KC Royals: Making the case, Cardinals free agents

There may be help for the KC Royals among the five St. Louis free agents.

Welcome back to Kings of Kauffman’s continuing series analyzing the major league free agent market and projecting who might, or might not, fit the needs of the KC Royals. This story takes a look at the St. Louis Cardinals’ free agents.

Teams searching for help this offseason, including the KC Royals, would do well to check in on the five St. Louis Cardinal free agents. There’s a lot of talent in that fivesome, including two veteran All-Star and Gold Glove catchers (one is a future Hall of Famer), a seasoned All-Star starting pitcher, a Gold Glove-winning second baseman and a solid utility man.

What the Royals need, at a minimum, is a veteran starter to round out and mentor its emerging but inexperienced rotation and a good bat that happens to be an outfielder. The club could also use a versatile player who can allow the wonderfully versatile Whit Merrifield to settle into one position.

What Kansas City doesn’t need (at least not yet) is a second baseman, which should rule out St. Louis free agent Gold Glover Kolten Wong. As Kings of Kauffman writer Shawn Bauman recently pointed out as part of his convincing case against the Royals pursing Wong, second base is Nicky Lopez’s position to lose, which he might do if he doesn’t soon improve the Mendoza Line-threatening .201 he struggled to achieve in 2020. Wong’s bat is better than Lopez’s and might be of use to the Royals sometime in the future, but not now.

And there are, as Bauman explained, other reasons for Kansas City to cross Wong off its wish list, not the least of which are cost and his sometimes rocky relationship with KC skipper Mike Matheny when he managed the Cardinals.

But what about the other four St. Louis free agents?

Can the KC Royals use a St. Louis starter who’s never pitched anywhere else and a good utility man?

Adam Wainwright is the quintessential one-team pitcher, a dedicated veteran hurler who’s spent the whole of his 15-year big league career in St. Louis. It’s hard to see him leaving the Cardinals, but baseball is a business and another team might convince the three-time National League All-Star who’s twice won 20 games, and came close with 19 wins in two other seasons, that the green is greater and greener in their park.

Could that club be the Royals? Wainwright is what they need, a veteran starter with a championship pedigree who can win a few games and provide valuable leadership and mentoring to a young rotation that needs someone of Wainwright’s caliber. His 5-3, 3.15 ERA, and two complete games in 2020 prove he can still pitch, even at age 39. He also averaged almost seven innings in his 10 starts in 2020, a trait that would have overjoyed the KC Royals.

Kansas City might be able to convince Wainwright that life is just as good on the other side of Missouri and persuade him to add to his 167 career victories with the Royals. But Wainwright doesn’t have much major league time left and may want to pitch out his career in St. Louis. Nevertheless, Dayton Moore ought to get his number and give him a call.

Brad Miller may not be Whit Merrifield, but he might be the next best thing for the KC Royals. Miller, like Kansas City’s beloved Merrifield, can and does play almost everywhere—he’s put time in at first base, second and shortstop, and in left, center and right fields during his eight-year big league career.

Although he hit 30 homers and drove in 81 runs in 2016 with Tampa Bay and still has some pop, his .240/.316/.421 career slash doesn’t measure up to Merrifield’s .295/.342/.444, but his real value to the Royals would be his versatility, not his bat. He’d give manager Mike Matheny someone to plug in almost anywhere on the field and help provide Merrifield the opportunity to stay in one place for a while. And he’d probably be affordable—the Cards had him on a $2 million deal last year (before proration).

Miller is worth a look.

The KC Royals really can’t use Cardinal free agents Yadier Molina, Matt Wieters or Kolten Wong, but they should consider Adam Wainwright and Brad Miller.