ST. LOUIS _ After the 2019 postseason ended and the free agency period quickly ensued, the Cardinals made free agent left fielder Marcell Ozuna a standard, one-year, qualifying offer of $17.8 million in order to ensure a high draft choice if Ozuna signed with someone else. More than two months later, Ozuna, who turned down that offer, has signed with someone else, the Atlanta Braves, for one year at $18 million, as the Cardinals apparently did not come off that qualifying figure very much, if any, in the 75 days or so since it was made.
There likely was not a multi-year offer by the Cardinals, although general manager Michael Girsch, not addressing that theorem, said, "We've been talking on and off all offseason."
And now armed with another high draft pick, which will come shortly after the actual first round, the Cardinals' quest for a new cleanup hitter _ and left fielder _ can begin in earnest. Ozuna, despite missing some five weeks with a finger injury on his right hand, hit 29 homers and drove in 89 runs while hitting .241 and posting an .800 OPS (on-base percentage, plus slugging) for the National League Central Division champions in 2019.
He helped turn back the Braves in the Cardinals' five-game win in the divisional round, going nine for 21 with two homers.
In his first season with the club after being acquired from Miami before the 2018 season, Ozuna, plagued by a sore right shoulder which later required surgery, batted .280 with 23 homers and 88 RBIs.
Ozuna, whose arm strength was sporadic this past season, often had expressed interest in gaining an extension with the Cardinals. And a source said that Ozuna had asked his agent, Melvin Roman, to step up that pursuit in July, not long after the 29-year-old Dominican Republic native had jammed his finger in a headfirst slide trying to get back to first base on June 28 in San Diego.
As spring training loomed, the field of landing spots for Ozuna seemed to have narrowed between Texas and the Cardinals, although Atlanta came back into the fold when the Braves' own cleanup hitter, Josh Donaldson, signed a four-year, $92 million deal with Minnesota.
Internal candidates to replace Ozuna in left field for the Cardinals are led by Tyler O'Neill and Lane Thomas, both 24-year-old righthanded hitters. O'Neill hit five homers and struck out 53 times in 141 at-bats. Thomas, who suffered a broken bone in his hand late in the season, had four homers in 38 at-bats and batted .316 for the Cardinals.
Then, there is switch-hitting Dylan Carlson, the organization's player of the year for 2019 who was likely to be a starting outfielder by mid-season but who may be able to wrest away a berth with a strong spring training.
Carlson, 20, a first-round pick in 2016, hit 26 homers, stole 20 bases, averaged .292 and had an OPS of .914 while playing at Class AA Springfield and Class AAA Memphis last season. In his three weeks at Memphis he hit .361 and had an OPS of 1.098.
Girsch said also that righthanded-hitting Rangel Ravelo, a first baseman by trade who did well as a pinch hitter, would get consideration, as well as lefthanded-hitting outfielder Justin Williams, who was hurt and didn't play a full season at Memphis.
None of these may turn out to be the cleanup man. O'Neill did hit there 12 times last year, batting .280 with an .808 OPS.
The Cardinals had been reported by a few to be in the sweepstakes for Colorado's Nolan Arenado, an All-Star third baseman, but chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said the club likely couldn't take on the $35 million contract that such a player (he didn't name Arenado) would carry with him.
President of baseball operations John Mozeliak, who is in London doing some groundwork preparing for the Cardinals' two-game series with the Chicago Cubs next June, said via e-mail, "We understood it would be difficult to retain (Ozuna) with our current payroll structure (an estimated payroll of $170 million).
"We tried a few creative ideas over the past month but we were unable to complete (them). This now clears a path for our young outfielders to play every day."
Girsch seconded this.
"Between Bill, Mo and myself, we all talked about it this weekend (during the Winter Warm-Up)," said Girsch, "that we're trying to get opportunities for our young outfielders. If there was a deal that made sense, we would do it but, if not, we were comfortable with what we had.
"We have a lot of young guys and we want to see what they can do.
"We're going to give them opportunities to go out there and win the job. Even (Austin) Dean will get a shot to show he can hit in the big leagues," said Girsch of the recently acquired power hitter from Miami, who has had some big minor-league seasons the past two years.
"We have a lot of options in the outfield who have shown they have more than succeeded at the Triple-A level and are ready for a challenge in the big leagues," Girsch said.
O'Neill, for instance, has hit 66 homers in 235 Triple-A games the past three seasons.
As for who bats fourth, presumably behind Paul Goldschmidt, Girsch said, "The important thing is not having a cleanup hitter, it's having eight good hitters in the lineup. 'Shildty' (manager Mike Shildt) and his staff will decide what order we put them in. Maybe Goldschmidt will be our cleanup hitter, who knows? We look at positions on the defensive side of the ball because those you have to fill. The batting order is to take the best eight you have and decide what makes sense.
"I'm not overly concerned about the cleanup spot."
