I don't think he'd be a significant enough upgrade over Sosa to justify the pricetag and the opportunity cost.

Sosa's glove is GG caliber. Over a full season he's worth 3 wins on the basis of his defense alone. His contact skills are average and his patience is abysmal.

But he was one of 3 players in MLB last year to put up a max sprint speed, max exit velocity and outs above average in the top 10% of baseball. That means he has elite raw speed, plus raw power and is a premium defender at a premium defensive position.

I think over a full season you're probably looking at a .710ish OPS from him that's something along the lines of .260/.310/.400. That's about what Miguel Rojas gave the Marlins last year - nothing great, but it'll play. It's a wRC+ of almost dead average. And Rojas never showed the kind of power potential that Sosa showed in AAA in '19 (17 homers). In nearly 2400 ABs over his career Rojas has never hit a ball 110 mph - Sosa hit one 115 mph last season. He has far more natural power than Rojas and decent contact skills. That's a guy who can at least play at this level.

So you give him a slightly better offensive profile than Miguel Rojas and GG defense at shortstop and you have a 4+ WAR player on your hands. Especially if he can improve his base-stealing technique. And if he could even creep that walk rate to 8%, you're really cookin'.

Now if TON is for real and Carlson's late-season power development continues, and ESPECIALLY if Bader continues to turn the corner offensively (a process he actually started in '20) - you can easily afford to carry Sosa's bat. Suddenly that team is genuinely good, especially if Yepez/Gorman/Noot can provide viable punch at DH.

They still don't have a true leadoff hitter in the lineup, but Story doesn't solve that problem anyway (I still say you see if you can get any traction moving Jordan Walker or Nolan Gorman for CJ Abrams).

So pass on Story and get a deal done with Stroman. Now you have Stroman and Matz, not to mention Hudson, Wainright and Mikolas, who all have extreme ground ball tendencies backed by one of the better defensive infields in decades. Then you work on guys like Reyes and Hicks. You get Reyes to trade velocity for command and get Hicks to trade velo for movement. Now you have both guys working at 95-96 with the ability to coax playable contact instead of walking guys (Reyes) or taking 17 pitches to get anyone out (Hicks) and you can see if they could actually develop into rotation options long-term.

Stroman is the right answer here. But don't forget to block him on social media because he'll just piss you off.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlcards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stlcards</a> draft OF with STL ties in the first round of MiLB Rule 5: Ben DeLuzio was born in St. Louis. An undrafted free agent (2016) who had been in Arizona&#39;s system, DeLuzio went to high school in Orlando, played at Florida State. He&#39;s 27 with a career .363 OBP in minors.</p>&mdash; Derrick S. Goold (@dgoold) <a href="https://twitter.com/dgoold/status/1468662584828117000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/STLCards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#STLCards</a> select RHP Carlos Guarate in the minor league Rule V draft from the San Diego Padres.<br><br>RH, 21 yo<br><br>Career 174 2/3 IP<br>4.33 ERA, 1.294 WHIP, 7.2 K/9, 2.3 BB/9<br><br>2021 (A/A+) 99 IP<br>5.91 ERA, 1.404 WHIP, 7.0 K/9, 2.0 BB/9</p>&mdash; Ben Cerutti (@stlfanbc7) <a href="https://twitter.com/stlfanbc7/status/1468663716732231680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pirates lose OF Jonah Davis to Cardinals in Rule 5. <br><br>Liover Peguero said Davis had best bat flip in Pirates system: &quot;He hit a bomb and just threw the bat. He pointed to the dugout like, ‘I ****ing told you.’ Before the game, he said, ‘I’m gonna hit a bomb.’ That was crazy.&quot;</p>&mdash; RobBiertempfel (@RobBiertempfel) <a href="https://twitter.com/RobBiertempfel/status/1468665598288830471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/STLCards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#STLCards</a> select LHP Nelfri Contreras in the minor league Rule V draft from the Dodgers organization.<br><br>LH, 23<br><br>Career 139 2/3 innings<br>4.19 ERA, 1.561 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, 5.0 BB/9<br><br>At A ball in 2021 had 47 1/3 innings<br>3.80 ERA, 1.585 WHIP, 8.9 K/9, 4.8 BB/9</p>&mdash; Ben Cerutti (@stlfanbc7) <a href="https://twitter.com/stlfanbc7/status/1468665856859119617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&#39;Heir Jordan&#39; 😎<a href="https://twitter.com/Cardinals?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Cardinals</a> third base prospect Jordan Walker is our latest cover athlete.<br><br>BA Insiders can access the issue early now in our app: <a href="https://t.co/OkJBVSo5wS">https://t.co/OkJBVSo5wS</a> <a href="https://t.co/vUZjDOL2IS">pic.twitter.com/vUZjDOL2IS</a></p>&mdash; Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) <a href="https://twitter.com/BaseballAmerica/status/1468271589766705156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

