JL21 wrote:Socnorb11 wrote:OK. So if you count the players on the farm who may be capable, we're up to 8 outfielders. As I said, we had 9 different guys play outfield last year (and so did the Cubs).
I don't think we have too many.
Except at some point, you run out of playing time for guys who need it to develop. If your MLB guys are Fowler, Pham, Grichuk, Martinez, Ozuna... then you have AAA time for Bader, O'Neill, and Adolis Garcia... and then you have to fit Randy Arozarena in there, and Oscar Mercado in some combo of AAA DH and AA full-time outfielders... and at least Bader and O'Neill are just about finished as prospects (meaning, they don't have a ton more to prove in the minors). Garcia could be ready soon depending on how he comes out of the gate, and both Arozarena and Mercado will need to be challenged at AAA soon. At some point, fruit dies on the vine. 2 months ago, that list would've included Sierra needing time in AA or AAA and Piscotty at the MLB level.
Or you end up stashing them on your 40 man to get around the Rule 5 draft and end up losing someone younger with a higher ceiling. They avoided the Rule 5 thing this year, but it was touch and go there for awhile.
Depth is great, and you can't always pick and choose how young guys develop. You can't always balance out your farm system that way. So yes, having 5 reasonable MLB outfielders plus 3 more guys banging their head against the MLB ceiling... that's a good problem to have, generally. But somewhere in there, it starts to cause ancillary problems, and the Cardinals were most certainly at that point. Still pretty much are, but a little bit less so after the Mags and Piscotty/Ozuna and IF depth deals.
All true.
The problem is that 4th/5th outfielders like Grichuk, Bader and Garcia don't hold much value on the market. Most teams already have those types at their AA or AAA level.
I think part of the problem is that Cardinals fans feel like we have "too many outfielders" because we value our outfielders too highly. Martinez is 29 years old, and has 325 MLB plate appearances. There's a reason for that. Many Cardinals fans can't wait to dump Grichuk. There's a reason for that. Mercado needs another full year at AA, in my opinion. He's never hit consistently. Arozarena, I'm admittedly not that familiar with.
I hope we're not at a point where we're going to name all of the outfielders in the Cardinals system, and use it as evidence that the Cardinals have too many. Quantity, maybe is there. We need to focus on quality.
