Cards Notebook: Tommy Edman's status, the Chaim Bloom hire, and recapping my 2023 in Cardinals viewing
Let's hit two recent news items of note and one recent news item very much not of note
Notebook time, which means a noble gathering of topics that don’t justify full-length treatment …
The Edman injury and surgery
In a recent shocker of sorts, lead operator John Mozeliak revealed that presumptive starting center fielder Tommy Edman underwent wrist surgery just after the end of the 2023 regular season to address damaged cartilage. While Edman is still sounding optimistic about being full go by Opening Day, he did allow that he may not be fully recovered when spring training first opens.
The wrist injury of note bedeviled Edman for much of the past season, and he spent almost a month on the injured list because of it. While he didn’t suffer any notable decline in batted-ball quality and expected outcomes at the plate, one has to figure his offensive numbers would’ve been stronger without that ailing right wrist. Now that it’s finally been addressed, perhaps Edman in 2024 can reach a higher plane with the bat in his age-29 season. To a large extent, he is what he is at the plate given his age, tenure, and substantial history of average-ish batted-ball authority, but a healthy wrist – a vital body part for hitters, you’ll agree – raises the possibility of a late-prime step forward.
As for the roster implications of Edman’s injury, Dylan Carlson is still around, and he’s a quite suitable replacement in center should Edman’s convalescence not go as hoped. In this regard, not trading Carlson appears a sage decision by the front office, particularly in light of the trade exits of Tyler O’Neill and Richie Palacios. While Carlson probably isn’t Edman’s equal with the glove at the eight, he does have more upside at the plate. The best chance for him ever to rediscover the level he hinted at in 2021 is to stay healthy and get regular game reps at the plate. Obviously, the hope here is that Edman’s recovery is a smooth and timely one, but should things go awry with Edman then Carlson is a suitable fallback and maybe more than that.
Then there’s the shortstop situation. Edman of course has a rich defensive history in the middle infield, and if healthy he would be an option at short if rookie Masyn Winn fails to seize the job. The problem is that any kind of scenario in which Edman is pressed into shortstop duty coming out of spring training or even early in the season would be an overly reactive one. No, Winn’s 37-game audition in St. Louis last season was not particularly encouraging, but, as detailed in this very space, there were signs of growth and improvement during that audition.
The larger issue is the Cardinals’ recent habit of reading too much into spring performances. You saw this last year with Jordan Walker’s elevation to the big-league roster based on his Grapefruit League outputs. The sample size is small in spring training, and the quality of competition always averages out to be south of MLB-caliber. I understand the value of promoting an internal competitive milieu, but this should really be more “general philosophical principle” than a thing that informs key roster and depth-chart decisions. Even declaring Winn to be overmatched and in need of additional Memphis seasoning within the first few weeks of the regular season would be premature.
In the event that Edman isn’t game-healthy as soon as hoped, there will not be any compelling options to relieve Winn. Brendan Donovan is not suited to the arm-heavy position of shortstop coming off Tommy John surgery, and rising prospect/NRI Thomas Saggese is a major stretch at the spot. Do you really want regular duty from José Fermín? If all of this lines up to force the Cardinals to leave Winn alone for an adequate stretch of time despite plate struggles, then consider it to be a happy accident of sorts.
Should Edman’s recovery be waylaid to the extent that it costs him a sizable chunk of 2023 and even waylays potential extension talks going into his scheduled arbitration hearing, then it’s obviously a bad thing. For now, though, such straits don’t appear to be likely. Should such worst-case scenarios come to be realized, the Cardinals should still be fine, at least theoretically.
The Chaim Bloom hire
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Birdy Work to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.