikolas have struggled.
It’s a minimum of attainable the Cardinals may contemplate different trades to deal with the rotation wants and alleviate a number of the place participant logjam. Nonetheless, St. Louis was staunchly in opposition to buying and selling each Nootbaar and Donovan this previous offseason, and Goold reported not too long ago that Nootbaar stays unlikely to be accessible. The Athletic’s Katie Woo wrote this morning that Nootbaar is considered by the entrance workplace as a “key member of their core.” Donovan, final yr’s third-place Rookie of the 12 months finisher, and Walker, who entered the season thought to be one in all baseball’s prime 10 prospects, are absolutely considered in related trend.
There’s actually an argument that it’s within the Cardinals’ curiosity to commerce O’Neill as a substitute, however he’s hitting simply .228/.303/.380 in 482 plate appearances courting again to final season. He’s far much less more likely to command a top quality return than Carlson would, given these struggles and his shorter window of staff management (via the 2024 season). They’d even be promoting low on a participant who hit .286/.352/.560 and popped 34 residence runs as not too long ago as 2021.
All of these elements contribute to the mounting rumblings of a attainable Carlson commerce. That stated, it’s nonetheless considerably exceptional that issues have reached this level. It was solely a pair years in the past that Carlson was the Cardinals’ equal of present-day Walker — a former first-round choose who entered the season ranked among the many sport’s prime 10 to fifteen prospects. He didn’t hit the bottom operating in his 2020 debut, however that got here as a 21-year-old in the course of the Covid-shortened season when Carlson didn’t have the chance to play minor league video games in a aggressive setting.
In Carlson’s first full season, 2021, he turned in a .266/.343/.437 batting line with 18 residence runs. Defensive grades on him had been tough, but it surely was a promising step for the 22-year-old nonetheless. His offensive manufacturing has diminished since that point, however Carlson’s defensive prowess has been on show as he’s posted high quality marks throughout all three outfield spots. In whole, he’s a .250/.333/.405 switch-hitter with plus protection courting again to 2021 — and he has three-plus years of remaining staff management.
It’s uncommon for such gamers to even be accessible on the commerce market, however the Cardinals have a knack for growing high quality place gamers. Additionally they generally tend to play the recent hand with these gamers, one which spans practically a decade; they’ve been going via related hot-potato eventualities way back to 2014 (Jon Jay, Peter Bourjos, Randal Grichuk, Tommy Pham, and so forth.).
On the one hand, it’s a testomony to the staff’s participant improvement employees. On the opposite, the frequent stop-and-start strategy to enjoying time has arguably contributed to the glut of high quality bats (outfielders, specifically) that St. Louis has traded away over time.
Carlson, for his half, acknowledged to Denton that information of his diminished position was “powerful” to take; he views himself as an on a regular basis participant and emphasised that the competitor in him needs to be on the market as typically as attainable. He didn’t outwardly name for a commerce, however there’s little doubt he’s keenly conscious it’s a risk and maybe a path to the common position he wishes.
Time will inform whether or not a commerce of Carlson really involves fruition, however his mix of youth, staff management, defensive excellence and still-present offensive upside will make him extensively interesting. Sooner or later — whether or not it’s Carlson, O’Neill, Burleson or another person — it looks like the Cardinals will probably be in place to deal from their deep inventory of controllable place gamers to deal with their want for pitching assist.
