The St. Louis Cardinals have entered the 2022-2023 MLB offseason with a few goals in mind: to acquire a catcher and add a veteran bat to their lineup.
Several catchers could potentially catch the Cards’ eye this offseason.
Christian Vazquez is available in a free agency, as is Tucker Barnhart.
The Cardinals have also been linked to Oakland’s Sean Murphy and Toronto’s Danny Jansen.
The GM meetings are currently taking place in Las Vegas.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the Cards want to gather more intelligence on the trade market for catchers, which includes discussing fits with the Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays.
The Cardinals want to leave this week’s meetings, held at Resorts World in Las Vegas, with more intel on the trade market, including discussing fits with Toronto and Oakland, writes @dgoold. #STLCardshttps://t.co/S7S5CySnmr
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) November 9, 2022
Where The Cards’ Search For A Catcher Stands
There are several routes the Cardinals could go this offseason as they search for a new catcher.
But it appears as if they are focusing on the trade market as of now.
Murphy would certainly warrant a sizable return, so the Cardinals may not choose to go that route.
Jansen might be the best fit, as it likely would not take a ton of prospects to land him.
The goal for St. Louis is obviously not to replace Yadier Molina, but rather to have someone fill the role.
This offseason figures to be a busy one in St. Louis.
The team has consistently stated that the catcher position is their highest priority as of now, and that Andrew Knizner hadn’t done quite enough to earn the starting job in 2023.
St. Louis finished the regular season as NL Central champions, winning 93 games before bowing out in the Wild Card round.