International prospect list

St. Louis Cardinals ($6,262,600)

Jonathan Mejia, SS, Dominican Republic
Luis Rodriguez, C, Venezuela
Leonel Sequera, RHP, Venezuela
Arfeni Batista, SS, Dominican Republic
Junior Chirinos, RHP, Venezuela
Won-Bin Cho, OF, South Korea
Diego Dominguez, RHP, Mexico
Jovi Galvez, RHP, Dominican Republic
Yordy Herrera, LHP, Dominican Republic
Yordarlin Pena, OF, Dominican Republic
Jose Suriel, RHP, Dominican Republic
Nelfy Ynfante, RHP, Dominican Republic

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Three Cardinals prospects landed in <a href="https://twitter.com/BaseballAmerica?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BaseballAmerica</a>&#39;s Top 100 list:<br><br>▪️3B Jordan Walker (No. 24)<br>▪️INF Nolan Gorman (No. 34)<br>▪️LHP Matthew Liberatore (No. 50) <a href="https://t.co/l0Do6MlkvQ">https://t.co/l0Do6MlkvQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/bkCARpjp9S">pic.twitter.com/bkCARpjp9S</a></p>&mdash; Cardinals Player Development (@CardsPlayerDev) <a href="https://twitter.com/CardsPlayerDev/status/1483871705957376000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

3 top 50 guys is nice, especially when Walker's come with a bullet.

Burleson, Yepez, Donovan and Herrera are all on the cusp of that list as well. Herrera is still pretty green, Burleson has defensive issues that may keep him off it and Yepez/Donavan both have pedigree questions as well as fairly short track records of success.

But any of those guys could take big jumps forward next year. And if Thompson's adjustment to leaning into his slider takes (and if he can just get his feet under him in AAA after a crazy aggressive promotion from A+) he might make his way back into the top 100 as well.

All told it's a pretty standard Cardinal prospect list apart from the hitter/pitcher breakdown being flipped. There's always more strong depth in the system than super high end guys.

Best thing I heard this winter was (I think it was from Oquendo) that Gorman was going to be an above average defensive...
MLB second baseman.

I’m really hopeful that we can legitimately compete this year if Gorman and Liberatore can contribute near their upside.

3 of the top 50 in Baseball America’s list this year.

#24 Jordan Walker

#34 Nolan Gorman

#50 Matthew Liberatore

We are switching Gorman to 2B. Where are we supposed to play Jordan Walker? Are they just going to stay put in case Arenado opts out after next year?

DH/OF

(But this is why you don't throw assets and $$$ at 1b -- it's the dead bottom of the defensive spectrum and someplace you can put anyone who's bat will play but doesn't have an obvious defensive position elsewhere)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Free-agent right-hander Carlos Martinez in agreement with Giants on a minor-league contract, source tells <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheAthletic</a>. Deal worth $2.5M if he makes roster, and includes $1.5M in incentives.</p>&mdash; Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1503201965362270213?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

What a waste of #1 starting pitching talent. :#